Complete list of Intel Arrow Lake HX laptops (Core Ultra 9 285HX, 275HX)

Complete list of Intel Arrow Lake HX laptops (Core Ultra 9 285HX, 275HX)
By Andrei Girbea, last updated on January 29, 2025

This article discusses the 2025 Intel Arrow Lake HX mobile microarchitecture, meant for high-performance workstations and gaming laptops.

This follows up on the Intel 13th-gen and 14th-gen Raptor Lake hardware, introducing Core Ultra 9 200HX (and lower) processors as successors for the Core i9 HX platforms implemented in performance computers from 2023/2024. It’s also the Intel alternative to AMD’s Fire Range HX hardware for 2025.

Design-wise, the Core Ultra 9 HX hardware is still a hybrid implementation with Performance and Efficiency Cores, but new-generation Cores (Lion Cove P-Cores, Skymont E-Cores) with a new overall die design. More on that further down.

Overall, based on what we know at this point, Arrow Lake HX hardware shows a slight uplift in sustained performance over Raptor Lake, as well as minimally improved framerates in games in certain scenarios. We’re looking at 5-20% between use cases. On top of these, Arrow Lake HX is also significantly more efficient on battery power than Arrow Lake, with multiple implications.

However, what matters perhaps even more is the fact that Arrow Lake HX processors are paired with Nvidia’s RTX 5000 Blackwell graphics chips and implemented in many new devices with improved cooling and features over their predecessors.

Let’s go a little more in-depth over the hardware platform, and then we’ll go through the lists of notebooks available today that are built on Arrow Lake HX hardware.

Arrow Lake HX hardware particularities

As mentioned earlier, Arrow Lake HX hardware is a hybrid design with Lion Cove Performance Cores and Skymont Efficiency Cores, built on TSMC’s 6 nm N6 node. These are the same cores implemented by the Arrow Lake H and Lunar Lake V platforms, but in different amounts and with a different overall CPU design.

In a few words, the Arrow Lake HX chiplets allocate most space on the tile for the CPU, with up to 24 Cores/ 24 Threads and 36 MB of L3 Cache, with a TDP of 55+ W sustained. While the XoC and IO tiles are built on TSMC’s 6nm 6N processor, the Compute Tile is completely redesigned over Raptor Lake, and built on TSMC’s 3nm N3B process. There’s still an iGPU in there, but a smaller one with limited capabilities and built on older generation Xe-LPG graphics, not on the Xe2 architecture implemented by Lunar Lake V and Arrow Lake H processors.

The NPU isn’t much either, at around 13 TOPS peak – perhaps some would have expected an Intel AI NPU 4 that would have made the platform Copilot+ certified and would have offered improved capabilities for AI workloads. That NPU is included with Lunar Lake hardware, but not with Arrow Lake. However, this is more than compensated by the massive processing power offered by the latest Nvidia GPUs.

Overall, these make sense for a platform designed to be implemented in high-power high-performance mobile computers alongside a dedicated GPU.

On the Performance Cores side, Core Ultra 200HX processors implement up to 8x P-Cores arranged around a common ring-bus interconnect, with dedicated L2 Cache memory and up to 36 L3 Cache memory shared among all cores. The Lion Cove cores lack HyperThreading by design, to keep the die size in check and improve efficiency to some extent. This approach also allowed Intel to completely redesign the chiplet, as explained more in-depth in this article.

On the Efficiency Cores side, up to 16x Skymont E-Cores are implemented on the Core Ultra 9 HX processors, arranged around the same Compute ring-bus as the P-Cores and sharing the same L3 Cache memory. Intel claims IPC gains for Skymont E-Cores over Gracement E-Cores of up to 20-30%, allowing in this way the CPU to mitigate the lack of HyperThreading on the P-Cores when it comes to multi-threaded sustained performance, and even surpass Raptor Lake implementations by a fair amount.

intel arrowlake HX summary

A few other aspects are worth mentioning as well, mostly around the improved I/O on this hardware. Among others, it allows for CPU-attached gen5 SSDs. High-speed CUDIMM memory is not supported by the mobile platform in this generation, that’s exclusive to the desktop Raptor Lake S hardware.

