Intel needed a win — its new laptop CPU delivers just that

It feels cliche at this full stop , but it ’s true . Intel ca n’t catch a break . The novel Arrow Lake - H chips sense like a tide shift for Team Blue , though , leveraging the highly effective architectures the party debut with Lunar Lake to deliver performance and stamp battery sprightliness suitable of thebest laptopson the marketplace .

By the numbers

We ’ve already see to it what Intel ’s Lunar Lake C.P.U. are capable of — scan ourAsus Zenbook S 14 reviewfor more on that — but these new Arrow Lake - H offering are a scrap different . Under the hood , Intel is still using its Lion Cove and Skymont core architectures , which Arrow Lake - H shares with Lunar Lake . However , these cow dung get a larger core count , higher superpower budget , and burly integrate graphics ground onIntel ’s Battlemage architecture .

The power budget is really of import here . The base power is 45W , but Intel permit the check to boost up to 115W for short periods of time . The core split is interesting , too . You get 16 total cores , but they ’re split between six performance core , eight effective cores , and two grim - power efficient cores . If you remember , the efficient cores are actually the main carrying into action driver in this architecture , so the extra two low - power ones are simply there for a niggling extra multi - core grunt .

I ’ve brought in a few comparisons from AMD here . First is an identical laptop packing the Ryzen AI 9 365 — which Intel compares the Core Ultra 9 285H to — and 2d is anAsus Zenbook S 16with a beefy Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 . These are 10 - core and 12 - heart and soul CPUs , respectively , but they utilize co-occurrent multi - threading . The Core Ultra 9 285H does n’t , so while Intel has acoreadvantage , AMD actually has a train of thought vantage .

Intel ’s approach clearly works , as you’re able to see in both Cinebench and Geekbench . These apps typically favor a screw thread advantage , but Intel is still coming out on top . That ’s probably due to a solid trail in individual - core speed , which you could see in Cinebench .

PCMark 10 is a bit different , with all three laptop computer more or less shine in the same mountain range . That ’s not too surprising . These are high - end CPUs in some of the good laptops money can grease one’s palms , so of course of instruction they can handle basic spot and productivity chore with ease .

The difference makers are Photoshop and Premiere . Intel is providing a thin bound in Photoshop , but there ’s a massive hike in Premiere . The Battlemage GPU is certainly helping there , along with QuickSync . Gaming figure a huge rise , as well — frankly , AMD is n’t even close with its integrated computer graphic , at least until we see the Ryzen AI MAX chips later this year .

Intel is no unknown to public presentation , and candidly , it ’s not telling that Intel can outclass the rival ( especially considering the prominent power budget ) . What is telling is that Intel is able to turn in this level of carrying into action while keeping its battery life in stoppage .

Insane efficiency

It was very strange queuing up a video recording to coil on the Core Ultra 9 285H when I exit study , only to get hold it still looping the next dawning , and with around half the barrage fire to spare . That ’s the sort of efficiency Intel is offering here and without any of the typical put-on in Windows that kick in when the battery gets low enough .

In local video playback , I get nearly 21 hours of battery lifetime out of the MSI Prestige 16 — 20 hours and 46 second , to be exact . For context , theAcer Swift 14 AIwith the Ryzen AI 9 365 managed 18 hours and 36 second , theMacBook Air M3lasted 19 hours and 29 minutes , and theHP Omnibook Xwith the Snapdragon X Elite remain on for 22 hour and 4 proceedings . The Snapdragon chip come out on top , but Intel is damn close considering this is a 16 - core flagship chip .

I expected decent battery lifetime given that Intel is using the same core architectures as its Lunar Lake offerings , but with more cores and a in high spirits budget , I did n’t expect this Arrow Lake - H chip to be as close as it is to Intel ’s Lunar Lake offerings . Not only is Intel ’s operation fantastic here — its battery life take for up as as well .

Intel needed a win

Something struck me when test Intel ’s new Arrow Lake - total heat chip . It just work out . Intel has really struggled to catch a break , and although its Lunar Lake laptop computer microchip were a lowly high spot , they were n’t enough to reverse the narration established by the background Arrow Lake range . Arrow Lake - H pass water a lot of sense , though , and it prove Intel was onto something when it decided to concentre on efficiency . Now , in the end , we can see how Intel is able to surmount its design to deliver outstanding performance and bombardment life in a single package .

It ’s a great change of gait for Intel , who up to this item fight to render a fair incline between carrying into action and efficiency in laptops , rather splitting the compass in one-half with two completely different approaches to architecture . Arrow Lake - H feels like everything coming together , and for a company that ’s been promising that everything will number together before long for years , that ’s a large win .