Which Intel Core i7 Processor is the Best: high-end mobile CPU for laptops

When choosing your next high-end laptop, pick one with the right Intel Core i7 processor and you could get up to 2.5 times more performance. Even within the same Core i7 series, these CPUs offer vastly different performance levels. So, it pay to look closely at the real world performance of these chips before ordering your next laptop.

High-end laptops are usually powered by Intel Core i7 processors but they differ vastly in architecture, power efficiency and performance. We look at which Intel Core i7 processor is the best delving into their real world performances as reported by users out there.

Intel Core i7 Processors in 2022/23

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Here is a quick look at what is powered the laptops in the market right now.

13th Gen

• Intel® Core™ i7-13700H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-13620H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1360P Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1355U Processor

12th Gen and earlier

• Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-11370H Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1195G7 Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor
• Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor

As you can see, there is a combination of 13th, 12th and 11th generation chips in the market right now. Knowing when to spend a bit more (or not) when choosing between laptops powered by these processors will ensure that you get the best value for your money. Sometimes, the small gain of 2, 4 or even 10% in performance may seem like a waste of money if you have to pay more for it. But, if you can get 20% or 60% gain, it might be worth considering for the sake of longer usable life of the device.

And, like we said earlier, you might also want to consider going all out and get yourself the all-singing all-dancing CPU that offers up to around 250% more performance. That’s like buying into a whole other level of performance even though these are from the same Intel Core i7 series.

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Intel® Core™ i7-13700H Processor – Best in Class (13th gen)

The Intel Core i7-13700H echos the 12th gen’s equivalent in terms of performance. In fact, the entire line-up of the 13th generation processors considered here mirrors its equivalent from the 12th gen both in part number as performance. Each of these processors enjoys a gain in performance compared to their previous generation counterpart. The real benefit is in the savings to be had picking a 12th gen part over 13th gen part.

Processor	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-13700H Processor	28451	3686
Intel® Core™ i7-13620H Processor	26798	3804
Intel® Core™ i7-1360P Processor	19600	3641
Intel® Core™ i7-1355U Processor	15385	3571

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Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor – Best in Class (12th gen & earlier)

The most powerful Intel Core i7 processor from the 12th gen list is the Intel Core i7-12700H. Faced with competitors like AMD and Apple, Intel has no choice but to respond by stacking more cores into their processors. This chip has a total of 14 cores with a spilt of 6:8, performance to efficient cores. Of those 14 cores, you get a total of 20 threads. The 6 performance core can reach a maximum turbo speed of 4.70GHz while the 8 efficiency cores throws up a maximum of 3.50GHz.

All that power and speed comes at the cost of power draw with minimum and base power at 35W and 45W respectively. Pushing the chip to fire all its cores will mean a huge draw of 115W. It will run hot and will have an impact on the laptops battery life but that’s gaming laptop for you. With that many cores, it also has a huge 24MB cache memory and support up to a maximum of 64GB memory.

Premium and gaming laptops feature this processor. They are Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 ProX, HP Spectre x360 16, Dell XPS 15 9520, Dell XPS 17 9720 and ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor	14C/20T	1.7GHz/4.7GHz	35W/115W	26900	3679

 

Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor

There is not a huge performance difference between the Intel Core i7-12650H and the chart topper above. With the Core i7-12700H, you see a gain of around 8% in average CPU mark compared to this chip, not even double digit. What we are saying is, at the right price, a laptop powered by the Intel Core i7-12650H with the right discrete GPU is just a good a buy. It has four cores fewer in total (10C) but what is missing are just efficient cores. It still maintains the 6 performance cores and half the efficient cores (4) of the Intel Core i7-12700H above. Speeds, the amount of cache and power draws are the same.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor	10C/16T	1.7GHz/4.7GHz	35W/115W	24731	3809

 

Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor – Balance of Power & Efficiency

For lightweight, ultraslim and portable laptops that still packs performance, you want a system powered by Intel Core i7-1260P processor. This energy efficient mobile chip consumes around half the power with base and turbo power draws at 28W and 64W respectively. Performance does take a hit with fewer cores, 12 in total. 4 of those are performance cores and the rest, 8 are efficient cores.

Together, they push a total of 16 processing threads. You see a respectable maximum turbo speed of 4.70GHz on the performance core but slightly lower maximum speed of 3.40GHz on the efficient cores. With the 18MB onboard cache, it manages 62% performance gain compared to Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor in our list. This is the fastest energy efficient Core i7 you can buy today.