Here’s a quick summary of the Arrow Lake HX Core Ultra 9 and Ultra 7 processors, and I’ve also included the 14th-gen and 13th-gen i9 mobile processors for comparison, although comparing the two platforms this way doesn’t make much sense, as explained earlier.

Core
Ultra 9 285HX		 Core
Ultra 9 275HX		 Core
Ultra 7 255HX		 Core
i9-14900HX		 Core
i9-13980HX		 Core
i9-13900HX
Lithography TSMC 6N Intel 7
Design TDP 55-160W 55-157W
Cores (P+E)/Threads 8+16/24 8+16/24 8+12/20 8+16/32 8+16/32 8+16/32
P-Cores max Turbo 5.5 GHz 5.4 GHz 5.2 GHz 5.8 GHz 5.6 GHz 5.4 GHz
E-Cores max Turbo 4.6 GHz 4.6 GHz 4.5 GHz 4.1 GHz 4.0 GHz 3.9 GHz
Graphics Intel XeG 4Xe Cores,
up to 1.95 GHz		 UHD 32 EUs,
up to 1.65 GHz
Cache 36 MB Smart cache 36 MB Smart cache
Memory support
 DDR5-6400 DDR4-3200, DDR5-5600

And this is the complete lineup of Core Ultra 200HX processors.

intel arrowlake HX processors

intel arrow lake core ultra 200HX2 1

All in all, expect Arrow Lake HX laptops to offer an uplift in general performance over the previous-gen Raptor Lake HX hardware. More importantly, perhaps, the hardware is implemented in a handful of fresh designs for 2025, with updated builds and ergonomics, the fastest Nvidia RTX Blackwell graphics, as well as the latest features and novelties available today.

At the same time, aside from the sustained performance, Arrow Lake HX hardware should benefit from a notable increase in efficiency on battery power, both for casual use and demanding activities away from the wall. Furthermore, with the actual CPU die size being ~30% smaller than with Raptor Lake, we could expect Core Ultra HX hardware implemented successfully in some portable formats as well, alongside the expected heavyweight desktop replacement notebooks.

I’d also expect interesting behavior on lower-power and quiet profiles, something I’m especially interested in when playing games these days. We’ll know more about it once we get to review some of these 2025 notebooks.

List of all laptops built on Intel Arrow Lake HX (Core Ultra 200HX) hardware

This section lists all the available notebooks built on Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200HX hardware.

Most of them are full-size full-performance laptops meant for serious workloads and gaming, with either premium-tier chassis with the latest and greatest features (such as miniLED or OLED displays, mechanical keyboards, vapor chamber cooling, lots of RGB bars and elements), or more budget-friendly models with mid-tier specs and features.

However, you’ll also find this Intel HX hardware implemented in a handful of more compact and lightweight all-around laptops, the kind you can still comfortably grab along to work/school and won’t draw unwanted attention with their chassis design.

As far as what’s the Best Intel Arrow Lake HX laptop of this list, that’s going to vary based on your needs and expectations. Among the heavyweights peformers, though, I’d look into the MSI Titan 18 and the Asus ROG Scar 18 first, while among more compact and even more affordable 16-inch models, the updated Lenovo Legion Pro and Asus ROG Strix models are worth your attention. We’ll know more about them once we get to review them, so stay around for our updated articles.

We’re updating the list as it goes.

