Laptops with 5G connectivity have been around for a few years, but after the first crop came out in 2019, we said that the slow pace of network and modem improvements meant that you should wait until this summer to buy one.
Indeed, we’re just starting to see the first modems that could enable 5G connectivity on a wider range of budget laptops, including the Intel 5G 5000 add-in modem launched at Computex 2021 this weekend.The 5G 5000 is the first of what will likely be several standalone 5G modems from Intel’s partnership with MediaTek. The two firms joined forces after Intel abandoned its own 5G modem project in early 2019. Intel creates the firmware and software drivers, then hands them off to MediaTek and Fibocom, another 5G modem firm, to design and produce the hardware and the chipset. The result is a compact 5G modem that can fit into a vacant M.2 slot on a laptop’s motherboard. All but the tiniest laptops typically have at least two M.2 slots, one of which is reserved for the storage drive and one of which can be used for add-in cards.
Intel says that the 5G 5000 M.2 card will work on any 5G network worldwide that uses sub-GHz technology. It’s got built-in eSIM support, which should mean painless activation, assuming that carriers get on board. (In the US, carriers have been reluctant, although all three major carriers now support it.) The 5G 5000 is compatible with Windows, Chrome, and Linux, offering the tantalizing prospect of inexpensive Chromebooks that can connect to 5G networks.
The modem supports download speeds of up to 4.7GBps, and it can upload at a maximum of 1.25GBps, according to the chip giant. It’s also backward-compatible with LTE, offering 1.6GBps Cat 19 download speeds. It does not support millimeter-wave 5G, however, which Verizon and a few other carriers have been rolling out in high-density downtown areas.
Intel announced that laptops from Acer, Asus, and HP will launch laptops with the 5G 5000 modem this year, and more than 30 laptop models with the card will be available by the end of next year.
The 'Tiger Lake-U Refresh' Series: 5GHz Top Speeds
At Computex this weekend, Intel also launched two new laptop processors in its latest 11th Generation “Tiger Lake” family. The Core i7-1195G7 and the Core i5-1155G7 are U-Series chips, slightly more powerful than most of the existing lineup.
U-Series CPUs are lower-wattage chips intended for thin laptops and designed for operation in their challenging thermal environments. Some chip models tend to offer dramatic boost clocks for quick up-and-down speedups, ideal for tasks that can make good use of brief bursts of speed.
The new additions flesh out the low-power line of 11th Generation Core CPUs thus...
Most notably, the new Core i7 has a maximum boost clock speed of 5GHz, making it the top-clocked processor SKU in its class. Other H-Series Tiger Lake SKUs, recently announced and tested by PC Labs, can range as high as 5GHz, but they’re typically higher-wattage processors that only show up in beefier gaming laptops and power machines intended for pro content creation and other demanding tasks. These machines typically have the chassis bulk and cooling hardware to manage hotter-running CPUs.
The new processors will both feature Intel's Iris Xe integrated graphics. The introduction of these two new SKUs in the Tiger Lake-U lineup will also spread the availability of Wi-Fi 6E-enabled networking solutions. Intel says that more than 60 consumer laptop models with the new U-series Refresh chips are planned. They’ll join existing laptops based on other Tiger Lake chips, which made their debut at CES 2020.