Will manufacturers be refreshing their lineups with Broadwell soon? Should I buy now, or wait?

Loganrmcclellan · Jan 11, 2015

I am planning on getting a laptop for school in the next two-three weeks or so. Is it reasonable to expect manufacturers to either drop Broadwell U chips into existing models, or refresh their lineups entirely in the upcoming weeks? I know that some very slim and very expensive Broadwell laptops were unveiled at CES, but those are to expensive for my purposes.

Are the chances good that some sub $500 Broadwell laptops with either the i3 5005u/5010u or Pentium 3805u will release soon? If so, will the price of Haswell laptops drop at all? Should I wait for Broadwell, or should I get a Haswell laptop right now?

Edit: I should add that one of the reasons I am interested in getting a Broadwell laptop is the alleged battery life gains. The laptop will rarely be used for gaming, if ever.

vegettonox · Jan 11, 2015

The next level of processor is probably not going to be a huge difference, especially if you are focused on gaming or multimedia. You would be fine with a solid I5 or I7 quad core.

jaguarskx · Jan 11, 2015

Laptops using the new Broadwell CPUs are just starting to appear. The only ones I know of so far are the Lenovo ThinkPad E450 and E550 starting at about $575. Lenovo rates them at 8 hours and 9 hours, respectively, and are 2 / 3 hours longer than the laptops they will be replacing (E440 & E540) but they are too new to have been reviewed by any sites yet.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/?menu-id=thinkpad_e

More laptops should be coming between now and March.

ebalong · Jan 12, 2015

Is Broadwell-U all that we are going to get in mobile chips until Skylake mobile? I had heard some other rumors that Intel was not going to release mainstream mobile Broadwell (30-47 watt chips), and just skip right to Skylake for that tier. Like the OP, I am contemplating when to buy a new laptop, but I will need something more powerful than the Broadwell-U offerings (for AutoCAD). How long a wait until Skylake mobile? Are the "refreshed" Haswell chips as good as it's going to get for a long while?

jaguarskx · Jan 12, 2015

To the best of my knowledge all Broadwell CPU will be "U" models; there will around 48 models.

Skylake CPUs are not expected to be released until sometime in Q3 2015; I believe. Laptops will probably be available 1 or 2 months later.

If you need a quad core CPU, then Haswell is the CPU to get until laptops with quad core Skylake CPUs become available.

morerice · Jan 12, 2015

The main offering of CPU based on the new Broadwell architecture is lower TDP hence longer battery life. Performance wise you won't see any substantial difference between Haswell based chips.

Broadwell Y ultrabooks have been available since October last year. Broadwell U based systems will be available in a month or two.

jaguarskx · Jan 12, 2015

morerice :

Actually, laptops using Broadwell U CPUs have already started to be available. The link I provided above in my 1st post are for the new Lenovo ThinkPad E450 and E550 laptops using Broadwell CPUs.

To clarify my previous post I made today, Skylake CPU are expected to be announced in the 2nd half of 2015 so that means anywhere between July and December, not just Q3.

morerice · Jan 12, 2015

@ jaguarskx. Yea, you are right. It's just that the website still only advertise 4th gen CPUs so I got confused.

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Will manufacturers be refreshing their lineups with Broadwell soon? Should I buy now, or wait?

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