Model Screen Hardware (*up to) Graphics (*up to) Weight
Acer Predator Helios 16 AI 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 1ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
6 lbs / 2.73 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, Predator design elements and RGB elements;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 1ms panel, glossy;
per-key RGB keyboard with mechanical switches for WASD and arrow keys;
good IO – most ports on the back edge, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts, multiple heatpipes;
90 Wh battery, 330W charger,
4x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: –
Acer Predator Helios 18 AI 18-inch 16:10 mini LED, matte
4K 120Hz 7ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
7.1 lbs / 3.2 kg
18-inch variant of the Helios 16, with 6x speakers and slightly beefed up cooling,
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, RGB elements;
16:10 mini LED 4K 120Hz 7ms panel, matte
99Wh battery, 400W charger,
6x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: –
Acer Predator Helios 16S AI 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5070Ti (175W),
MUX		 from
6 lbs / 2.73 kg
thinner and lighter version of the regular Helios 16, all-round laptops with metal chassis;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 3ms panel, glossy; 4-zone RGB keyboard;
up to Core Ultra 9 with RTX 5070Ti Max-Q, lower power than the full Helios 16;
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts, multiple heatpipes;
76 Wh battery, 230W charger,
2x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: –
Alienware 16 Area 51 16-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 3x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 up to
7.6 lbs / 3.45 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, Alienware design elements and RGB elements;
16:10 IPS 2.5K 240Hz 3ms panel, matte – no miniLED or OLED option;
per-key RGB keyboard with optional Cherry MX low-profile mechanical switches; optional RGB glass touchpad;
good IO, mostly on the back edge, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
updated dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts, multiple heatpipes;
96 Wh battery, up to 380W charger,
4x speakers, 2MP or 8 MP IR camera
Price: from $1999
Alienware 18 Area 51 18-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 300Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 3x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 up to
9.8 lbs / 4.46 kg
larger 18-inch variant of the Alienware 16,
16:10 IPS 2.5K 300Hz 3ms panel, matte;
2.5H Lan port only on this 18-inch model
Price: from $2199
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 16-inch 16:10 mini LED, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
6.3 lbs / 2.85 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, ROG design elements and RGB elements;
16:10 mini LED 2.5K 240Hz 3ms panel, matte;
per-key RGB keyboard without NumPad; glass touchpad;
good IO – all on the sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
updated tri-fan cooling with rear heatsink and vapor chamber + heatpipes;
90 Wh battery, up to 380W charger,
4x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: from $2499
Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 18-inch 16:10 mini LED, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
7.7 lbs / 3.5 kg
18-inch version of the Scar 16, with larger chassis and slightly beefed-up cooling;
keyboard with NumPad section;
same other features and specs as the Scar 16
Price: from $2599
Asus ROG Strix G16 16-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5080 (175W),
MUX		 from
6 lbs / 2.73 kg
mid-tier full-size performance and gaming chassis, a more basic version of the Scar 16, lighter weight and with less RGB;
16:10 IPS 2.5K 240Hz 3ms panel, matte – mini LED only on the Scar;
4-zone or per-key RGB keyboard without NumPad; glass ?? touchpad;
good IO – all on the sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
lower power than the Scar, and mostly offered with 5070 115W or 5070Ti 140W graphics;
updated tri-fan cooling with rear heatsink and heatpipes (vapor chamber only on the Scars);
90 Wh battery, up to 380W charger,
4x ?? speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: –
Asus ROG Strix G18 18-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5080 (175W),
MUX		 from
7.54 lbs / 3.42 kg
18-inch version of the Strix G16, with larger chassis and slightly beefed-up cooling;
keyboard with NumPad section;
same other features and specs as the Strix G16, but with the larger cooling, there’s a better change you can find this with a 5080 than on the more compact variant
Price: –
HP Omen Max 16 16-inch 16:10 IPS or OLED
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5080 (??W),
MUX		 from
5.92 lbs / 2.7 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build,
black or white colors, Omen design elements and RGB elements;
16:10 IPS matte 2.5K 240Hz 3ms panel, or 16:10 OLED glossy 2.5K 240Hz 1ms;
per-key RGB keyboard with NumPad, glass touchpad;
good IO – most on the back edge; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts, vapor chamber, “hyper cryo compound”;
83 Wh battery, 330W charger,
2x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: from $2699
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 1ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
2.72 lbs / 6 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, Legion design elements and RGB elements;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 1ms panel, glossy;
per-key RGB keyboard; glass touchpad;
good IO – all ports on the sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
updated dual-fan cooling with rear exhausts and vapor chamber;
99 Wh battery, up to 400W charger,
4x speakers, 5MP camera
Price: from $2399
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 1ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5070Ti (140W),
MUX		 from
2.53 lbs / 5.6 kg
