Intel needed a win — its new laptop CPU delivers just that
It feels cliche at this point, but it's true. Intel can't catch a break. The new Arrow Lake-H chips feel like a tide shift for Team Blue, though, leveraging the highly efficient architectures the company debuted with Lunar Lake to deliver performance and battery life worthy of the best laptops on the market.
We've already seen what Intel's Lunar Lake processors are capable of — read our Asus Zenbook S 14 review for more on that — but these new Arrow Lake-H offerings are a bit 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 chips get a larger core count, higher power budget, and beefier integrated graphics based on Intel's Battlemage architecture.
The power budget is really important here. The base power is 45W, but Intel allows the chip 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 cores, eight efficient cores, and two low-power efficient cores. If you remember, the efficient cores are actually the main performance driver in this architecture, so the extra two low-power ones are simply there for a little 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 second is an Asus Zenbook S 16 with a beefier Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. These are 10-core and 12-core CPUs, respectively, but they use simultaneous multi-threading. The Core Ultra 9 285H doesn't, so while Intel has a core advantage, AMD actually has a thread advantage.
MSI Prestige 16 (Core Ultra 9 285H)
MSI Prestige 16 (Ryzen 9 AI 365)
Asus Zenbook S 16 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370)
Cinebench R24 (single/multi)
128 / 918
111 / 819
110 / 871
Geekbench 6 (single/multi)
2,776 / 15,773
2,832 / 14,059
N/A
PCMark 10
7,508
7,352
7,229
PugetBench for Photoshop
7,717
7,656
7,248
PugetBench for Premiere Pro
3,520
3,107
2,971
3DMark Time Spy
4,018
3,565
3,207
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
3,494
3,088
3,219
Intel's approach clearly works, as you can see in both Cinebench and Geekbench. These apps typically favor a thread advantage, but Intel is still coming out on top. That's probably due to a solid lead in single-core speed, which you can see in Cinebench.
PCMark 10 is a bit different, with all three laptops more or less falling in the same range. That's not too surprising. These are high-end CPUs in some of the best laptops money can buy, so of course they can handle basic office and productivity tasks with ease.
The difference makers are Photoshop and Premiere. Intel is providing a slight edge in Photoshop, but there's a massive boost in Premiere. The Battlemage GPU is certainly helping there, along with QuickSync. Gaming sees a huge boost, as well — frankly, AMD isn't even close with its integrated graphics, at least until we see the Ryzen AI MAX chips later this year.
Intel is no stranger to performance, and frankly, it's not impressive that Intel can outclass the competition (especially considering the larger power budget). What is impressive is that Intel is able to deliver this level of performance while keeping its battery life in check.
It was very strange queuing up a video to loop on the Core Ultra 9 285H when I left work, only to find it still looping the next morning, and with around half the battery to spare. That's the kind of efficiency Intel is offering here and without any of the typical tricks in Windows that kick in when the battery gets low enough.
In local video playback, I got nearly 21 hours of battery life out of the MSI Prestige 16 — 20 hours and 46 minutes, to be exact. For context, the Acer Swift 14 AI with the Ryzen AI 9 365 managed 18 hours and 36 minutes, the MacBook Air M3 lasted 19 hours and 29 minutes, and the HP Omnibook X with the Snapdragon X Elite stayed on for 22 hours and 4 minutes. The Snapdragon chip comes out on top, but Intel is damn close considering this is a 16-core flagship chip.
I expected decent battery life given that Intel is using the same core architectures as its Lunar Lake offerings, but with more cores and a higher budget, I didn'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 performance fantastic here — its battery life holds up equally as well.
Something struck me when testing Intel's new Arrow Lake-H chip. It just worked. Intel has really struggled to catch a break, and although its Lunar Lake laptop chips were a small highlight, they weren't enough to reverse the narrative established by the desktop Arrow Lake range. Arrow Lake-H makes a lot of sense, though, and it proves Intel was onto something when it decided to focus on efficiency. Now, finally, we can see how Intel is able to scale its design to deliver great performance and battery life in a single package.
