Intel’s Panther Lake chips are not only good, they outperform Apple’s M5

As you can see, these two new Intel chips are now at the top of the pack in terms of multi-core performance. And when it comes to the X9 388H, that’s by a good margin. Coming back with a chip that outperforms Apple’s latest M5 by 33 percent is no easy feat, but Intel has pulled it off. The same applies to the graphics division, where Intel has taken the lead in integrated graphics. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say this, but Intel is clearly back on top.

The aforementioned Core Ultra 7 258V was tested in the Dell 14 Plus, a similarly sized laptop 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. It is worth noting that this also exceeds the current generation MacBook Air M4.

Intel still can’t compete with Apple on single-core performance, and this is where the improvement is most modest. It’s also not as fast as the M4 Pro or M4 Max, which still have the edge in every category, although the difference in multi-core performance between the X9 and M4 Pro is only 14 percent. Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max are also close by. I’d also like to test the Core Ultra X7358H against upcoming processors in next-gen laptops like Snapdragon X2 Elite Enhanced, But I don’t have them on hand yet to make comparisons.

However, the graphics are truly outstanding, especially when you get to the X9 chip. For once, including the brand’s “X” in the name seems worthwhile. Both the X7 and X9 chips use the B390 GPU, which represents the top of the line in Intel’s architecture (outside Discrete desktop graphics cards). You get 12 Xe cores in the X7 and X9 configurations, and the only difference between the two is the clock speed. Intel claimed that Panther Lake graphics were 77 percent faster than previous-generation Lunar Lake laptops, and while I didn’t see quite as big a jump, it’s hard to make a direct apples-to-laptop comparison.

Either way, as you can see above, Intel has made a big step forward in integrated graphics. Big numbers are what you want in standards, yes, but as always, what matters is how that translates into the actual product you buy.

What does more performance really mean?

Photo: Luke Larsen

There are two useful applications for putting stronger graphics into a basic environment: Thin and light laptop. First, it speeds up all kinds of tasks, be it video editing or local AI inference, without having to deal with a thicker, more expensive device.