mid-tier full-size performance and gaming chassis, mostly metal build, Legion design elements without RGB;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 1ms panel, glossy;
24-zone RGB keyboard; plastic ?? touchpad;
good IO – all ports on the sides, with TB4; WiFi 7;
updated dual-fan cooling with rear exhausts and heatpipes;
80 Wh battery, up to 245W charger,
2x speakers, 5MP camera
Price: from $1399
Lenovo Legion 7i 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 1ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5070 (115W),
MUX		 from
4.6 lbs / 2.1 kg
premium portable all-around chassis, metal build, Legion design elements without RGB;
thinner and lighter than the Pro model, but lower power hardware and settings;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 1ms panel, glossy;
per-key RGB keyboard; glass touchpad;
good IO – some on the back, some on sides, with TB5; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with rear exhausts and heatpipes;
84 Wh battery, up to 245W charger,
2x speakers, 5MP camera
Price: from $1599
Lenovo Legion 5i 16-inch 16:10 OLED, glossy
2.5K 240Hz 1ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5070 (115W),
MUX		 from
4.4 lbs / 2.0 kg
mid-tier portable all-around chassis, part metal build, Legion design elements without RGB;
thinner and lighter than the Pro model, but lower power hardware and settings;
16:10 OLED 2.5K 240Hz 1ms panel, glossy;
24-zone RGB keyboard; plastic ?? touchpad;
good IO – some on the back, some on sides, with TB4; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with rear exhausts and heatpipes;
80 Wh battery, up to 245W charger,
2x speakers, 5MP camera
Price: from $1299
MSI Vector 16 HX AI 16-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5080 (175W),
MUX		 from
5.9 lbs / 2.65 kg
mid-tier full-size performance and gaming chassis, mostly plastic build, MSI design elements without RGB;
16:10 IPS matte displays, 2.5K 240Hz or 2K 144Hz panels;
24-zone RGB keyboard with NumPad; plastic touchpad;
good IO – ports on backs and sides, with TB4; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with quad exhausts and heatpipes;
80 Wh battery, 24oW charger,
2x speakers, 2MP camera
Price: –
MSI Raider 18 HX AI 18-inch 16:10 IPS or mini LED, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms or 4K 120Hz 7ms		 Intel Core Ultra 285HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 3x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
7.8 lbs / 3.5 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, MSI design elements and RGB;
hardware refresh of the 2024 model;
a simplified version of the Titan, available in a wider range or specs and with a more affordable price;
16:10 matte display, either IPS or mini LED panels;
per-key RGB keyboard, glass touchpad;
excellent IO – ports on back and sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts and multiple heatpipes;
99 Wh battery, 400W charger,
6x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: from $2499
MSI Stealth 18 HX AI 18-inch 16:10 IPS or mini LED, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms or 4K 120Hz 7ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 1x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (150W),
MUX		 from
6.4 lbs / 2.9 kg
premium portable all-round chassis, magnesium alloy build, MSI design elements without RGB;
hardware refresh of the 2024 model;
16:10 matte display, either IPS or mini LED panels;
per-key RGB keyboard, glass touchpad;
excellent IO – ports on back and sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts and vapor chamber;
90 Wh battery, 280W charger,
6x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: from $2499
MSI Titan 18 HX AI 18-inch 16:10 mini LED, matte
4K 120Hz 7ms		 Intel Core Ultra 285HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 4x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 from
8 lbs / 3.63 kg
premium full-size performance and gaming chassis, all-metal build, MSI design elements and RGB;
hardware refresh of the 2024 model reviewed here, with slight internal updates;
dedicated 18-inch chassis, unlike other models that are beefed up variants of their 16-inch versions;
16:10 mini LED 4K 120Hz 7ms panel, matte;
per-key RGB keyboard with CherryMX Ultra-Low profile mechanical switches (some, not all keys), RGB glass touchpad;
excellent IO – ports on back and sides, including Thunderbolt 5; WiFi 7;
most powerful Ultra HX + RTX 5080/5090 implementation, at 270W crossload
dual-fan cooling with quad-exhausts, vapor chamber, heatpipes;
99 Wh battery, 400W charger,
6x speakers, 2MP IR camera
Price: from $3499
Schenker Key 18 Pro 18-inch 16:10 IPS or mini LED, matte Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
4x DDR5 slots, 4x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 ??
portable workstation chassis, new 2025 model, metal build;
16:10 IPS 2.5K or mini LED 4K panels;
per-key RGB keyboard, with NumPad; glass touchpad;
4x RAM slots and 4x SSD slots, full-power HX+ RTX implementation;
details on cooling to be updated;
98WH battery, 5MP camera, ??x speakers
tba
XMG Neo 16 16-inch 16:10 IPS or mini LED, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5090 (175W),
MUX		 5.5 lbs / 2.5 kg
mid-tier full-size performance and gaming chassis, clamshell Tongfang barebone format, metal build;
16:10 IPS or mini LED 2.5K 240Hz panel, matte, 180 hinge;
per-key RGB keyboard, with NumPad and spaced arrows; glass touchpad;
good IO – ports on back and sides;
dual-fan quad-exhaust cooling with multiple heatpipes, compatibility with XMG OASIS external water cooler
99.8WH battery, 2x speakers
tba
XMG Pro 16 Studio 16-inch 16:10 IPS, matte
2.5K 240Hz 3ms		 Intel Core Ultra 275HX,
2x DDR5 slots, 2x SSDs		 GeForce RTX 5070Ti (140W),
MUX		 ??
mid-range all-purpose chassis, new design for 2025, metal build;
16:10 IPS 2.5K 240Hz panel, matte, 180 hinge, no mini LED option;
per-key RGB keyboard, with NumPad; glass touchpad;
good IO – ports on back and sides;
same motherboard as on the Neo, but smaller format and lower power hadware;
??WH battery, 2x speakers
tba

