Does your notebook need a Core Ultra 5, a Ryzen AI 9, or something in between? Today, picking which processor is right for you is a baffling choice that can add a bundle to a laptop’s price. So is the cost worth it? Do you need big-time processing power, or can you make do with a cheaper choice? Our guide to today’s mobile CPUs will help you get the most powerful machine for your money.
Just as with desktops, at the heart of every laptop computer is a central processing unit (CPU), commonly called a processor or simply a “chip,” responsible for nearly everything inside. Today’s laptops use a big array of different CPUs designed by AMD, Apple, Intel, and Qualcomm—seemingly endless options with byzantine names. But choosing one is easier than you think, once you know a few ground rules.
This article will help you decrypt the technical jargon that haunts every laptop specification sheet—from core count to gigahertz, and from TDP to cache—to help you pick the one that suits you best. With almost no exceptions, a laptop processor can’t be changed or upgraded later, unlike most desktop chips, so making the right choice is essential. (With that in mind, also check out our guide to the best CPUs for desktops.)
First Up: Some Basic Laptop CPU Concepts
The CPU is responsible for the primary logic operations in a computer. It controls everything: mouse clicks, the smoothness of streaming video, responding to your game commands, encoding your family’s home videos, and more. It’s your PC’s engine, the most critical piece of hardware inside.
Computer processors comprise super-tiny rows of super-tightly fitted semiconductor materials that make up transistors, measured in nanometers, which amplify or switch electronic signals at extreme speeds. These clusters of transistors make up a processor’s cores, each tailored for specific types of data processing, such as central processing (user-based PC interactions), graphics processing (displayed images), and neural processing (AI-based algorithmic functions). These cores are arranged together on a die, sliced from a wafer of silicon-based semiconductor material.
Before we get into specific CPU recommendations, let’s build an understanding of what differentiates one chip from another by focusing on the main traits that laptop processors have in common.
Laptop Processor Architecture: The Silicon Underpinnings
Every processor works on an underlying design called an instruction-set architecture (ISA). This blueprint determines how the processor understands computer code. Since developers write operating systems and applications to work on a particular architecture most efficiently—often solely—this is probably the most critical decision point regarding your next processor.
Modern laptop processors use either Arm or x86 ISA. Intel created the x86 ISA in 1978, and it today dominates the PC industry, with Intel and AMD battling for market-share supremacy. On the other hand, hundreds of companies produce Arm-based chips under license from the British firm Arm Limited, which is majority-owned by Japan’s Softbank.
Arm chips are in billions of devices from smartphones to supercomputers, but until not too long ago, they had minimal PC presence. (That is, some Chromebooks and a handful of Qualcomm-based Windows laptops.) Then Apple dropped Intel processors for its own Arm-based M1 chips in late 2020. Apple’s M series of laptop chips, now in its M4 generation, is a leading reason Arm chips are seeing wider acceptance as an alternative to x86 for mainstream computing. (See our Apple M4 CPU tests.)
Apple’s latest MacBooks feature ARM-based processors. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
If you’re an Apple user, your architecture choice is preordained, since all modern MacBooks now use Arm-based M-series processors. However, Microsoft Windows, ChromeOS, and many Linux operating systems are compatible with both Arm and x86. Although we weren’t smitten with the initial round of Qualcomm Windows machines, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 SQ3 tablet and the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Gen 1, we’ve seen significant improvements with the latest generation of Snapdragon X Elite and Plus laptops and tablets that debuted starting in 2024, among them the HP OmniBook X 14 and the Dell Latitude 7455.
Dell’s Latitude 7455 is one of the first business-focused laptops featuring an Arm processor. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Regardless, software compatibility on Arm machines remains an issue. While software written for x86 can operate on Arm chips via an emulation layer, the process slows performance compared with native code. (Microsoft claims to have largely solved this problem with its latest Prism emulation tools, which we’ve tested.) Similarly, the non-Snapdragon Arm CPUs (notably from MediaTek) that we’ve tried in low-cost Chromebooks have proved much less peppy than the Intel and AMD processors in midrange and premium models.
With that, why would you consider an Arm-based Windows laptop? For one, these laptops have recorded extremely competitive, if not dominant, battery life figures in some matchups—even against Apple’s MacBooks. Also, as offices worldwide demand more use of AI techniques in employee workflows, Qualcomm has ensured that its Snapdragon X chips are in line with the best in terms of their AI processing performance. Finally, Arm’s system-on-chip (SoC) approach to laptop processors, particularly for fanless designs, means the thinnest and lightest laptops could increasingly become Snapdragon-based.
