Intel will present its 4th Generation Core processors codenamed "Haswell" at the Intel Developer Forum next week. The new mainstream chips will be based on their 22nm 3D tri-gate transistor technologya and are much more power efficient than today's chips - they consume almost half the power compared with the most power - and are mainly designed for tablets and convertibles.

The first "Haswell" chips are slated for release in the second half of 2013 and will be initially rated at 10 watts. For comparison, the power consumption on ARM chips is typically rated at below 2 watts. On the other hand, While mainstream Intel "x86" chips cannot achieve that level of power efficiency, they are considerably more powerful than ARM processors, matching the processing needs of the upcoming devices running Microsoft's full desktop versions such as Windows 8 Pro OS.

The Haswell chips will also support a Windows 8 feature called "connected standby," in which a PC never actually sleeps. By shuting the cover, the device continues to operate in a low power state, receiving emails, alerts and news feeds.

Another focus for Intel at this year?s IDF will be on what the company calls "perceptual computing," which basically means new ways to control a computer. The company is building features into its processors to support voice commands, gestures and facial recognition.

Besides the focus on energy efficient computing, Intel's agenda for IDF includes technical sessions related to the company's business client solutions (Intel vPro Technology and Intel Small Business Advantage), 10 Gigabit Unified Networking (Intel Ethernet Controller X540 and Intel Data Direct I/O Technology), Cloud Data Center Infrastructure and Micro serves, big data, ultrabooks, hardware optimizations for Windows 8 OS, Intel's next generation mobile tablets and smartphones based on Intel Atom processors, and more.