Intel's 11th Gen Rocket Lake-S processors launch and pre-order dates leaked; review embargo to lift two weeks after pre-orders commence

Intel has already confirmed that its 11th generation desktop processors (Rocket Lake-S) would arrive within Q1 2021, which may explain why we have seen so many benchmark results of Rocket Lake-S chips appearing online recently. According to Wccftech, it has got wind that Intel will officially unveil the Rocket Lake-S series on March 16 at 08:00 PT (-08:00 UTC).

Additionally, the website adds that pre-orders will commence immediately, allowing people to pick up the likes of the Core i9-11900K and the Core i7-11700KF on launch day. Unfortunately, Intel will not begin shipping any Rocket Lake-S processors until March 30.

Moreover, Wccftech asserts that Intel has set a review embargo for March 30, too. Apparently, Intel will allow outlets to publish Rocket Lake-S reviews from 06:00 PT (-08:00 UTC). If those dates are correct, then there will be a fourteen-day window whereby people can order Rocket Lake-S processors without referring to independent benchmark and performance data.

Undoubtedly, Intel will publish benchmark and performance data about the Rocket Lake-S series, as it has already started doing. However, the company has been caught using selective benchmark data to promote its products, so there is no way to guarantee that it will behave any differently with the Rocket Lake-S launch.

While the above may set off a few alarm bells, leaked benchmarks suggest that Rocket Lake-S processors improve upon Intel's current product stack in many areas. Whether it can outperform AMD's Vermeer processors is a different question though, and one to which we can only give a definitive answer when we can publish our Rocket Lake-S reviews.

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