However, when compared to the fastest and energy hungry Intel Core i7-12700H above, it is around 36.6% slower. You can see the in the graph comparing Performance of Intel Core i7 processors below.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor	12C/16T	1.5GHz/4.7GHz	28W/64W	17059	3290

 

Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor

Stepping down again in terms of the number of cores and thread is this Intel Core i7-1255U. When choosing between this and the Intel Core i7-1260P above, you might want to give this a miss. Picking the Intel Core i7-1260p gives you a healthy 25.7% gain in performance over this CPU. This is because, we are looking at a super efficient processor with ultra low assured power and base power of 12W and 15W respectively. Even when pushed, it will only draws 55W tops. You won’t have any heat issues but compared to our chart topping Intel Core i7-12700H, you are seeing only half the performance output, with an average CPU mark of 13566 compared to 26900. Devices that use the processor include but not limited to Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Pro 9.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor	10C/12T	1.2GHz/4.7GHz	15W/55W	13566	3418

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Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor – Best in Class

Here is a wild card from the previous 11th generation processors. The Intel Core i7-11800H has double the core and thread of all the 11th generation processors below. The processor contains 8 cores and 16 threads while other 11th generation processors make do with 4 cores and 8 threads. What this does is it offers up to double the performance of the Intel Core i7-1165G7 which is a huge jump.

This just goes to show once again that even from the same Core i7 series and from the same generation, picking the right CPU really does give you more performance (up to 200%). To maximise its performance, pair it with a powerful graphics adapter, and you have yourself a high end gaming machine. This is one of those rare moments when you decide to pick an older 11th generation CPU over the newer 12th generation CPU if the price is right.

Dell XPS 15 9510 is a good example of a high-end laptop that used this processor.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor	8C/16T	2.3GHz/4.6GHz	35W/45W	21114	3121

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Intel® Core™ i7-11370H Processor

Dropping to just half the number of cores and threads compared to previous processor is the Intel Core i7-11370H. The chip is popular with ultraportables and ultraslow devices. It has a low TDP of 28W pushing up to 35W TDP at its highest frequency. Having fewer cores does put it at a disadvantage performance wise compared to all the processors above. But, it is still a fast processor with a healthy margin around 13.8% gain compared to the widely available Intel Core i7-1165G7. Other specifications of interest include turbo speed of 4.8GHz and base frequency of 3.3GHz with a middling 12MB cache. The premium Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 14.4 convertible laptop, Huawei MateBook 14S and Acer Swift 3 16.1-inch laptops use this processor.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-11370H Processor	4C/8T	3.3GHz/4.8GHz	28W/35W	11946	2998

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Intel® Core™ i7-1195G7 Processor

The next three processors come with the G7 suffix. These are energy efficient performance CPU with even lower power draws. The Intel Core i7-1195G7‘s TDP down is configurable to as low as 12W at lower base frequency of 1.30GHz. This is not to be confused with its base frequency of 2.9GHz. On the other end of the scale is its maximum turbo frequency of 5.00GHz, with a still rather low TDP-up of 28W. High-end ultraportable laptops such as the ASUS Zenbook Duo 14, Dell XPS 13 9310, Acer Aspire Vero and HP Envy x360 use this processor. Benchmarks show that it is faster in the Average CPU Mark by 4.4% compared to the Intel Core i7-1165G7 below.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-1195G7 Processor	4C/8T	2.9GHz/5.0GHz	12W/28W	10954	3048

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Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor

This next G7 series Intel Core i7, the Intel Core i7-1185G7 is exclusive to Microsoft Surface Pro 8, the popular tablet from the software giant and Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. It is slightly faster than the more widely implemented Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with a small 2.6% performance gain.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor	4C/8T	3.0GHz/4.8GHz	12W/28W	10765	2866

 

Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor – Best Value

Laptops powered by the Intel Core i7-1165G7 are mostly affordably priced. They include Lenovo IdeaPad 3i, HP 14, Acer Aspire 3, Asus Vivobook 15 and Huawei MateBook D 15.6. Some premium laptops also use the processor. They are Asus ZenBook S Flip UX371EA, Asus Zenbook 13, Asus Zenbook Duo 14, HP Envy x360 Convert 15.6-inch and Toshiba Portege Dynabook X30W 2-in-1 laptop. Laptops powered by the Intel Core i7-1165G7 can go for as low as a third or even a quarter of the cost of some of the premium laptops above. You are still buying a very capable Intel Core i7 laptop, just not as fast.