It's a great change of pace for Intel, who up to this point struggled to provide a clean ramp between performance and efficiency in laptops, rather splitting the ranges in 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 come together soon for years, that's a big win.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Confirmed Losses Of Russian Aircraft Mount After Ukrainian Drone Assault
New satellite imagery and an official video have revealed more about the scale of destruction and damage inflicted on Russian airfields in Ukraine's unprecedented drone attacks last weekend. Today, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which carried out the drone attacks, published previously unreleased drone footage showing the raid underway. At the same time as the SBU video was released, Ukraine also announced more details of the drone attacks, which were carried out under Operation Spiderweb. You can catch up with our previous reporting about the operation and its aftermath here. СБУ показала унікальні кадри спецоперації «Павутина», у результаті якої уражено 41 військовий літак стратегічної авіації рф — СБ України (@ServiceSsu) June 4, 2025 The SBU claims that its drones used artificial intelligence (AI) during at least some aspects of the operation. 'During the operation, modern UAV control technology was used, which combines autonomous artificial intelligence algorithms and manual operator intervention,' the SBU said. 'In particular, some UAVs, due to signal loss, switched to performing the mission using artificial intelligence along a pre-planned route. After approaching and contacting a specifically designated target, the warhead was automatically triggered.' While we cannot confirm this, TWZ has, in the past, detailed exactly how AI can be harnessed for lower-end drones. Ukraine's SBU says its drones used AI during Operation Spiderweb: "During the operation, modern UAV control technology was used, which combines autonomous artificial intelligence algorithms and manual operator intervention."In particular, some UAVs, due to signal loss, switched… — Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) June 4, 2025 Initially, Ukrainian authorities claimed to have hit 41 aircraft, in total, including Tu-95MS Bear-H and Tu-22M3 Backfire-C bombers, as well as A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft. However, these were clearly not all destroyed or even damaged. Subsequently, Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that 'at least 13 Russian aircraft were destroyed.' Among those aircraft, the new video confirms that several of the Tu-95MS bombers were already loaded with Kh-101 conventionally armed cruise missiles, ready for launch against Ukraine, as seen in the image below. This fact underlines how big a threat these aircraft are to Ukraine and reinforces the fact that they are legitimate targets. Now, with the new satellite imagery, verification of at least some of these previous claims is becoming somewhat easier. Here's what we know so far for each of the airfields targeted: Soon after the drone strikes, ground-level videos of Belaya, which is situated in Russia's eastern Irkutsk region, began to appear online, showing smoke rising from the base, confirming that at least something was hit. Footage of a Ukrainian FPV strike drone flying towards Russia's Belaya Airbase, already heavily base, home to a number of bombers, was hit this afternoon. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 1, 2025 Thereafter, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery obtained by TWZ from the U.S.-based ICEYE US pointed to at least four Tu-95MS bombers having been destroyed or at least damaged at Belaya. However, the resolution and the nature of SAR, which does not show the same kinds of details that would be available in visual spectrum imagery, made it difficult to definitively determine the state of any of the aircraft. That has since changed. Now, with new satellite imagery from Maxar, we can clearly see the remains of three destroyed Tu-95MS and four destroyed Tu-22M3 bombers at Belaya. While we cannot be certain of the operational status of the aircraft that were destroyed, most were arranged along the flight line or in blast pens among active aircraft, so there's a high possibility that these were frontline assets. Additional satellite images of the Russian Belaya Air Base by Planet Labs. — Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) June 4, 2025 Belaya: — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 4, 2025 5/ Additional high-resolution images from @AirbusDefence taken on 4 June over the Belaya airbase show an even clearer picture of destroyed Tu-95 and Tu-22 aircraft. — Open Source Centre (@osc_london) June 4, 2025 On June 1, video footage emerged showing Olenya, located in far northwestern Russia near the Barents Sea, from the perspective of cameras on first-person-view (FPV) type drones. This earlier footage suggested that Olenya was among the hardest-hit bases, with the drone videos showing that Tu-95MS bombers and