Intel finally announced its fourth generation Intel Core family at the Computex 2013 event in Taiwan. The chips, formerly dubbed as Haswell, promise among other things, a vastly improved battery life, together with a more powerful and faster experience for users.

Intel’s staking a lot on its new processors, and has been extremely bullish in recent weeks about their chances of revitalizing the flagging PC market. But can the next generation of the Intel Core family really deliver on its promises? Is it the key to saving Microsoft’s much-derided Windows 8 experiment? Let’s take a closer look at the new competition for iOS and Android…

Meet The 4th Generation Intel Core Family

Core i3

This processor features a longer battery life, built-in security for deeper protection, smart multitasking from Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, and can be used in Ultrabooks, laptops, all-in-ones, desktops, and tablets.  It promises to deliver a smooth and seamless media experience with a suite of built-in visual enhancements, without having to add extra hardware.

Core i5

Intel’s new mid-range processor promises to deliver amazing performance, stunning visuals, built-in security for deeper protection,  plus an automatic burst of speed when you need it with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0.  The new Core i5 will allow you to experience your movies, photos, and games smoothly and seamlessly with a built-in suite of visual enhancements, while providing your device with a much-needed battery life boost.  It can be used in Ultrabooks, laptops, all-in-ones, desktops, and tablets or two-in-ones.

Core i7

The ;latest version of Intel’s super-powered Core i7 has been specially created for Ultrabooks, laptops, all-in-ones, desktops, and tablets or two-in-ones. Intel claims that devices running it will be able to deliver an exceptional level of performance whilst doing the most demanding tasks.  It allows users to effortlessly move through applications via the Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, get an automatic burst of speed when needed with the Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.02, and be able to experience movies, photos, and games smoothly and seamlessly with a suite of built-in visual enhancements without having to add an extra hardware.

Things we can expect from the new chips:

Better graphics for one thing, as the new processors feature improved Intel HD Graphics (with the Intel HD Graphics 4200/4400/4600/5000 monikers), while higher-end CPUs will come with Intel Iris Graphics 510 or Intel Iris Pro 5200, which will improve 3D gaming performance across the board (Iris Pro promises gaming at resolutions such as 1,920 by 1,080, with moderate detail settings enabled).

Touch features will come to all-in-one desktops, with monitors equipped with mobile processors and internal batteries.

Finally, and this is the biggie, we can expect a significantly improved battery life when compared to our older laptops. Intel is claiming a massive 3-hour improvement over its previous generation of chips (6.0 to 9.1 hours), citing its performance on an ultrabook HD video playback battery life test when that system’s third-generation Core i7 chip is replaced with a fourth-generation Core i7.

Devices

Intel aims to revive the dying PC industry by giving OEMs the opportunity to make better, thinner and lighter machines powered by its new CPUs.  Intel knows how important it is for people to have mobile devices, and these new CPUs are specially made for 2-in-1 devices or tablets that turn into laptops for more computing prowess. They’ve also been built with all-in-ones in mind, including those that have monitors with built-in batteries for portability around the house or office, Ultrabooks that deliver high performance though thin and light, and desktops towers packed with all the goodies.

“4th generation Intel Core processors offer the most significant gain in battery life enabling ever achieved by Intel, up to double the graphics and significant CPU performance improvements that are delivering exciting new consumer experiences,” said Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and PC Client Group general manager. “Today’s announcement accelerates a new category of 2-in-1 computing devices delivering the best of a notebook and a tablet in amazing new form factors. This year is the perfect time for consumers to refresh their old tablet or PC with these new 2-in-1 devices.”

Drawbacks

Though Intel’s new chips promise more computing power whilst consuming a lot less energy, the downside is that they come with a whopping great price tag, and I mean that literally. The Core i7-4650U (2.9GHz base, 3.3GHz turbo, 4MB cache) is priced at $454 while the Core i5-4350U (2.6GHz base, 2.9GHz turbo, 3MB cache) is being offered at $342 for a tray of 1,000 processors.

Compared with older models that were priced at $346 and $250 respectively, the new models could be quite a hurdle for OEMs manufacturing next generation devices. The big risk is that the price increase will prove to be too much of a burden for consumers, many of whom have already made it quite clear that they’re happy enough with less powerful but perfectly functional tablet devices, for example.

So will Intel’s promised permanence boost and longer battery life be enough to outweigh the insane cost of the things? That remains to be seen, but judging by the PC’s recent miserable sales performance, it’s fair to say that any device running Intel’s new chips is going to need to be pretty special if it wants to catch the eye of the average consumer.

Joining Kristin Feledy in this morning’s NewsDesk is Wikibon CTO and Co-Founder David Floyer with his Breaking Analysis on Intel’s new chips.

“It’s invigorating to see a great product like that but the PC marketplace is more about more than just chips.  Yes it will make the high-end PC slightly better and function a bit better but the real problem with the PC market is cost,” Floyer stated.  He also explained that the chips are already expensive and if you add that to the existing cost of creating these device, we’ll be seeing high-end product prices skyrocket.  Floyer stated that the PC market is broken especially with companies all wanting to generate revenue.

For more of Floyer’s Breaking Analysis on Intel, check out the NewsDesk video below: