As you can see, these two new Intel chips now sit at the top of the stack in terms of multi-core performance. And when it comes to the X9 388H, it’s by a healthy margin. Coming back with a chip that outperforms Apple’s latest M5 by 33 percent is no easy feat, but Intel pulled it off. The same is true in the graphics department, where Intel has taken the lead in integrated graphics. It has been a long time since I’ve been able to say this, but Intel is clearly back on top.
The Core Ultra 7 258V listed above was tested in the Dell 14 Plus, a laptop of similar size to the MSI Prestige 14 Flip. As you can see, there’s a significant 52 percent increase in multi-core CPU performance, as well as a 54 percent GPU upgrade, as tested in 3DMark Steel Nomad Light. Notably, that also surpasses the current-generation M4 MacBook Air.
Intel still can’t compete on single-core performance against Apple, and that’s where the improvement is the most modest. It’s also not as fast as the M4 Pro or M4 Max, which still have the edge in every category, though the difference in multi-core performance between the X9 and the M4 Pro is only 14 percent. Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max are just around the corner, too. I’d also love to test the Core Ultra X7358H against upcoming processors in next-gen laptops like the Snapdragon X2 Elite Enhanced, but I don’t have them on hand yet for comparisons.
The graphics really stand out, though, especially when you get to the X9 chip. For once, the inclusion of the “X” branding in the name actually feels worthwhile. Both the X7 and X9 chips use a B390 GPU, representing the top of the line in Intel’s architecture (outside of discrete desktop graphics cards). You get 12 Xe cores in the X7 and X9 configurations, the only difference between the two being clock speed. Intel claimed that Panther Lake graphics were 77 percent faster than in the previous-gen Lunar Lake laptops, and while I didn’t quite see that much of a jump, it’s hard to get a direct apples-to-apples comparison with laptops.
Either way, as you can see above, Intel has pulled off a huge move forward in integrated graphics. Big numbers are what you want in benchmarks, yes, but as always, how that translates into an actual product you buy is what matters.
What More Performance Really Means
Photograph: Luke Larsen
There are two useful applications for putting stronger graphics in an otherwise basic, thin-and-light laptop. First, it speeds up all types of tasks, whether that’s video editing or local artificial intelligence inferencing, without having to deal with a thicker, more expensive device.