an An-12 Cub cargo aircraft had been targeted. A satellite image of Olenya taken on June 3 from Planet Labs appeared to show three Tu-95MS and one An-12 damaged and/or destroyed, but was too low-resolution to be conclusive. Now, additional satellite imagery from Airbus Defense and Space, Maxar, and Planet Labs provides a better understanding of the destruction at Olenya, with telltale burn marks on the tarmac consistent with the destruction of five aircraft, at least three of which can be confirmed as Tu-95MS bombers. At opposite ends of the same flight line are further scorch marks, as seen in the oblique image in the embedded tweet below. Here, the nearest aircraft destroyed was likely the An-12, supported by a comparison with previous satellite imagery showing the transport intact in this location. It's not clear what aircraft might have been targeted at the other end of the flight line from the An-12 (the area seen at the very top of the frame in the oblique image). The most likely candidate is another Tu-95MS, which would appear to be consistent with some of the original video footage from the attack. 4/ Imagery taken on 23 May by @Satellogic of the Olenya airbase shows that two Tu-95 were at this location. A possible transport aircraft An-12 also appears to have been destroyed and another unidentified aircraft – both visible on the 3 June @AirbusDefence image posted above. — Open Source Centre (@osc_london) June 4, 2025 New raw footage of Russia's Olenya airbase burning today, filmed by a Ukrainian FPV strike Tu-95 bombers and an An-22 transport plane can be seen ablaze. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 1, 2025 Clear satellite imagery that might definitely show damage to aircraft at Ivanovo has yet to emerge, although a video released today by the SBU shows two A-50 being targeted. The location was presumably Ivanovo, where these radar planes are home-based. Based on lower-resolution satellite imagery, there have been claims that two A-50s were at least hit at Ivanovo, although it's by no means certain that this is the case. If the aircraft were hit, there is currently no evidence that they were destroyed outright. From new satellite imagesfrom Ivanovo's Severny air base, one A-50 AEW is confirmed to be destroyed and second one is hit, not sure if one was propably not in operational condition and was only parked in the airfield. — Tomi (@TallbarFIN) June 3, 2025 At the same time, it's worth bearing in mind that Russia's fleet of A-50s — two examples of which have already been destroyed in the air by Ukraine — normally conducts its wartime operations from forward bases closer to Ukraine. While A-50s rotate in and out of Ivanovo periodically, examples that might have been hit there could also be inactive aircraft, which are known to be stored at the base. the question is what ac they actually are a lot of inoperable A-50 at Ivanovo AB…we need evidence and no guessing — ben-reuter (@benreuter_IMINT) June 3, 2025 Indeed, the aircraft seen in the SBU video may well have been non-operational, with highly weathered radomes, while at least one aircraft doesn't have a full set of engines fitted. Prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was estimated to have nine A-50s, including a number of modernized A-50Us, in active service. As well as the two combat losses since then, one of these aircraft was damaged in a drone attack while on the ground at a base in Belarus, and its current status is unknown. Any further losses to the A-50 fleet will be very keenly felt. A high-resolution satellite image of Dyagilevo from Planet Labs, taken on June 2 and reviewed by TWZ, showed no obvious signs of damage to any aircraft there. Still, some aircraft may have been damaged by shrapnel, against which relatively thin-skinned aircraft are notably vulnerable, and this would not necessarily be visible even in higher-resolution imagery. Satellite images of Dyagilevo Airbase as of June 2, 8:55 UTCThe airbase housed 3 Tu-95MS (Bear-H), 5 Tu-22M3 (Backfire-C), 14 Il-78M or Il-76MD (Midas or Candid) and 2 Su-30SM (Flanker-C).There was no serious damage after the Ukrainian special operation. In the right… — AviVector (@avivector) June 2, 2025 Clear satellite imagery showing potential damage to aircraft at Ukrainka is yet to emerge. What little visual evidence we have of this airfield after the drone strikes is inconclusive, although there are claims, at least, of a single Tu-95MS having been hit. For now, these claims need to be treated with caution. #UkraineRussiaWar #Pokrovsk #Kupyansk #ChasovYar #Toretsk #Kursk #Belgorod #DniproA Tu-95MS was hit at the Ukrainka air is more than 6,000 kilometers away from the Russian border — Koba (@Roberto05246129) June 3, 2025 It's also worth noting that the tires, frequently scattered over the wings and upper fuselages of Russian bombers and other combat aircraft, and which are employed in this manner to confuse image-matching seekers on incoming munitions, appear to have been misidentified by some observers as evidence of damage or scorch