Buying a Windows laptop has become confusing. Intel sells Core and Core Ultra chips side by side, and it is hard to tell which one is newer or faster just from the name. The latest leaks suggest 2027 could add to the confusion.
Intel is reportedly working on two new laptop processor families for 2027. They are called Moon Lake and Wildcat Lake Refresh. The leaker Jaykihn says Wildcat Lake Refresh could arrive in the second quarter of 2027. Moon Lake is expected to follow in the fourth quarter.
Moon Lake launches later, but that does not make it the faster chip. Intel appears to be building the two families for two different kinds of laptops. Each one targets a different buyer, so release order will not tell you which processor performs better.
Moon Lake and Wildcat Lake Refresh: New Chips with Different Priorities
Moon Lake is the one to watch if you care more about battery life than speed. Intel reportedly designs it for cheap, low-power laptops, including models that run without a cooling fan.
Earlier leaks say it could have up to four Darkmont efficiency cores and no performance cores at all. The rumored 6W power rating points the same way. Intel appears to want low energy use, not high benchmark scores.
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Wildcat Lake Refresh should offer much more processing power. Rumors say it could have up to four performance cores and four efficiency cores. That doubles the performance cores in today’s Wildcat Lake chips.
Leaks also mention Intel vPro support and power limits you can set as high as 35W. Those specs would fit it into a wider range of laptops.
The two chips also differ in how Intel makes them. Wildcat Lake Refresh reportedly uses the improved 18A-P process for its compute tile. Moon Lake is expected to use the standard 18A process.
Intel’s processor lineup
Moon Lake and Wildcat Lake Refresh are not the only chips Intel has in the works. The company is also developing Nova Lake, which should power its next desktop processors and high-performance laptop chips.
Some desktop models may get larger caches, a move aimed at competing with AMD’s Ryzen X3D processors.
Rumor has it that Nova Lake-HX will launch under the Core Ultra 4000-series name. Intel is also working on Razor Lake-AX, a project built around strong integrated graphics. It is unclear whether that one will reach consumer laptops.
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Intel could also bring back its older Raptor Lake-HX design and sell it as Core 2000 HX. That would add yet another name to an already crowded lineup.
Most of this comes from leaks. Intel has not confirmed launch dates for Moon Lake or Wildcat Lake Refresh. Still, if these plans go ahead, you will need to look past the product name when you shop for a laptop. Check the specs and the chip’s architecture. A newer-sounding name does not always mean newer technology.
