Intel Shows Off the Chip Tech That Will Power Your PC in 2025

Intel Shows Off the Chip Tech That Will Power Your PC in 2025

Intel on Thursday showed a silicon wafer studded with chips built with a manufacturing process that's set to arrive in 2025, a signal intended to reassure customers that the company's years of chip manufacturing difficulties are behind it.

"We remain on or ahead of schedule against the timelines that we laid out," Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said of the company's plan to improve manufacturing processes. He showed off a gleaming wafer of memory chips built with the company's upcoming Intel 18A process, which overhauls the transistors at the heart of chip circuitry and the way power is delivered to them.

Intel is trying to dramatically accelerate manufacturing progress to meet a 2025 goal of reclaiming the chip performance lead it lost to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung. If it succeeds, it'll mean PC chips progress faster after a half decade of lackluster performance improvements. And it could mean Intel becomes more relevant to your digital life by building chips inside your car, phone and gaming PC graphics card.

At the heart of the effort is moving through five new manufacturing processes in four years: Intel 7 in 2021 with the Alder Lake chips now powering PCs, Intel 4 in 2022, Intel 3 in 2023, Intel 20A in early 2024 and Intel 18A in late 2024 -- though the lag between manufacturing availability and product delivery means 18A chips won't arrive until 2025. Showing the wafer is a "proof point" that Intel is on track, Gelsinger said.

Gelsinger, a chip engineer who returned to Intel a year ago, brings tech cred to the CEO job, but it'll be tough for the company to claw its way back. Once a chip manufacturer falls behind the leading edge, as IBM and GlobalFoundries did in recent years, it's harder to justify the colossal investments needed to advance to the new technology.

Embodying Intel's difficulty is Apple's decision to eject Intel Core processors from its Macs in favor of its own M series chips built by TSMC. At the same time, AMD has been gaining market share, Nvidia has been profiting from gaming and AI, and Amazon has introduced its own server processors.

Gelsinger spoke at Intel's investor day, where he and other executives sought to convince often skeptical analysts that the company's enormous spending on new chipmaking equipment will pay off. That will come through premium products and external customers arriving to use its new foundry manufacturing capacity.

Intel 20A introduces two major changes to chip design, RibbonFET and PowerVia, and Intel 18A refines it for better performance. RibbonFET is Intel's take on a transistor technology called gate all around, in which the gate that governs whether a transistor is on or off is wrapped entirely around ribbon-like channels that carry the electrical current.

And PowerVia delivers electrical power to the underside of the transistor, freeing the top surface for more data link circuitry. Intel is playing catch-up with RibbonFET, but it's got a lead with PowerVia, which the industry calls backside power delivery.

Intel is pressing with another lead -- packaging technology that links different "chiplets" into one more powerful processor. The Sapphire Lake member of Intel's Xeon server family arriving this year employs one packaging variety, called EMIB, while the Meteor Lake PC chip arriving in 2023 employs another, called Foveros.

Intel expects to keep up with Moore's Law, which calls for a doubling in the number of transistors per processor every two years. That'll happen through smaller transistors and new packaging techniques combining multiple "chiplets" into one processor.

Intel

Intel built its first Meteor Lake prototypes in the final quarter of 2021 with the Intel 4 process and booted them up in PCs, said Ann Kelleher, the executive vice president who leads Intel's technology development division.

"This is one of the best lead product startups we have seen in the last four generations of technology," Kelleher said. "Over its lifetime, Meteor Lake will ship hundreds of millions of units, offering the clearest demonstration of leadership packaging technologies in high volume."

Packaging will play a role in future PC processors, including Arrow Lake in 2024, which will incorporate the first chiplets built with Intel 20A. After that comes Lunar Lake, which will use Intel 18A chiplets. Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake will use a new graphics chip architecture that Intel promises will be "a huge step forward," which is important given that graphics chips these days do a lot more than paint pixels on your screen -- for example AI and video image processing.

Kelleher also detailed a host of research and manufacturing changes to prevent the catastrophic problems Intel faced in recent years. For one thing, improvements are now modular, so a problem with one needn't derail others. For another, Intel is developing contingency plans for when problems do arrive. And it's paying more attention to the advice of chip equipment suppliers like ASML.