marks. While cloud cover has hindered the opportunity for more rapid and verifiable analysis of the results of Operation Spiderweb, we can now say, with certainty, that at least six (and more likely seven) Tu-95MS and four Tu-22M3 bombers were destroyed. While far short of some of the earlier Ukrainian claims, this still represents a significant loss to Russia, not least because it's impossible to replace the Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3, both of which have been out of production for decades, as you can read more about here. While the new SBU video shows multiple drones landing on their targets before presumably exploding, it is possible that some made it to their final destinations and failed to detonate. Additional satellite imagery could well reveal more aircraft destroyed or damaged, although, with each passing day, Russia is better able to conceal the results of the raid, disposing of wreckage and moving aircraft around to make it that much harder to create an accurate tally. Russians quickly replaced some of the destroyed aircraft with undamaged aircraft/decoys on their airfields, placing them in the exact same spots. — MilitaryNewsUA (@front_ukrainian) June 4, 2025 At the same time, Russian aircrews are already making clear their reaction to the drone strikes, referencing the destroyed aircraft in the form of slogans on glide bombs launched by tactical combat aircraft, as seen below: This is what Russian servicemen are now writing on FAB-500 UMPK guided aerial bombs installed under the wings of a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber:"For Tu-22M3""For Tu-95MS""For Long-Range Aviation""For the train" — Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) June 4, 2025 Whatever the final losses to the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Ukrainian drone strike will also have sent a shockwave all the way to the top of the Russian leadership, as well as military planners around the globe. The carefully planned operation visibly exposed the vulnerability of some of Russia's prime strategic assets. For now, at least, there appears to be no quick-fix solution to protecting these high-value aircraft. This may well force Russia toward an even more highly dispersed positioning model, which will severely limit the bombers' effectiveness for Ukraine operations. Contact the author: thomas@
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
AMD Ryzen AI Max Geekbench scores reveal a power drop in 300-series APUs
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Not all laptop chips are created equal, and that's as true of AMD's innovative Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APU as any. AMD unveiled the Strix Halo APU in January as the Ryzen AI Max 300 series, debuting three consumer chipset variants and four variants made for workstation-class machines. While we normally expect a large performance gap in between, say, a Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 9. But, with a name like Ryzen AI Max, you may not be expecting such a performance gap between the three APUs in the AI Max series. An APU, or accelerated processing unit, is a chipset that combines the CPU and an integrated graphics tile. AMD coined the term back in 2011. AMD uses APU for all of its mobile chipsets, from the Ryzen AI Max to the Ryzen AI 300 series. So far, we've seen only systems powered by the 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, including the Asus ROG Flow Z 13 gaming laptop. However, the Ryzen AI Max family offers more budget-friendly options, too, from the 12-core Ryzen AI Max 390 down to the 8-core Ryzen AI Max 385. Last week, we finally saw the 8-core Strix Halo chipset's performance. An HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a featuring this budget-friendly APU has been benchmarked on Geekbench 6, and the results were uploaded to the Geekbench archives. So, how does the 8-core Ryzen AI Max PRO 385 stack up against the 16-core 395? Let's take a look. According to results uploaded to Geekbench on May 27, the HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a with an AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 385 APU scored a Geekbench single-core score of 2,489 and a multicore score of 14,136. We expected these scores to be higher. However, a few factors may explain the larger-than-expected performance gap. First, there's the hardware matchup (8 cores vs. 16). The Ryzen AI Max PRO 385 also has a lower max frequency than the flagship, which could explain the dip in single-core performance. The difference in RAM between the HP ZBook Ultra configuration Laptop reviewed and the ZBook scores uploaded to Geekbench could also be behind the score differences, as RAM affects how Geekbench scores are calculated. Our take: It has long battery life, a sharp, bright display, solid speakers, and incredible performance and graphics. Specs: Windows 11 Pro, AMD Ryzen™ AI Max+ PRO 395 (up to 5.1 GHz max boost clock, 64 MB L3 cache, 16 cores, 32 threads), 64 GB memory; 2 TB SSD storage, 14" diagonal 