Intel has shipped the new Haswell processors to major PC manufacturers and first laptops running these low-power chips should be available for consumers before this quarter ends. Haswell is Intel’s next generation processors for laptops released in 2013. The low-power characteristics are suitable for tablets and hybrid laptops. Intel promises that the Haswell family delivers the most significant improvement in battery life in the company’s history.

The company also confirms the future availability of Merrifield processors for smartphones and Bay Trail processors for tablets. Both processor families are included in the low-power Atom category. The Bay Trail quad-core lineup is promised to be the most powerful Atom chips ever produced and it could be used for hybrid laptops as well.

Unfortunately, Intel revealed recently that its first batches of Haswell chips are still plagued with a bug. It causes USB 3.0 devices to disappear when the laptop wakes from standby. This should be a minor issue as replugging the devices will correct the issue. Consequently, consumers should be wary of this problem when buying early Haswell-equipped laptops.

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