Intel’s new Core Series 3 is its answer to the MacBook Neo

“Everyday productivity.” “Value-orientated computing.” “Right-sized performance.” All of these are terms Intel is using to describe the Intel Core Series 3, Intel’s response to budget CPUs that are appearing in laptops like the Apple MacBook Neo.

Intel unexpectedly launched the Core Series 3, based on its excellent “Panther Lake” (Core Ultra Series 3) architecture and 18A manufacturing, for devices for home consumers and small business on Thursday. Intel announced that a number of partners will launch laptops based upon the chip, including Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and others. Although those laptops will be available beginning today, a number of them will begin shipping later this year, the partners said.

All of it — from the specifications down to the messaging — feels extremely aimed at trimming the fat and delivering to users just what they’ll want. Intel’s new Core Series 3 family just includes two “Cougar Cove” performance cores and four low-power efficiency “Darkmont” cores, with two Xe graphics cores on top of it. Intel isn’t really worrying about AI, with an NPU capable of just 17 TOPS, though the company claims the CPU, NPU, and GPU combined reach 40 TOPS of performance. Yes, laptops will use pricey DDR5 memory, but at the lower end: just DDR5-6400 speeds. Support for three external displays will be included, though, maximizing multiple screens for maximum productivity. Intel used the term “all day battery life” without elaboration.

Still, minimizing core count does not set up a favorable comparison against its own processors, so Intel is trying a tried-and-true strategy: compare them to older PCs. Intel Core Series 3 delivers up to 47 percent better single-thread performance, up to 41 percent better multi thread performance, and up to 2.8x better GPU AI performance, Intel said. Compared against Intel’s older Core 7 150U, Intel is saying that the new chip will outperform it by 2.1 times in content-creation and 2.7 times the AI performance.

Price remains a big question

Intel seems to be adopting Qualcomm’s strategy: Ship an X Elite processor, then follow it with a slimmed-down Snapdragon X2 Plus and base configurations that address cheaper price points. The problem that Qualcomm has faced is that its base market share has remained relatively tiny, so that the follow-up parts haven’t created many ripples. Intel has vastly more market share — about 74 percent of the market — so it stands that a lower-priced chip could be used to boost its market share.

At one time, this would have been called a ‘Celeron” chip, but Intel killed the brand in 2022.

It also comes at a time when rivals like the $599 Apple MacBook Neo have adopted divergent strategies to cut costs, like using an A18 Pro chip for phones inside it. Intel doesn’t appear to be suggesting that the Core Series 3 could be a replacement for Chromebooks, incidentally.

The big problem? We still don’t know what Intel will charge for the chip, nor do we know what you’ll be able to buy a Core Series 3 laptop for. But the early indications aren’t great. Of the listed laptops Intel promotes in its press release, I could only find Honor’s MagicBook 14, which will be sold in China for 6,999 yuan. That translates into $1,026 at current exchange rates, still hundreds of dollars higher than the MacBook Neo.

If that’s indicative of what rival PC makers will price their products, it’s not clear whether anything will truly change. Honor’s MagicBook includes 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, which seems to be far too much for a processor aimed at the budget market. Intel has played its card, but it will be up to PC makers to lower their prices accordingly.