Intel shows performance prototype Broadwell tablet with Core M 5Y70 processor
Dell showed off a tablet with a Broadwell 5Y10 processor at IDF’s opening keynote, but Intel trumped Dell with a prototype: the company showed a more powerful tablet with their flagship Core M processor.
The processor in the prototypes is the same as that used in the laptops that various manufacturers have shown during the IFA fair in Berlin. The tablet contains Intel’s Broadwell chip, the Core M 5Y70: the most powerful model of the new generation of 14nm processors. To enable passive cooling of the processor in the tablet, Intel experimented with various materials for the housing of the tablets. For example, the company showed versions with a housing made of aluminum, copper and even one that was plated with gold. The latter, according to one of the Intel employees the ‘gold standard’ for tablets, was made because gold conducts heat better than other materials.
The tablets were not only shown, but benchmarks could also be run on them. Because the 5Y70-socs have to work within a tdp of 4.5W, benchmarks may differ the more often they are run. A warmed up soc and housing will provide less space for the turbo. The benchmarks showed the Broadwell processor to achieve a score of 2.67 points in the CPU test of Cinebench R11.5. The 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited finished with 50,439 points and Cloud Gate scored 522 points. This makes the Core M 5Y70 significantly faster than other tablet SOCs and also, for example, the Core processors in the U-series with higher TDPs, which are used for ultrabooks and the Surface Pro.
The tablets with gold coating and the copper version will not make it to the shops, but derivatives of the aluminum model could be built. Intel’s prototype weighed 684 grams and is 7.4 mm thick. In addition to the Core M 5Y70 processor, the tablet had a 34Wh battery and a 12.5″ screen. The beating heart of the tablet is similar to that in the Llama Mountain reference design: the pcb with the hardware is not much bigger than a smartphone.