Intel preparing Haswell architecture for 2013 release

The Sandy Bridge successor is currently slated for a 2013 release, according to a recent Intel Software Network blog post. When adapted for notebooks, the chipset will be “Intel’s first system-on-a-chip designed for the mainstream laptop market,” says CNet.

Codenamed “Haswell”, the 22nm x86 architecture will be using the same 3D transistor technology of the 2012 Ivy Bridge platform but with supposed optimizations in its cache and coprocessors. Probably the most noteworthy change will be its integrated on-die GPU with Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), which may be fast enough for laptops to not require any lower level discrete graphics solutions. While the Sandy Bridge architecture has its own on-die GPU as well, DailyTech reports that its design is already falling behind AMD’s latest SoCs, such as the recently released line of Llano Fusion processors.

Eventually, the Haswell chipset is expected to find its way into Intel’s family of Ultrabooks, such as the Asus UX21. Tom Kilroy of Intel marketing is even aiming for an ultrabook base price of just $599 at launch, which would be quite the bargain for a laptop sporting Intel’s latest CPU architecture. Let’s just hope that no more recall shenanigans will occur this time around.

Check out the official blog post for more technical details about the Haswell architecture.

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