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I've checked the Intel ARK, and all 13th gen Raptor Lake desktop CPUs, like the Intel Core i5-13500, have only "Intel® Standard Manageability (ISM)" support.

Previous generations, like from the i5-12500 up, all had support for the "Intel vPro® Enterprise".

Did Intel really quietly drop full vPro from all their 13th gen desktop parts? I've tried to search the web, but it seems nobody is talking about this. Surely somebody would notice? Is this just an error on the Intel ARK? Is there any other official resource for specs from Intel I could check?

What I'm specifically interested in is Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) over IP (remote control) that I've used to use on prev gen desktop SKUs. This would mean custom builds with built-in KVM would be much harder to get.

kubek
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  • vPro is just a marketing term, so it's impossible to know what or anything was dropped. – harrymc Feb 23 '23 at 19:29
  • @harrymc I've clarified it a bit - I'm mainly interested in KVM. ISM explicitly does not include KVM. Previously Intel would say whether the CPU supports vPro Essentials/Enterprise. Essentials pacakge does not include KVM, Enterprise does. That's why I've mentioned "full vPro" - as in the full package including KVM. – kubek Feb 23 '23 at 20:20
  • By KVM, do you mean virtualization extensions such as Intel VT or AMD-V? – harrymc Feb 23 '23 at 20:24
  • @harrymc Keyboard, Video, and Mouse (KVM) over IP - remote access to the computer. I use it on my custom built server HW over VPN. I've clarified that in my post, thanks. – kubek Feb 23 '23 at 20:46
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    vPro is not a property of the CPU. Check [my answer on a slightly different question](https://superuser.com/a/1748794). – Daniel B Feb 23 '23 at 20:52
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    @DanielB - It’s definitely a feature that’s included with selected SKUs. “Support for Intel vPro® eligible on select SKUs.” - [Intel](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/processors/embedded/13th-gen-core-product-brief.html). I have a feeling vPro no longer is a few consumer Intel products only Workstation products. – Ramhound Feb 23 '23 at 22:15
  • @DanielB To get vPro KVM working, one needs [vPro enabled motherboard (MB) and a vPro enabled CPU](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/vpro/faqs.html#:~:text=All%20versions%20of%20the%20Intel,and%20stability%20that%20define%20the). I have experience with this. When using i3 CPU without the vPro Enterprise package of features, I wasn't able to use vPro KVM even though I had a MB with Q chipset with vPro support. Yes, it's a marketing term, but it's a marketing term both MB vendors and Intel use to mean the "full" support for vPro featuers like KVM. – kubek Feb 23 '23 at 22:30

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I've also asked on the Intel community forum, and an Intel Customer Support Technician replied:

[...] there are no 13th gen Desktop processors with Intel vPro Technology for now, what we can offer you are embedded or mobile (third-party mini PCs/systems, laptops, etc.) processors in case you are more interested in its generation, however, if your priority #1 is to have this technology in all of your systems, you may consider the previous generations in the meantime.

Unless somebody has better information, we can assume this is true, and Intel has quietly dropped vPro from their desktop lineup with no media reporting on this.

kubek
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Intel vPro is a platform, not a single technology or processor feature. When a PC is equipped with a particular CPU, a particular chipset, a particular network card, a particular series of modules related to security features (such as the TPM, and others), all enabled by a particular firmware and by particular drivers, then a PC is vPro.

Intel Ark can only tell you if a particular processor is vPro compatible, but that processor must be paired with ALL the other components, none excluded, to generate a vPro device. The same processor (for example i5-12500) can be present on a vPro device and a non-vPro device. It's not the CPU, but the union of the components, technologies and features: it's a hardware-based Platform, not something you can update via firmware/software.

At the moment the Intel vPro Platform based on 13th-gen Core CPUs has not yet been presented and therefore there is no trace of it on Ark or Intel pages. When the platform will be officially launched (in a very short time), new processors will be added to Ark and information on any already launched CPUs will be updated, if these already launched processors will be compatible with the Platform.

Giacomo
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  • Intel has now updated ARK, and the mentioned i5-13500 is now eligible for "Intel vPro® Enterprise, Intel vPro® Essentials, Intel vPro® Platform". Therefore, I assume the last paragraph is the relevant bit here - "When the platform will be officially launched [...] information on any already launched CPUs will be updated [...]" and that's why I'm accepting this as an answer. I wish the previous answer by Giacomo was combined with the last paragraph here. It would be a high-quality answer. – kubek Mar 25 '23 at 13:44
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vPro-compatible CPUs are presented and made available several months after the general availability of the consumer and basic-business CPUs. This is because the vPro Platform includes a significant part of stability - the vPro Enterprise SKU are validated for Windows 10 and 11 - and Intel needs several months for driver/firmware creation and validation. Usually, a new Core gen (consumer or basic-business) is presented in late Q3 and it is available starting early Q4, while the vPro CPUs of that gen are presented in late Q1 or early Q2, up to 6 months after the consumer CPUs.

13th-gen Raptor Lake vPro CPUs will be presented at the end of April or early, and will be available inside new business devices starting mid-Q2.

Giacomo
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  • Thanks, @Giacomo! What about the previous generation mentioned in my post? Why did previous consumer products have vPro? Are you please saying it comes to these existing consumer level products later on (like i5-13500)? Is it via AMT updates or does Intel just decide to update ARK at some point when they are more confident? – kubek Mar 16 '23 at 15:04