The overall Linux state for Xe MAX hasn't been too clear and we haven't had any hardware access to this Intel laptop discrete graphics hardware to report our own findings, but their developers have now cleared up the situation. So, at the very least you'll see markedly better benchmark and battery numbers in the Xe Max laptops over models with Nvidia MX chips.Back in October Intel announced Iris Xe MAX as discrete graphics for laptops. That's similar to AMD's SmartShift, though SmartShift juggles CPU and GPU resources in both directions. Intel also revealed that it hopes to bring Iris Xe Max graphics to basic sub-$1,000 PCs by the end of June 2021.ĭeep Link is part of Intel's latest generation of its Adaptix performance tuning suite for partners, and includes Dynamic Power Share, which automatically allocates power and cooling to the computer processing unit when the GPU is idle, for better sustained processing performance. Intel offers a little something extra as incentive: Deep Link, which allows a system to combine the integrated and discrete Xe GPU's processing power for creative tasks like AI inferencing and rendering (Additive AI) and video encoding (Hyper Encode). It's intended to obviate the need for partners to turn to Nvidia's GeForce MX line of graphics for laptops capable of casual 1,080-pixel gaming and entry-level creation. Though Iris Xe, the integrated version baked into Intel's 11th-gen mobile processors, has already arrived in the Asus ZenBook 13 and others, Iris Xe Max is Intel's first discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) in quite a while. Intel's latest flavor of its upgraded graphics architecture, Iris Xe Max, rolls out this week in three debut systems: the Acer Swift 3x, Asus VivoBook Flip TP470 and Dell Inspi2-in-1.

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