The hottest concept in the PC industry right now is the AI PC concept. So what exactly constitutes an AI PC? Recently, Intel not only launched the new Core Ultra Meteor Lake NUC development kit at a developer event but also introduced the standard definition of AI PCs together with Microsoft.
Simply put, Microsoft and Intel believe that an AI PC must meet the following three requirements: First, the processor must be equipped with an NPU, CPU, and GPU; second, it must support Microsoft Copilot; third, there must be a Copilot physical button on the keyboard.
In fact, these three requirements are not difficult to meet. For example, many Meteor Lake and Ryzen processors currently have a separate NPU unit, but notebooks equipped with these processors lack the Copilot physical button.
It is worth mentioning that Intel has also proposed its simpler definition standard for AI PCs: the CPU, GPU, and NPU must have dedicated AI-specific acceleration features, which is also the design philosophy of Intel’s own Meteor Lake products.
Intel states that processors should be able to allocate work based on usage requirements. For example, the NPU can provide higher efficiency for low-intensity AI tasks such as photos and audio, extend battery life, and ensure privacy security; while the CPU and GPU can participate in high-performance AI tasks. If needed, the NPU can also run large language models in conjunction with the GPU.
Intel also mentioned that running large AI models involves a variety of types and high computational demands, so there are stringent requirements for memory capacity and speed. In the future, memory capacity could become a key limiting factor when executing large language models, and some tasks may require 16GB or even 32GB of memory.
However, Microsoft has not specified any requirements for AI PCs in terms of memory capacity. Microsoft Copilot may rely more on cloud computing power, with less demand for local memory, while Intel considers the scenario of users running large local AI models.
It’s noteworthy that Microsoft Copilot is currently unavailable in mainland China, raising the question of whether Microsoft and Intel will set a separate AI PC standard for the Chinese mainland market.
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