Skylake is the codename for Intel's forthcoming range of laptop and desktop processors which, like Broadwell, will be based on 14nm technology. See also: Skylake vs Broadwell

Skylake release date

Intel has had manufacturing issues with Broadwell, causing the release of the desktop processors to be delayed until 2015. This could possibly delay Skylake - the sixth generation - but analysts suggest this won't happen as Intel won't want to lose any ground to competitors. Currently, the only Broadwell chips you can actually buy are the Core M variants.

If this is true and Skylake desktop processors begin to ship in the second half of 2015, many enthusiasts are likely to wait and not bother upgrading to a Broadwell chip in the meantime.

Skylake specifications: features and chipsets

One of the reasons to wait for Skylake is the sheer number of new features it will bring. Intel says the chips will have the biggest PC innovations for the last 10 years. Rather than being a simple performance bump, Skylake will bring support for DDR4 memory and usher in so-called 'wire-free' computing.

Part of this will involve wireless charging using the Rezence standard, which is applicable only to laptops (and very cool), but it also means wireless displays. Neither of those things are new technologies of course, but wireless charging is new to laptops and - hopefully - the wire-free display tech will be considerably better than the frankly disappointing Wi-Di which was Intel's last attempt at wirelessly beaming video to a separate display.

PC enthusiasts will be most interested in the 'S' variant of Skylake which will be the first available desktop chip although as it's multiplier-locked, some will hold out for the unlocked K series which is likely to follow in 2016. Exact specs and details remain sketchy but leaks have offered certain chipset information.

For example, the 'S' variant supports DDR4 RAM at 2133MHz and has a TDP of 35-95W. The flagship 95W quad-core part will have GT4e GPUS. GT4e will be even more powerful than the GT3e 'Iris Pro' graphics, having 72 execution units and 64MB eDRAM cache. Lower processors in the range will have GT2 graphics integrated.

we'll see a new '100-series' chipset, codenamed Sunrise Point. The Z170 will be the replacement for Z97, which itself was not a massive upgrade from Z87. It will feature more PCIe lanes (up to 20), SuperSpeed USB and motherboards will likely have 10 USB ports as standard. There will also be up to three SATA Express ports.

The H170 chipset will - unsurprisingly - replace the H97 for mainstream PCs, while the H110 will be the 'value' offering, replacing the H81 and various other chipsets.

Skylake processors themselves reportedly have both DDR3 and DDR4 memory controllers, allowing them to be used in a variety of motherboards. They will be compatible with Socket 1151.

Skylake 'H', 'U' and 'Y' variants will use a ball grid array (BGA) package and will have a PCH (platform controller hub) which means it's basically a SoC (system-on-a-chip) like smartphone and tablet processors. This replaces, or succeeds, the old north bridge and south bridge setup, which Skylake-S will continue to use.