Intel Panther Lake efficiency: return of the king?

Earlier this 12 months, I wrote in regards to the MSI Status 14 Flip laptop computer. There was lots to love about it, however I sadly wasn’t capable of dive into one of the vital fascinating elements of the laptop computer: its chip. The Status sports activities Intel’s new Panther Lake chips — particularly, the Core Extremely X7 358H on the laptop computer I attempted.

Having spent extra time with the Status 14 now, I’ve been capable of dive in and actually put the Extremely X7 by way of its paces. And admittedly, I’m impressed. It may not be sufficient for Intel to take again the crown, however it’s an enormous step in the precise course for the corporate.

And extra importantly in my eyes, we have now — for the primary time in a very long time — a scenario the place three firms are pumping out stable chips for laptops. 4, in case you rely Apple (however I’m not, since M sequence chips are solely obtainable in Apple merchandise, and you’ll’t get different chips).

Highly effective whenever you want it, environment friendly whenever you don’t

First, lets discuss day by day use. Over the few weeks I used the Status 14 Flip, it was a battery champ. It routinely made it by way of my workday and the battery lasted properly into the next day. In a single take a look at, I took it off the charger at 8:52 a.m. By the top of my workday at 4:30 p.m., it was solely all the way down to 54 per cent. The next morning after I sat all the way down to work at 8:30 a.m., it was at 52 per cent.

That battery life is actually even higher than what I skilled utilizing Qualcomm’s wonderful Snapdragon X chips, which is a big win for Intel. I can’t say how the Core Extremely X7 stacks as much as Qualcomm’s second-gen laptop computer chips as I haven’t examined any (but). However from a battery life perspective, Intel is leaps and bounds higher than it was earlier than and, lastly, aggressive once more.

Furthermore, the battery life was wonderful with out considerably hampering efficiency. In my expertise with older Intel laptop computer chips, you could possibly eke out longer battery life by way of Home windows’ ‘greatest effectivity’ energy mode toggle, however not with out noticeable efficiency degradation.

That wasn’t the case with the Status Flip. I virtually completely used it in ‘Balanced’ mode, and received each wonderful battery life and by no means observed a hiccup in efficiency. It was quick and clean, dealing with each process I threw at it from hefty internet shopping to picture modifying and extra.

It’s additionally value stating that Intel has a brand new device known as the ‘Clever Expertise Optimizer’ (IEO), which prompts when the facility mode is about to ‘Balanced’ to higher deal with energy supply with out customers needing to vary energy settings in Home windows. In my expertise with the Status, this labored very well, and successfully eradicated the necessity for me to fiddle with energy settings. As an alternative, I left the Status in ‘Balanced’ mode and it took care of the changes for me, boosting efficiency when wanted and scaling again to increase battery life when engaged on lighter duties.

Intel has performed numerous work to enhance efficiency whereas lowering energy attract Panther Lake, and it’s nice to see that effort paying off. Among the extra notable adjustments embrace what Intel calls the ‘low-power island,’ a cluster of Intel’s Darkmont effectivity cores (e-cores), which handles many of the workload. The Panther Lake chips will draw on the efficiency cores (p-cores) when wanted for extra intensive duties, whereas counting on e-cores for the whole lot else to attenuate energy draw.

Yea, it may possibly run Doom

Whereas my real-world testing was very optimistic, the benchmark scenario was additionally fairly spectacular. I ran just a few totally different checks on the Core Extremely X7, together with Geekbench 6, Geekbench AI, Cinebench 2026, and Passmark. The Status 14 scored properly throughout all of them each whereas plugged in (enabling most efficiency) and whereas on battery energy.

Whereas plugged in, the Core Extremely X7 was even capable of rival the efficiency seen on a few of Intel’s desktop CPUs, which is extraordinarily spectacular in a thin-and-light PC just like the Status 14.

And whereas the Status 14 isn’t a gaming laptop computer, it does have some stunning gaming chops — sure, it may possibly run Doom. Particularly, Doom: The Darkish Ages. I gave the sport a strive on the Status 14 to see if it might dwell as much as Intel’s claims and was actually fairly impressed, provided that the laptop computer is barely sporting the built-in Intel Arc graphics and never a devoted GPU. Even with simply that, it was capable of handle a reasonably constant 30 to 45fps at 1080p on low settings whereas utilizing Intel’s XeSS upscaling tech.

Certain, it doesn’t look practically pretty much as good or really feel practically as clean because it does on my gaming rig, however it was undoubtedly playable. Furthermore, I usually keep away from upscaling tech like XeSS and DLSS as a result of I’ve discovered them to be fairly lacklustre, however XeSS on the Status 14 wasn’t dangerous in any respect. Doom remained fairly crisp and clear on the small laptop computer display.

Finally, Panther Lake-equipped thin-and-light laptops just like the Status gained’t be changing gaming PCs any time quickly. Nonetheless, the gaming expertise was adequate that I may see myself utilizing it whereas travelling. Usually, after I go on a piece journey, I’ll carry alongside one thing just like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally to recreation on in my downtime. However with what Panther Lake is ready to do, I may keep on with simply my work laptop computer and avoid wasting area in my suitcase.

Nonetheless heats up underneath load

I’ll word right here that the chip can nonetheless get fairly heat underneath intense workloads. For instance, after working my benchmarks, I measured temperatures ranging between 45 and 50 levels Celsius alongside the highest fringe of the keyboard. Worse, after my gaming take a look at, it climbed as excessive as 60 levels. Granted, I used to be utilizing the thermometer on my Pixel 10 Professional to measure, which isn’t probably the most correct, and the temperatures weren’t out of bounds for a laptop computer like this. Nonetheless, it’s a bit too heat, resulting in the Status feeling uncomfortable to the touch after longer, intense workloads. And also you undoubtedly don’t need it in your lap whilst you recreation.

Regardless of the warmth, I got here away very impressed by the Core Extremely X7 and Intel’s Panther Lake. The corporate has made some spectacular strides and in some ways has caught as much as the competitors. Final 12 months, I’d have advisable most individuals get a laptop computer with a Snapdragon chip, however up to now this 12 months, it’s wanting like folks could have numerous alternative.

Intel’s latest chips are nice, Qualcomm is placing out spectacular {hardware}, and AMD is not any slouch both — we’re actually spoiled for alternative proper now… if solely somebody may work out a technique to carry RAM costs again to an affordable vary.