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor	4C/8T	3.0GHz/4.8GHz	12W/28W	10765	2866

 

Performance Comparison

Taking the Intel Core i7-1165G7 as baseline, here are quick conclusions you can draw from the Average CPU Mark performance numbers we got from cpubenchmark.net.

• The Intel Core i7-1185G7 is only marginally faster, 2.6% faster to be precise. This processor is exclusive to Microsoft Surface devices.
• The Intel Core i7-1195G7 is 4.4% faster
• The Intel Core i7-113790H is 13.8% faster
• The Intel Core i7-11800H is 101.2% faster (around 2 times faster)
• The Intel Core i7-1255U is 29.3% faster.
• The Intel Core i7-1260P is 62.6% faster (over 1.5 times faster)
• The Intel Core i7-12650H is 133% faster (around 2.36 times faster)
• The Intel Core i7-12700H is 156% faster (around 2.5 times faster)
• The Intel Core i7-1355U is 147% faster
• The Intel Core i7-1360P is 187% faster
• The Intel Core i7-13620H is 255% faster (more than 2.5 times faster)
• The Intel Core i7-13700H is 271% faster (more than 2.7 times faster)

Processor	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-13700H Processor	28451	3686
Intel® Core™ i7-13620H Processor	26798	3804
Intel® Core™ i7-1360P Processor	19600	3641
Intel® Core™ i7-1355U Processor	15385	3571
Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor	26900	3679
Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor	24731	3809
Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor	17059	3290
Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor	13566	3418
Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor	21114	3121
Intel® Core™ i7-11370H Processor	11946	2998
Intel® Core™ i7-1195G7 Processor	10954	3048
Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor	10765	2866
Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor	10492	2861

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Final Thoughts

Our best buying advice to you is, start with your budget then choose the best Intel Core i7 processor in a laptop that you can afford based on the performance numbers above. If all you can afford are laptops powered by Intel Core i7-1165G7, these are already fast laptops. We wouldn’t pay more for the other 11th generation G7 processors given how little they differ in performance. However, if there is a deal on laptops based on Intel Core i7-11370H or even the Intel Core i7-11800H processors, we would jump at it. Especially the former which offers around 2 times the performance of the G7 series parts.

When considering 12th generation Intel Core i7 processors, the U and P-series chips are energy efficient performance processors. They are moderately priced compared to the high-end H-series. Here, you can decide if you want a future proof ultraportable (U or P-series) or gaming (H-series) laptop. The fastest processor, the Intel Core i7-12700H is nearly 2 times more powerful than the Intel Core i7-1255U and around 2.5 times more powerful than the 11th generation G7 processors.

The same rule applies to 13th generation Intel Core i7 processors. The U and P series parts are slower while the H series are faster. The fastest processor in this generation mirrors that of previous with Intel Core i7-13700H. When considering the second best in the line-up, the Intel Core i7-13620H, there is no tangible benefits picking this over the Intel Core i7-12700H so if there is a deal to be had on a gaming laptop with a previous generation 12700H, grab it fast.

Specifications and Performance Numbers

Processor	Core/Thread	Base/Turbo	TDP Down/Up	Ave CPU Mark	Single Thread	Gains Ave CPU	Gains Single Thread
Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor	14C/20T	1.7GHz/4.7GHz	35W/115W	26900	3679	2.56385818	1.28591402
Intel® Core™ i7-12650H Processor	10C/16T	1.7GHz/4.7GHz	35W/115W	24731	3809	2.35712924	1.33135267
Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor	12C/16T	1.5GHz/4.7GHz	24W/64W	17059	3290	1.62590545	1.14994757
Intel® Core™ i7-1255U Processor	10C/12T	1.2GHz/4.7GHz	12W/55W	13566	3418	1.29298513	1.19468717
Intel® Core™ i7-11800H Processor	8C/16T	2.3GHz/4.6GHz	35W/45W	21114	3121	2.01239039	1.09087732
Intel® Core™ i7-11370H Processor	4C/8T	3.3GHz/4.8GHz	28W/35W	11946	2998	1.13858178	1.04788535
Intel® Core™ i7-1195G7 Processor	4C/8T	2.9GHz/5.0GHz	12W/28W	10954	3048	1.04403355	1.06536176
Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor	4C/8T	3.0GHz/4.8GHz	12W/28W	10765	2866	1.02601982	1.00174764
Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 Processor	4C/8T	2.8GHz/4.7GHz	12W/28W	10492	2861	1	1

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