Intel Evo is the chipmaker’s specification for thin-and-light laptops, and the label shown above should ensure excellent mobile performance on laptops.
Intel unveiled Project Athena at CES in early 2019, but unlike Athena, Intel Evo is a consumer brand. It’s similar to what Intel did with Ultrabooks a decade ago to revolutionize the thin and light PC laptop market in the aftermath of Apple’s MacBook Air launch in 2008.
What is Project Athena and Intel Evo?
It is a brand found on ultraportable laptops that guarantees a certain level of performance – we’ll go over that in more detail below.
Project Athena was, essentially, the codename for this program, but Intel says that Intel Evo laptops are “co-engineered and verified through Intel’s Project Athena innovation program”. In other words, it is the process by which laptops obtain the Intel Evo branding.
And what exactly is that procedure? It is essentially a set of standards that Intel desires for laptops. Intel stated that its engineers will collaborate with companies such as HP, Dell, and others to develop laptops that meet its specifications. It will even test them before certifying them.
Intel’s former Ultrabook brand was always about go-anywhere devices with top-tier Wi-Fi connectivity back when Wi-Fi was a bit more inconsistent – the best part of a decade ago.
Nowadays, it’s more about “doing anything” than “going anywhere” – you truly can have one laptop to rule them all. And it’s entirely possible with 2-in-1, 360-degree flip laptops like the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1.
The concept is similar to Intel’s Ultrabook program, which launched in 2012, but with a much broader set of criteria. The original Ultrabook standards were based on achieving the best battery performance in the smallest possible device. They had to adhere to strict specifications for thinness, weight, responsiveness, and battery life.
As a result, the gap between Windows-powered laptops and MacBooks has narrowed.
Within a few years, plastic PC rigs gave way to sleek metal beasts like the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre x360. All of these were referred to as Ultrabooks if they met Intel’s criteria at the time.
Intel is doing it again with Evo in an attempt to spur more innovation among premium laptop makers.
See Also; Intel Will Develop MediaTek Chips
What are the requirements for Intel Evo certification?
Intel Evo-certified laptops must meet several requirements based on their design, battery, and hardware. Instant action, performance and responsiveness, intelligence, battery life, connectivity, and form factor are the six categories.
The most important takeaway is that Intel Evo laptops must have a battery life of nine hours. This includes browsing the web via Wi-Fi while the screen is set to a specific brightness level (250 nits).
So no more of this bogus “24-hour battery” promise – but only with Wi-Fi turned off and the screen brightness set to the lowest setting. Intel stated that the development of its standards criteria was based on extensive research.
It wanted to know what was most important to real-world laptop users at home and at work. It also intends to subject each laptop seeking Intel Evo certification to rigorous testing.
More recent additions to the requirements have occurred as time has passed. For example, the third generation Intel Evo badge requires the following specifications as a bare minimum:
- An Intel 12th Gen Intel SoC
- Intel Wi-Fi 6E support
- Dynamic background noise suppression
- Intel IPU6/MIPI camera or FHD camera
- Intel Visual Sensing technology
- Intel Connectivity Performance Suite
Intel Evo devices may also include Intel Arc discrete graphics and H-series CPUs.
Intel believes its criteria will actually meet the needs of modern users, and it will ensure that manufacturers do not deceive them.
See Also; Dell XPS 15 and XPS 17 Updated With 12th-Generation Intel Core Processors
Is there an Intel Evo logo?
Yes, there is; it is visible at the top of this article. Initially, Intel told us there was no Project Athena brand or logo, but there is a ‘visual identifier’. That’s exactly what they said. The logo or badge, as it is, said ‘engineered for mobile performance,’ but it appears to have been replaced by the Evo logo above.
Which manufacturers make Intel Evo laptops?
Many high-end laptops, including those from Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, are Intel Evo-certified. Google, Microsoft, Asus, Samsung, and Xiaomi are among the companies. Indeed, there are now over 40 models available.