2.8K touch display, AMD Radeon™ 8060S Deal Geekbench's HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a (Ryzen AI Max PRO 385) Laptop Mag's HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a (Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395) Laptop Mag's Asus ROG Flow Z13 (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) Geekbench 6 Single-core (Higher is better) 2,489 2,837 2,995 Geekbench 6 Multicore (Higher is better) 14,136 17,721 19,457 Chipset CPU cores CPU threads GPU cores Max GHz Cache NPU cTDP Ryzen AI Max+ 395 16 cores 32 threads 40 cores 5.1GHz 80MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max 390 12 cores 24 threads 32 cores 5.0GHz 76MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max 385 8 cores 16 threads 32 cores 5.0GHz 40MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 16 cores 32 threads 40 cores 5.1GHz 80 MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 12 cores 24 threads 32 cores 5.0GHz 76MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max PRO 385 8 cores 16 threads 32 cores 5.0GHz 40MB 50 TOPS 45-120W Ryzen AI Max PRO 380 6 cores 12 threads 16 cores 4.9GHz 22MB 50 TOPS 45-120W While the Ryzen AI Max 385 and its professional variant will still be interesting chipsets — as both still feature the larger Radeon 8060S integrated graphics tile — these early benchmarks clarify a few things. The Ryzen AI Max 300 series starts at 385 and tops out at 395. The Ryzen AI 300 Strix Point series starts with the Ryzen AI 9 365 and tops out with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. The Ryzen AI 7 350 and Ryzen AI 5 340 are both technically on AMD's Krackan Point architecture. Based on AMD's naming convention, the Ryzen AI Max 300 is designed to sit directly atop the Ryzen AI 300 series. So, as the entry-level Ryzen AI Max chip, the 385's Geekbench scores are just above what we've seen from the top end of the Ryzen AI 300 series. We're not certain yet how expensive the Ryzen AI Max 385 will be compared to its slightly less powerful Ryzen AI 300 series counterparts, as only two Ryzen AI Max systems are on the market so far. The HP ZBook Ultra with the Ryzen AI Max 385 starts at $2,599. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Flow Z13 doesn't have a Ryzen AI Max 385 variant but costs $2,099 for the slightly more powerful Ryzen AI Max 390 chipset. But based on those prices, you are paying quite a bit more for the Ryzen AI Max chipset and its more powerful Radeon 8060S iGPU. The real question is, is the Ryzen AI Max worth its high price tag? Right now, that's still up for debate. Why Apple's next macOS might signal a shift. Here's why A 1mm fan inside your laptop's hard drive? Here's how the micro xMEMS fan works Don't buy an Nvidia RTX 5060 laptop, wait for the RTX 5050
TechCrunch
an hour ago
- TechCrunch
AMD takes aim at Nvidia's AI hardware dominance with Brium acquisition
AMD's latest acquisition could help reduce Nvidia's market dominance when it comes to AI hardware. Semiconductor giant AMD on Wednesday announced it acquired AI software optimization startup Brium. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Brium is a startup that appears to be in stealth mode. The startup builds machine learning applications to enable AI inference, the process a trained AI model uses to draw conclusions from new data, across a variety of different hardware options, according to a blog post on Brium's bare-bones website. Cutting through that jargon a bit, Brium can help retrofit AI software to work with different AI hardware than it might have been designed for originally. In a press release, AMD said its acquisition of Brium will help its commitment to 'building a high-performance, open AI software ecosystem that empowers developers and drives innovation.' While AMD is saying that this acquisition helps create a more open AI ecosystem, which isn't wrong, it seems clear that it's also meant to help AMD overcome one of its biggest roadblocks: a large percentage of AI software is being designed for Nvidia hardware and chips. Brium's sole blog post, which came out in November 2024, talked about the industry's reliance on Nvidia and called out AMD specifically. Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW 'In recent years, the hardware industry has made strides towards providing viable alternatives to Nvidia hardware for server-side inference,' the blog post reads. 'Solutions such as AMD's Instinct GPUs offer strong performance characteristics, but it remains a challenge to harness that performance in practice as workloads are typically tuned extensively with Nvidia GPUs in mind. At Brium, we intend to enable efficient [model] inference across a range of hardware architectures.' This is AMD's fourth strategic acquisition in the past two years toward the company's goal of fostering an open-source AI ecosystem, according to the press release. The company previously acquired Silo AI (in July 2024), (October 2023), and Mipsology (August 2023). TechCrunch has reached out to AMD for more information.
