Intel Core i3-4020Y vs Intel Core i3-4010U

The Intel Core i3-4020Y is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor for ultrabooks and tablets which has been presented in Q3/2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyperthreading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel, leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 1.5 GHz (no Turbo Boost support).

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving the performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

The performance of the Core i3-4020Y is about 10 - 15 percent higher compared to the Ivy Bridge based Core i3-3229Y. When using new instructions such as AVX2, the performance can be even better. Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as most applications.

The integrated HD Graphics 4200 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 200 - 850 MHz (with Turbo Boost), making it somewhat faster than the former HD Graphics 4000 (at similar clocks). However, the HD 4200 is significantly slower than the HD 5000 of other ULV models (with a higher TDP).

The i3-4020Y is rated at a TDP of 11.5 watts (SDP 6 watts) including graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset.  Therefore, the CPU is suited for very small ultrabooks or tablets, but usually still needs active cooling.

The Intel Core i3-4010U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor for ultrabooks launched in Q2 2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Treading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel, leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 1.7 GHz and includes no Turbo Boost support.

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving the performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

The performance of the Core i3-4010U is slightly above the old and slightly higher clocked Core i3-3217U. However, when using new instruction sets such as AVX2 the performance can be significantly better. Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as most applications.

The integrated HD Graphics 4400 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 200 - 1000 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it somewhat faster than the former HD Graphics 4000 at similar clock speeds. However, the HD 4400 is a bit slower than the HD 5000 found on a number of other ULV models.

The Core i3-4010U is rated at a TDP of 15 W including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited for small ultrabooks 11-inches or greater.