That’s about it for this article.

I’m updating it as new Arrow Lake HX notebooks are announced, and as we get to review some of these configurations.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this Intel HX mobile hardware, and if you spot any device that should be listed in here and is not yet included, please let me know in the comments section.

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Author at Ultrabookreview.com
Article by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com. I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.

4 Comments

  1. NikoB

    January 28, 2025 at 2:35 pm

    The description states that "The Compute Title is completely redesigned over Raptor Lake, and built on TSMC’s 3nm N3B process.", but in the table TSMC 6N process technology. How to understand this?

    And the consumption level clearly indicates that there is no "3NB" there, otherwise it would exceed Zen5 with "4nm", and Zen5 consumption is lower in the HX series. Which, by the way, to its shame, does not have a 256-bit memory controller, but still has a useless PCI-E 5.0 bus, most of the 24 lines of which are not used at all and cannot be used due to the extremely slow 128-bit memory controller.

    At the same time, Zen5 Halo has a 256bit memory controller (I hope it will be about 180-200GB/s, like the 256bit Apple M4Pro), but at the same time (absurd!) a shameful PCI-E 4.0 bus with 16 lanes – which is not enough for anything at all, because the NVidia 5xxx series is declared for a 5.0 bus! Why did AMD make such a mess? Given that Intel has a 5.0 bus in the HX series? But the memory is just slow 128bit. As if there is some kind of secret conspiracy again – AMD seems to be ahead, but is always 1 step behind…

    And now let's look at the declared laptop models – again some kind of complete mess. Or glossy 2.5k AM (OLED) with all its shortcomings (outside of games) or 2.5k IPS, most often, instead of normal, ideally pixel-level compatible with fhd – 4k@120Hz – which will only be in Acer/MSI! But these models from this companies always have a broken numpad (arrow to the right in place of the full Insert) and a lot of problems with noise in normal work outside of games. And in general, the design of the ports also raises questions about ergonomics.

    And all Lenovo again to its shame only 16", no 17.3"-18" with 16:10 4k@120Hz+, but only Lenovo have a normal full-fledged keyboard for work… And there is simply no choice on the planet except Lenovo in this regard.

    Is it really impossible to make a non-gaming laptop with the HX series, but without a discrete card (or the younger 4050/5050) with a normal keyboard with strictly 1.8mm travel and a full numpad. Strictly with a 17.3"-18" 4k@120(fhd@240Hz) IPS screen from 1500:1+ guaranteed(for example, on LG Black IPS)? Here even miniLED with its halos problems is not needed.

