Intel is reportedly reintroducing its Raptor Lake architecture on mobile devices under the Core 2000HX banner. These so-called Raptor Lake Next CPUs could be ideal for making affordable laptops, thanks to their support for DDR4 memory.
Rebranding old silicon is nothing new, but when it comes to Intel’s Raptor Lake, it’s certainly getting a good innings. Since its initial launch in January 2022, Raptor Lake has already had one major refresh with the launch of Intel’s 14th-gen lineup, and we’ve also seen this architecture rebranded as Core 100-series (Core 7 150U), and Core 200-series (Core 7 240H) chips.
According to regular tech leaker Golden Pig, this latest refresh will be designated Core 2000HX and not 200HX as previously rumoured. One driver behind this refresh is likely to be the fact that Raptor Lake chips are cheaper to produce than Intel’s multi-tile Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs. Another side effect of choosing Raptor Lake, of course, is its support for both DDR5 and DDR4 memory. This will allow laptop manufacturers to take advantage of DDR4’s lower prices compared to DDR5 to offer cheaper devices that still carry a good amount of RAM.
While the leaker didn’t share any specific CPU configurations or model names, previous reports from leaker @jaykihn0 on X indicate that Raptor Lake Next will only feature HX (performance class) processor variants on mobile, adding that Intel is planning at least three models: an 8P+16E Core 9, an 8P+12E Core 7, and a 6P+8E Core 7. The leaker also said that these chips lack vPro and SIPP support, meaning they will not be offered in enterprise-class devices.
By choosing a four-digit Core 2000HX naming scheme, Intel avoids clashing with existing processor series, so users won’t mistake them for the newer Core Ultra 200 Arrow Lake chips. For example, the latter features a dedicated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for AI tasks such as Microsoft’s Copilot, which isn’t featured in Raptor Lake designs. On top of this, Raptor Lake and thus Raptor Lake Next use old Intel Iris Xe/UHD graphics tech, which lack some modern features available on the newer Xe-LPG/Battlemage graphics, such as ray tracing support.
While there’s no word on the release schedule for these mobile Core 2000HX chips, considering their similarities with the desktop Raptor Lake Next, they may well also release in early 2027.
