Intel presentation slides leaked by FanlessTech suggest the company’s new Skylake processors could being impressive performance and power consumption improvements to future models of Apple’s Mac lineup.
The slides, obtained by FanlessTech, state that Skylake’s 14-nanometer architecture should improve CPU performance by 10 to 20 percent over Broadwell systems, while simultaneously advancing battery life by as much as 30 percent. In a given example, a laptop with 8.5 hours of battery life could jump to 11.3 hours.
Performance for the platform’s integrated graphics chip should see an speed improvement of anywhere between 16% and 41%, with the biggest boost coming to the Y-Series Skylake chips, which could find their way into the 12-inch MacBook. The MacBook has been criticized in reviews for its less than stellar graphics performance.
Skylake U-series chips could find their way into Apple’s MacBook Air lineup, while the H-series would likely power higher-end machines like the MacBook Pro. The desktop S-series could find their way into the iMac or Mac mini.
Recent rumors have indicated the Intel Skylake processors could ship sometime in October, so if any Macs did debut with the new platform, it would likely be in the late fall timeframe, sometime after the launch of OS X El Capitan.
