Daily Tech News 25 February 2023

• Intel's 4nm process node has entered production, with the first consumer product - the company's 14th generation Meteor Lake CPUs - due late this year. (WCCFTech)
  
  It takes months for a chip to go through an advanced production pipeline, so that delay is entirely expected.
  
  TSMC and Samsung have both started production at 3nm, so this doesn't quite catch Intel up with the most advanced process technology, but Intel expects its own 3nm process to come on line before the end of the year - to be followed by 2nm in the first half of 2024 and 1.8nm in the second half.
  
  All these nm numbers are fictional - if transistors were really 2nm across they wouldn't work - but the three companies use roughly the same methods for calculating their made up numbers so the lies are at least comparable.
  
  Meteor Lake looks to be a laptop-only CPU generation; there will be a refreshed version of Raptor lake for desktops this year, probably still based on 7nm. This might reduce Meteor Lake's power consumption, which would be good news. Alder Lake (12th gen) and Raptor Lake (13th gen) laptops are fast but are not known for amazing battery life.
  
  AMD meanwhile is using a mix of TSMC's 4nm, 5nm, 6nm, and 7nm for its own chips. Apple has reserved all of TSMC's early 3nm production - known as N3 - but there are four new variants of 3nm coming online over the next year and a half, and next year's Zen 5 chips (Ryzen 8000 or 9000) are planned to use one of those.

• Microsoft's upcoming Surface Laptop Studio 2 will use one of those power hungry 13th generation chips. (WCCFTech)
  
  The current model uses a 4 core 11th gen chip so the new model with 14 cores will be a lot faster, but battery life is going to take a step backwards, something we've already seen with the Surface Laptop 5 (the non-Studio version)
  
  I also predict it won't have the Four Essential Keys.
  
  
  
• Not exactly tech news but Warner Bros is producing a new series of Lord of the Rings films. (Variety)
  
  If you thought they'd already produced three films from the three volumes of the Lord of the Rings, you'd be correct, so it's not clear what story these will follow. Amazon has already strip-mined the appendices for its Rings of Power train wreck, so it's probably not that.
  
  Still, I expect nothing good to come of this.
  
  
  
• How will the Universe end? (Quanta)
  
  Scientists now predict that the Universe will be renewed for a fourth and final season and then be abruptly cancelled just as shooting begins.
  
  
  
• If you want a classic microcomputer but just want it to sit there and look cute because it's easier to emulate them than maintain fussy failing hardware Rocky Bergen has you covered. (Rocky Bergen)
  
  Free to download. You'll need a colour printer, some sharp scissors, and glue.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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