MOBILE MAGIC

No new CPU core design. No additional CPU cores, for that matter. What is there in Kaby Lake to please desktop enthusiasts? Probable support for DRM-sensitive 4K stream services, such as Netflix, could be a major boon. We wouldn’t kick the additional PCI Express lanes out of bed, either.

There’s reason to think Kaby Lake might be quite the overclocking tool, too. But as a package, it’s hardly the stuff of enthusiasts’ dreams. As ever, then, its real appeal is likely to be as a mobile processor. Of course, mobile PCs with Kaby Lake processors have been available since the fall of 2016.

The impact of the chip’s improved efficiency has been real enough. When Dell revised its popular XPS 13 laptop to add Kaby Lake chips, claimed battery life leaped to a slightly crazy 22 hours, in part due to the refinements Intel has achieved with its revised 14nm production process. But that probably doesn’t truly capture what a huge game changer Kaby Lake could be for video playback in laptop and tablet PCs.

You can read about the full details of the new media engine in the main story. But the implications of full fixed-function hardware support for the latest video codecs could be profound. For starters, it will enable 4K video playback in a whole new class of devices. Existing Intel ultramobile Core processors can struggle with some 4K playback, especially when it’s browser-based. But Kaby Lake’s media engine can decode eight 4K streams simultaneously. Crazy.

Just as important, hardware decode will mean massively lower battery drain when cutting cables to watch 4K content. When you think about how most people use their laptops, that makes for a pretty compelling package. When you next buy a laptop PC, you’re probably going to want it to come with Kaby Lake.