As we decently enter the era of the 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake Chromebooks (Acer Spin 713, ASUS Flip CX9, CX5400, CX5500, etc.), as we see every year, the next generation is ready to take the plunge. . We’ve talked about this a number of times before, but Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processor series will bring big updates, speed boosts, battery gains, and GPU upgrades to the Chrome OS ecosystem. . We expect to see a few of these devices at least mentioned at CES in a few weeks, but there’s a new Alder Lake Chromebook class coming up that we just learned about in recent days: Alder Lake N.

What is Alder Lake N?

As we all know, Intel is not the best with its naming schemes. We have all kinds of processors with all kinds of different features, different price points, and different power consumption needs. While the general public can see 12th Gen Intel (or something like Intel Evo) and move on, there is usually more to the story when it comes to Intel SoCs.

For Alder Lake, it looks like there could be multiple variations, and if you’re really concerned about top-notch performance or battery life, you want to know the difference between them. According to Notebook Check, there are a handful of Alder Lake setups, and they were disclosed as follows:

• S1 (specialized office and mobile): 8 large hearts (with HT) + 8 small hearts (no HT) = 24 threads
• S2 (office): 6 large hearts + no small hearts = 12 threads
• P1 (mobile): 6 large + 8 small = 20 threads
• P2 (mobile): 2 large + 8 small = 12 wires
• M (mobile ULV): 2 large + 8 small with LPDDR5 / 4x support and only PCIe 4.0 instead of 5.0
• N (ULV): possibly 2 large + 2 small

Intel hasn’t officially announced Alder Lake N from what I can find, but with this leak and some findings in the Chromium repositories, I think it’s safe to say that Chromebooks with this particular processor are coming and it there are actually a few along the way.

As you can see in the first commit, the reference to chipset-adln is specific to Alder Lake N. We haven’t seen this in the repositories until now, but shortly after “Nissa” development began, “Skyrim” followed. So far, those are the only two Alder Lake N Chromebooks we’re working on, but I suspect many more will follow.

With Tiger Lake already having pretty much all the processing power you need in a Chromebook, Alder Lake N should deliver similar performance with less power consumption and probably no fan required. If Intel is to tackle the growing ARM-fueled threat that is on its doorstep in the Chrome OS universe, it must deliver performance on a power budget.

When you look at the list of Alder Lake chip variants above, you see ULV next to the M and N variants, which means Intel’s ultra-low voltage specification, which means they will have a lower TDP for save battery. If Intel can just keep the performance speed of Tiger Lake chips and get much better battery life without fans in Chromebooks, I think these devices could be very intriguing for professionals and consumers alike.

The speed on Chromebooks is at a point right now that I don’t see much need for an increase for most users over the next couple of years. Instead, the focus should be more on thin, light, and battery-efficient Chromebooks. With the upcoming Snapdragon 7c + Gen 3 and MediaTek Kompanio 800/1000 chips in Chromebooks, Intel needs an answer for high-end devices that consume battery. Alder Lake N could be part of that fix, and we’ll be keeping an eye on their arrival at some point in 2022.