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Acer Aspire 7600U review: Acer's high-end all-in-one can't justify its cost

Acer Aspire 7600U review: Acer's high-end all-in-one can't justify its cost

Acer demonstrated a new focus on high-end PCs last month when it announced the Aspire S7 Windows 8 laptop and this $1,899 27-inch Aspire 7600U all-in-one desktop. Despite improving its typically bargain basement product aesthetics, at least for this all-in-one, Acer has not matched its price tag with correspondingly high-end components. You might make a case for the Aspire 7600U as a Windows 8-based vanity object, but Dell's updated XPS One 27 is a better all-in-one at this price.

Acer deserves some credit for the look of the Aspire 7600U. The system mostly has a clean and tidy appearance, with a familiar edge-to-edge display framed in glossy black plastic. The chromed plastic trim is clean enough, and the ports on the back sit neatly under a straight-lined overhang. Even the power cable received some attention, connecting directly into the chromed kickstand.

Running the power circuitry through the kickstand keeps the cable from cluttering the back of the system. The kickstand itself also deserves praise for its smooth, sturdy design. Anyone can recline the display back and forth along its 60-degree range of motion. I would always prefer that an all-in-one recline a full 90 degrees, but its easy adjustability makes it easier to accept the more limited travel.

The ability to recline helps facilitate using the touch screen, of course, and I'm glad to report that Acer has done a nice job with touch input as well. The edge-to-edge glass means your finger can travel freely to the corners and the edges of the screen, and the coating on the display provides just the right amount of friction. Touch input responsiveness isn't perfect, but it's consistent enough that it's not annoying.

	Acer Aspire 7600U	Dell XPS One 27	Apple iMac 27-inch (spring 2011)
Price (at time of review)	$1,899	$2,299	$1,999
Display size/resolution	27-inch, 1,920x1,080	27-inch, 2,560x1,440	27-inch, 2,560x1,440
CPU	2.5GHz Intel Core i5 3210M	3.1GHz Intel Core i7 3770S	3.1GHz Intel Core i5 2400
Memory	8GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	4GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics	768MB Nvidia Geforce GT 640M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M	1GB AMD Radeon HD 6970M
Hard drives	1TB, 5,400rpm	2TB, 7,200rpm	1TB, 7,200rpm
Optical drive	Blu-ray/dual-layer DVD burner	Blu-ray/dual-layer DVD burner	Dual-layer DVD burner
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless
Operating system	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)	Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7

The Dell XPS One has become a spoiler among high-end Windows 8 all-in-ones. It's the only system with a 27-inch, 2,560x1,400-pixel touch screen. And despite the high price of our XPS One 27 review unit, touch-screen models with lower specs start at $1,599. That gives the 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution Acer some real competitive difficulties given the Aspire 7600U's $1,899 price tag.

The Aspire 7600U also suffers with regard to its computing components. The laptop-grade Core i5 CPU in the Acer is anemic compared with Dell's Core i7 chip. Even the $1,599 version of the XPS One 27 has a faster CPU in its desktop Core i5 3330S. You can also see in our chart above where Acer has cut corners in its other specs. It uses a slower 5,400rpm hard drive, and skimped on allocating video memory.

The one point that might look to be in the Acer's favor is its Blu-ray drive, but Lenovo acts as the disruptor here. Yes, the $1,599 Dell does not have a Blu-ray drive option, and you'll need to wait until December before you can add Blu-ray to our XPS One 27 review system. That might argue for the $1,899 Acer as a good deal if you want Blu-ray, except Lenovo also has a Blu-ray drive in its IdeaCentre A720, in a configuration that sells for $1,449.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Dell XPS One 27 (3.1GHz Core i7, October 2012)
202

Acer Aspire 7600U (2.5GHz Core i5, October 2012)

219

Asus ET2700I (2.8GHz Core i7, April 2012)

230

HP Omni 27 Quad (2.5GHz Core i5, February 2012)

232

Apple iMac 27-inch (3.1GHz Core i5, May 2011)

236

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 (2.5GHz Core i5, July 2012)

297

Vizio CA27-A1 (2.5GHz Core i5, August 2012)

410

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple iMac 27-inch (3.1GHz Core i5, May 2011)
86

Dell XPS One 27 (3.1GHz Core i7, October 2012)

87

Asus ET2700I (2.8GHz Core i7, April 2012)

105

Acer Aspire 7600U (2.5GHz Core i5, October 2012)

110

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 (2.5GHz Core i5, July 2012)

113

HP Omni 27 Quad (2.5GHz Core i5, February 2012)

