Intel reportedly plans 4+0+4 Wildcat Lake Refresh for budget laptops

Wildcat Lake Refresh may become Intel’s next budget mobile platform for 2027.

Intel may have a more capable low-cost mobile platform planned for 2027. According to the latest leaks from Jaykihn, Wildcat Lake Refresh will feature a 4+0+4 CPU configuration, meaning four Performance cores, no Efficient cores, and four Low Power Efficient cores.

This would be a clear upgrade over the current Wildcat Lake lineup. Intel’s current Core Series 3 processors top out at 2+0+4, or six CPU cores in total. These chips use Cougar Cove P-cores, Darkmont LP E-cores, Xe3 graphics with up to two Xe cores, and an NPU rated at up to 17 TOPS. Intel targets this series at value laptops and edge systems.

Intel cancelled Nova Lake 6-core, now we know why

The Refresh lineup would therefore increase the total CPU count from six to eight cores. More importantly, it would double the number of P-cores from two to four. That change should have a larger effect on general application performance than simply adding more low-power cores, assuming clocks and power limits remain similar.

This may also explain why Intel reportedly cancelled the 6-core Nova Lake mobile SKU . That chip was said to use a 2+0+4 configuration, placing it close to the existing Wildcat Lake lineup. If Wildcat Lake Refresh moves to 4+0+4, Intel’s budget segment for 2027 would get eight cores instead of another six-core entry design.

Nova Lake is still expected to cover higher-end segments, including desktop parts with much larger CPU configurations. The cancelled part appears to concern only the low-end mobile SKU. In that space, Intel may have decided that a Wildcat Lake Refresh is cheaper and better aligned with budget laptop designs.

It’s not clear if Wildcat Lake Refresh will be part of the Core 400 series or stick to the current 300 lineup. But given how Intel likes to refresh and rebrand its chips, I’m leaning towards the first option.

Update : We confirmed with our sources Wildcat Lake Refresh is part of Core 7/5 400 series

Source: Jaykihn

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