    And so that the ports are ideally located on the left and right, with an SD reader at least 300 MB/s, with power in the back and in the back RJ45 at 5-10Gbit/s + HDMI 2.1(FRL6)/DP2.1(UHBR20)?

    After all, the world needs such laptops for everyday work, as a desktop replacement, to easily drag around the rooms, if necessary and quickly transport somewhere, but with good ergonomics and a fairly large screen with perfectly clear fonts (280ppi+), with a high-quality keyboard for long typing and for engineering and scientific tasks. Quiet, powerful enough with the ability to upgrade RAM to 256GB and 2-4(RAID10) M.2 2280 slots.

    But again, I see solutions only for gamers, and not adequate solutions for students, scientists, engineers. Workstations are too expensive (the prices are way too high) and not everyone needs constant mobility with a super durable case.. The world is going in the wrong direction… as if laptop companies don't care about productive people and are only interested in those who have fun, and the latter should be a secondary goal, but not the main one…

    Reply

  2. Altandmain

    January 29, 2025 at 12:10 am

    One big consideration is that this generation of Intel CPUs is not going to bring much improvement from a gaming standpoint. The main advantage is power consumption. Unfortunately, Intel's decision to move the memory tile from the CPU tile has introduced latency that has led to a regression in gaming performance. There are however, some workstation loads that see decent gains in this generation. This was no doubt a cost savings attempt by Intel, since the compute tile is on TSMC, which Intel would have to pay a lot more for than had they fabbed it at Intel.

    The biggest leap forward this CPU generation has been from AMD, whose new 9955HX3D is a big leap in performance, due the moving of the X3D cache under the compute die, leading to clocks that are almost as good as the non-X3D. The main drawback is idle power consumption, so AMD HX chips won't do as well in regards to battery life, but the load power consumption will be very good still. I'm still disappointed that many of the flagship laptops won't have the 9955HX3D.

    Those who have a laptop with an Nvidia 4000 series GPU may want to consider skipping this generation altogether. The desktop 5090 reviews are out and the performance suggests minimal IPC gains on Nvidia Blackwell. Unlike the desktop versions, which have 33% more SMs (21,760 CUDA core in the 5090 versus 16,384 in the 4090, although the average performance of the desktop 5090 is about 25-30% faster at 4k due to lower 5090 clockspeeds), the laptop 5090 only has 10,496 CUDA cores, which is only slightly more than the 9,728 CUDA cores in the laptop 4090. Given the minimal IPC gains and I don't expect major changes in clockspeeds, the gains will be minimal this generation – the laptop 5090 may only be in the single digits in performance improvement over the laptop 4090.

    The main advantage of the new generation of GPUs is the larger VRAM (32GB on the desktop 5090 versus 24GB on the desktop 4090 / 24 GB on the laptop 5090 and 16GB on the laptop 4090), which may come in handy for those gaming at 4k and the larger memory bandwidth. Both of these are more likely to be useful in AI and professional workstation applications rather than in gaming workloads.

    Ultimately the issue is that this generation's GPUs are on the same TSMC 5nm node (the TSMC 4nm or N4P is basically an upgraded TSMC 5nm 4N process). For gaming, that puts a limit on what is possible in a laptop. I am also skeptical about how big an upgrade the next generation 3nm node will bring. I am expecting though the generation after that on TSMC 2nm will be a much bigger upgrade.

    Going back to CPUs, Arrow Lake itself does have a big upgrade for the future – the Skymont E cores are really good. The PPA is amazing and they are a major upgrade over the last generation. The P cores Lion Cove seem to be a far weaker upgrade than the last generation. I want to emphasize again how big an upgrade Skymont is.

    With a future product from Intel that solves the latency issues of moving the memory off tile should address the issues, but that will have to wait for next generation. One option for users is to overclock the ring bus, which some reviews suggest improves the gaming performance. Overclocking the RAM may also help, as well as the possible adoption of CAMM, but I'd have to see reviews to confirm.

    All in all, this generation may be a skip for those who have the last generation of laptops for gamers, but those who have applications for workstation or AI might see bigger benefits.

    Reply

    • Andrei Girbea

      January 29, 2025 at 11:28 am

      Hi. Excellent points. Appreciate your input!

      Reply

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