Intel’s E-Core-Powered Processor N100 Is Over 10x More Efficient Than Core i5-7400
Intel’s E-Core-Powered Processor N100 Is Over 10x More Efficient Than Core i5-7400
The Intel Processor N-series lineup, which succeeds Pentium and Celeron line of low-end CPUs, has since been revamped with the Alder Lake-N architecture that exclusively uses E-Cores in its silicon. The N-series is meant for ultra-budget devices such as education laptops that prefers passive cooling solution in order to provide better reliability, as these chips consume no more than just 6 watts.
The Intel Processor N100 is one among the few models that falls under the Alder Lake-N family, which uses the same Intel 7 process as its more powerful siblings. However, the key difference is the lack of P-Cores, which is the higher performance core that provides much higher clockspeeds, albeit at a cost of power draw. Given the very limited power envelope, it’s logical to just use E-Cores exclusively for these chips. It also means that Hyper-threading is not available for these models as well.
Based on the scores seen in Geekbench 6, the 6-watt chip outperforms the Core i5-7400 – the same 4-core, 4-thread chip that was released back in early 2017, or more than 6 years ago. The 7th gen Core i5 required 65W to achieve similar performance, meaning N100 achieved over 10 times more power efficiency for the same levels of performance. Wccftech has noted that Core i5-7400 in practice consumes up to 90 watts in actual workloads – meaning the efficiency jump could be even larger than on paper.
Pokdepinion: That is an extremely efficient chip. Could it match Apple’s M-series, though?