117

Vizio CA27-A1 (2.5GHz Core i5, August 2012)

123

Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple iMac 27-inch (3.1GHz Core i5, May 2011)
121

Dell XPS One 27 (3.1GHz Core i7, October 2012)

255

Asus ET2700I (2.8GHz Core i7, April 2012)

310

HP Omni 27 Quad (2.5GHz Core i5, February 2012)

356

Acer Aspire 7600U (2.5GHz Core i5, October 2012)

385

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 (2.5GHz Core i5, July 2012)

424

Vizio CA27-A1 (2.5GHz Core i5, August 2012)

426

Cinebench 11.5

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering Multiple CPUs

Rendering Single CPU

Dell XPS One 27 (3.1GHz Core i7, October 2012)
7.03 1.59

Apple iMac 27-inch (3.1GHz Core i5, May 2011)

4.88 1.3

Asus ET2700I (2.8GHz Core i7, April 2012)

4.81 1.21

HP Omni 27 Quad (2.5GHz Core i5, February 2012)

4.15 1.26

Acer Aspire 7600U (2.5GHz Core i5, October 2012)

2.91 1.28

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 (2.5GHz Core i5, July 2012)

2.79 1.18

Vizio CA27-A1 (2.5GHz Core i5, August 2012)

2.72 1.12

Our benchmark results speak for themselves when you compare the Acer with the Dell. With respect to the other PCs in our charts, the Acer is the third most expensive all-in-one, behind the XPS One 27 and the $1,999 27-inch 2011 iMac, but only a middle-of-the-pack performer. You would expect a $1,899 computer to consistently outperform the $1,399 Asus ET2700, for example. It doesn't.

The Aspire 7600U is not so slow that it's useless. With a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 640 graphics chip, it even makes a capable-enough 3D gaming PC, playing Borderlands 2 at full resolution and image quality. It just doesn't deliver enough computing performance to justify its cost.

Acer rounds the Aspire 7600U out with a handful of extras, some useful, some gimmicky. Three HDMI jacks on the back of the system, two in, one out, are a highlight, providing great utility for the Acer as a second home entertainment display, and also the ability to extend the Acer's desktop to a second monitor. Along similar lines, the optical digital audio output is a nice bonus, as are the four USB 3.0 jacks.

Less successful is the Acer's gesture recognition capability. An included software tutorial tries to help you get acclimated, but even in the tutorial lessons, the system isn't good enough at recognizing your input. And perhaps it has to do with the gestures Acer asks you to learn, but it's hard to avoid feeling like an idiot while you're waving your hands around trying to get the system to launch an app.

Conclusion
Acer has clearly put some thought into the design and fit-and-finish of its new flagship all-in-one. And while Windows computing is definitely moving to elevate the importance of experiential factors like overall look-and-feel, executing well in that respect is not enough to justify a high price tag if a system is lacking in its core capabilities.

With only mediocre performance for its price, and a second-best display resolution thanks to the Dell XPS One 27, the Acer Aspire 7600U doesn't compete strongly enough to justify a serious recommendation. If you want a big-screen PC primarily for show, you might consider the Acer. If you value a PC as a tool, rather than a lifestyle choice, the Dell is the better bet at this price.

All performance testing conducted by Joseph Kaminski. Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations (at the time of each review)

Acer Aspire 7600U
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 768MB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M graphics card; 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive

Apple iMac 27-inch (spring 2011)

Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7; 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 (second generation); 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB ATI Radeon HD 6970M graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Asus ET2700I
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600S; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Dell XPS One 27
Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-bit; 3.1GHz Intel Core i7-3770S; 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP Omni 27 Quad
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400S; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000 (embedded); 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M ; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Vizio CA27-A1
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

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Spectre and Meltdown: Details you need on those big chip flaws

Spectre and Meltdown: Details you need on those big chip flaws

Processors are vital to running all our computerized devices, even if we hardly ever think about them. That's why it's a big deal that they have major vulnerabilities, such as Spectre and Meltdown, that leave them open to hacking attacks.

As they run all the essential processes on your computer, these silicon chips handle extremely sensitive data. That includes passwords and encryption keys, the fundamental tools for keeping your computer secure.

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, first revealed January 3, with a newly found fourth variant disclosed May 21, could let attackers capture information they shouldn't be able to access, like  those passwords and keys. As a result, an attack on a computer chip can turn into a serious security concern.

