Intel releases Kaby Lake chips for Apple's MacBook Pro, iMac

Fariha Khan
January 4, 2017
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The desktop-oriented S-series Intel Core i7-7700K has 4.2 GHz speed with 4.5 GHz Turbo Boost peak speed, having 8 MB of cache, and support for HyperThreading. The Core i7-7700 features 3.6 GHz speed while its peak is 4.2 GHz bundled 8 MB cache and HyperThreading. The i-7700K has a thermal design profile (TDP) of 95W, with the i7-7700 having just 65W TDP.

Then it is the Core i5-7600K, having a 3.8 GHz and up to 4.2 GHz Turbo Boost. It boasts 6 MB of L3 cache, but does not have HyperThreading. The Core i5-7600 comes in at of 3.50 GHz core with 4.10 GHz Turbo Boost. The Core i5-7500 has a 3.4 GHz clock speed, with a 3.8 GHz top speed. As with the i7 variants, the i5-7600K requires 95W, with the i5-7600 having a 65W TDP.

All new chips have Intel HD Graphics 630 integrated graphics core in addition to support for 10-bit (HDR) HEVC and VP9 hardware acceleration.

According to Tim Cook (Apple Chief Executive), there were great Mac desktops in the product pipeline and the Intel Kaby Lake S-series will be included in a new iMac.

E3 Xeon Processor expansion

Intel has some E3 Xeon processors that make use of the Kaby Lake architecture, couple additional ones were added to the line recently that are quad-core. The higher-end model has a frequency of 3.1 GHz and a 4.2 peak speed on a single core while the other one packs a 3.0 Ghz speed, with a single core max speed of 4.0 Ghz. E3 Xeon processors feature a 65W TDP.

The E3 processors might be used in a new Mac Pro, earlier Xeon processors not making use of the Kaby Lake architecture are more useful for any possible refresh of the 3-year-old powerhouse computer.

H-series for laptops

The H-series processors for premium desktop substitutes have 7 processors. But none has a TDP greater than 45W. The i7-7920HQ is the high-end choice having a frequency of 3.1 GHz, and a top speed of 4.1 GHz. You can find quad-core processors in the gang by means of 2.5 GHz, with a dual-core i3 model at 3.0 GHz.

All of the H-series processors also use the Intel HD 630 integrated graphics chipset. The Iris Pro chipset is not a part of any of the new chips. Apple has just updated the MacBook Pro so an enclosure of new H-series processors in near future does not really seem possible.

T-series processors

Intel has launched the T-class Core i7 and Core i5 processors as well having lower energy needs of 35W. The Core i7-7700T leads the line having 2.90 GHz with 8 MB L3 cache, 3.8 GHz peak speed and HyperThreading. The Core i5-7600T features a 2.80 GHz core clock, 6 MB L3 cache, a 3.70 GHz Turbo Boost speed and no HyperThreading. The Core i5-7500T is a 2.70 GHz processor, and may touch 3.3 GHz.