In 2012 we’ll see the next generation of Ultrabooks featuring the Ivy Bridge platform and integrated HD4000 graphics. Existing Ultrabooks utilize HD3000 graphics which aren’t adequate for recently released blockbuster games (see the ‘Gaming’ section of our Samsung Series 5 review). HD4000 graphics are going to be very welcomed as part of the next generation of Ultrabooks for both gaming and video encoding/decoding purposes. A benchmark from Intel comparing HD2000 and HD4000 graphics gives us an idea of how HD4000 will perform, even if we don’t have a direct comparison to HD3000 yet (note that the benchmark compares desktop processors, but the changes in performance from HD3000 to HD4000 are relevant).
At IDF Beijing 2012, Intel has a demo showing the Ivy Bridge / HD4000 platform running three taxing tasks across three separate monitors simultaneously. You’ll see video encoding, gaming (Portal 2), and HD video playback all at the same time. Quite impressively, the computer handles it with relative ease. NetbookNews shot a video of the demo in action:
The demonstration is using a standard laptop, but the same platform will find it’s way into Ultrabooks that will be launched this year.
Any date for the first IvyBridge+HD4000 Ultrabook ?
Intel has said that Ivy Bridge is due out “estimated early Q2 2012”. Given what we’re seeing at IDF Beijing 2012, it sounds like they are still on track for that date.
I’m waiting for a Samsung 900×4 with Ivy bridge + HD4000. Or an HP 14 Spectre.
My estimate for first availability is still June/July.
The chart looks like 2000 to 4000.
Wonder why they didn’t show 3000? Because it’s closer to 4000 than 2000?
The non-K 2600 chip used in the slide is a popular SKU used by retail markets. That’s why the comparison is like that. Only the 2600K chip uses HD Graphics 3000.
Thanks for catching this, updated to make it clear.
That’s nice. Too bad all the video encoders out there that make use of Nvidia’s CUDA or Intel’s Quick Sync for video encoding are crappy. 1080p hardware video decoding isn’t new and I highly doubt it supports 10 bit h.264 videos that’s starting to get some attention from video encoding fans. So, I guess, the main improvement is for games.
I am waiting for the new samsung series 9 to be released in germany it still will have sandy bridge and i will feel cheated once they announced a later sandy bridge version lol oh well ..
there seem to be rumours that the samsung series 9 release will be delayed which isnt so nice but the good part is that it will mean its comming with ivy bridge (hopefully just a few weeks delay)
Cool !! the SAmsung 900×4 it’s a really beautiful ultrabook.
Hi,
Would anyone know how the 4000 compares to Nvidia cards. What woudl the equivalent Nvidia GTX be?
There is no equivalent in GTX series. HD Graphics 4000 is as good as GeForce GT 525M (3D Mark Vantage P GPU ~3000).
Thanks heaps for helping out. That is really useful to know.
Those are two I’ve been looking at too. Unfortunately the Samsung was a huge letdown when I realized it doesn’t really have DisplayPort. It has something they’ve labeled “Display Port” but it’s actually a VGA port with a Samsung-proprietary connector. Ultrabooks with HDMI aren’t interesting because they won’t drive a 27″ 2560×1440 display.
Output limit isn’t a hardware issue, 2560×1440 and higher has been supported since HDMI 1.3 specification and 1.4 supports 4K resolutions.
So it’s mainly a software/drivers imposed limit, mainly because they don’t think the HDMI would be used for higher than standard HDTV resolutions and holdovers from DVI support.
The HDTV industry will be moving towards 4K resolution screens over the next few years though and Windows 8 won’t be imposing resolution limits.
So hopefully we’ll be seeing systems that can support higher resolution over HDMI soon.
Yeah, on a quad-core system everything runs smooth. I want to see how it works on an ultrabook with a low power, dual-core chip.
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