So how did this happen? And what will chip companies like Intel,Arm and AMD (and the hardware makers that put the chips in their products) do to fix the problem? Here's what you need to know:

What are the vulnerabilities?

Researchers found two major weaknesses in processors that could let attackers read sensitive information that should never leave the CPU, or central processing unit. In both cases, attackers could see data that the processor temporarily makes available outside of the chip.

Here's why that happens: To make computer processes run faster, a chip will essentially guess what information the computer needs to perform its next function. That's called speculative execution. As the chip guesses, that sensitive information is momentarily easier to access.

One flaw, Spectre, would let attackers trick the processor into starting the speculative execution process. Then attackers could read the secret data the chip makes available as it tries to guess what function the computer will carry out next.

The other flaw, Meltdown, lets attackers access the secret information through a computer's operating system, such as Microsoft Windows or Apple's High Sierra.

Security experts refer to these sorts of incursions as side-channel attacks, because they access information as it's being used by a legitimate process on the computer. 

What are tech companies saying and doing about this?

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich says the problems are well on their way to being fixed, at least in the case of Intel-powered PCs and servers. Intel said that 90 percent of chips released in the last five years will have fixes available by about Jan. 13 and that for chips up to 10 years old, fixes will be released in the coming weeks.

On Jan. 22, Intel halted some updates to its chips after reports that the patches were causing devices to unexpectedly reboot.

Microsoft right away released patches for the Windows operating system and its Internet Explorer and Edge browsers, but warned that your antivirus software needs to be updated to support those patches.

Apple said Jan. 4 that it has released mitigations for the Meltdown flaw for the operating systems on its Mac computers, Apple TVs, iPhones and iPads, and that neither Meltdown nor Spectre affects the Apple Watch. Apple also said Jan. 4 that it will release patches "in the coming days" for the Safari browser to help defend against Spectre exploits and that it will continue to release patches in future updates of its iOS, MacOS and TVOS software.

On Jan. 7, Apple released an update to its iOS software that patches Spectre on iPhones and iPads. On Jan. 23, Apple released an update to the Sierra and El Capitan versions of its Mac operating systems.

Which chips are affected?

A number of chip designs from Intel, Arm and AMD are susceptible to one or more variants of the attacks. The issue is so widespread because those chips, used in devices made by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others, all share a similar structure.

What's more, the flaws don't just affect personal computers -- Meltdown also affects servers, the backbone of all major cloud services. So yes, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud are susceptible to the problem, too. Google said it has secured all its affected products, and Amazon said it would finish securing all affected products on Wednesday.

How long has this been a problem?

Researchers at Google's Project Zero, as well as a separate team of academic researchers, discovered the problems in 2017, but the issue has existed on chips for a long time -- perhaps more than 20 years.

That's because the issue doesn't result from a badly written computer code. Instead, the problem comes down to the way the chips are intentionally designed.

Processors are supposed to make the secret information easier to access as they gear up to run the next process on a computer. As the programming quip goes, this is a feature, not a bug.

Has anyone been hacked via these flaws?

Researchers, chipmakers and computer companies all say there are no known examples of hackers using these weaknesses to attack a computer. However, now that the details of the design flaws and how to exploit them are publicly available, the chances of hackers using them are much higher.

The good news is that hackers would first need to install malicious software on your computer to take advantage of these flaws. That means they need to select their targets and hack each one of them before running a sophisticated attack to steal a computer's sensitive information.

What can I do to protect myself?

As chipmakers and computer companies roll out software updates, be sure to install them. Beyond that, since hackers would have to install malware on your computer, do your best to make that harder for them.

That means you should keep all your other software updated, including your web browsers and Flash (if you're still using it). Also, run security software to make sure you don't have any malicious software on your computer right now.

Finally, look out for phishing emails. Emails that trick you into clicking on a link and downloading malicious software are still the No. 1 way for hackers to get a foothold on your computer.

First published Jan. 3 at 6:01 p.m. PT
Update, Jan. 4 at 4:19 p.m: Added statement from Apple.
Update, Jan. 5 at 6:36 a.m. and 11:57 a.m.: Added statement from Intel and new information from Microsoft, and later updated the information on Apple Watch.
Update, Jan. 8 at 11:51 a.m.: Added information on Apple's patch to iOS.
Update Jan 23 at 3:36 p.m.: Added information about Apple's patch to El Capitan and Sierra operating systems, and information about reports that some patches were causing computers to unexpectedly reboot.

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