Recent Arm and Apple Silicon Laptops We’ve Tested…
Core and Thread Count: Firing on All (CPU) Cylinders
Current laptop CPUs are composed of two or more physical cores: essentially, the chip’s logical brains. All else being equal, more cores are better than fewer, though there’s a ceiling to how many you can take advantage of in any given situation. A popular and much-simplified analogy is the number of cylinders in a car engine.
Core counts between Intel and AMD CPUs vary drastically, and newer Intel chips containing multiple core types (what the company calls Performance versus Efficient cores) have further complicated their distinctions. Intel has also introduced Low Power E-cores with its Core Ultra chips, designed to stretch battery life by taking on the PC’s lowest-lift tasks. (More about those later.)
We recommend a six- or eight-core AMD processor or an Intel chip with six or more Performance cores for processor-intensive applications such as video editing and gaming. CPUs of this caliber are typically found in midsize and larger laptops rather than ultraportable compact laptops, since they demand extra cooling. (We’ll discuss different CPU tiers briefly when we get into Intel and AMD chip specifics.)
The Best Budget Laptops We’ve Tested…
Then you also run into the issue of thread count. We’re not talking about linens and sheets here but processing threads—tasks, or portions of a task, for the computer to perform. Computers routinely juggle hundreds or thousands of threads (tasks or subtasks), though a processor can work on only so many threads simultaneously. That number equals its thread count, often (but not always) double its core count (two threads per core).
Most of today’s CPUs support thread-doubling technology that lets one core work on two processes simultaneously via threading. An eight-core chip, for example, might have 16 threads handling processes at any given instant. Intel calls this tech Hyper-Threading; the generic term is simultaneous multithreading (SMT). While AMD uses multithreading technology across its product line, Intel has pursued performance improvements differently with its latest Core Ultra Series 2 chips, which lack Hyper-Threading.
All things considered, core count trumps thread count, so an eight-core CPU without multithreading will generally outperform a quad-core with eight threads, all else being equal. Of course, in the silicon sphere, other factors are seldom equal; that’s why so many varieties of chips exist. (Intel’s recent expansion of possible core types has made processors harder to compare than ever.)
Clock Speed: The CPU Stopwatch
OK, a processor with X cores and Y addressable threads can tackle more tasks simultaneously than the same chip with just X number of cores. But how long does it take to finish one thread and move on to the next? A CPU’s operating frequency is known as its clock speed, measured in megahertz (MHz) or, more often, gigahertz (GHz)—a driver of how many instructions or basic operations the processor can crunch through per second.
Higher clock speeds are generally better, though things get muddy when comparing speeds between different brands or between different families of chips from the same brand. That’s because some CPUs are more efficient than others, processing just as many instructions per second despite operating at a lower clock speed. Still, clock speed can be critical when comparing chips within a single vendor’s lineup.
Could this get any more complicated? Sure. Today’s CPUs typically advertise at least two clock speeds: a base (minimum) clock and a boost (maximum) clock. The latter is often dubbed turbo speed, since Intel refers to boost clocks as Turbo Boost technology. The processor runs at its base clock when handling light workloads, typically between 1GHz and 2GHz for mobile CPUs.
When more speed is needed, the CPU accelerates temporarily—often to 3.5GHz, 4GHz, or sometimes nearly 6GHz. Processors don’t always run at their peak or boost clock speeds because they might overheat and damage the system. Also, sometimes, only one processing core operates in overdrive; at other times, only a specific subset of cores might. With Intel’s latest chips, you may encounter ratings for multiple possible peak clocks, depending on how many cores ramp up at once. It depends on the CPU and workload, so comparing clock speeds gets more like apples and oranges as the years pass.
An Intel CPU manufacturing wafer (Credit: Intel)
Laptop CPUs’ boost clocks are often as high as their desktop counterparts, but these peak speeds are usually not sustained for as long before the chip ramps down due to power delivery or thermal limitations. This concept is called “throttling,” a safety measure built into the processor to keep it running safely within its rated specifications rather than burning out and damaging the system.
Watt’s Up: Understanding Processor Power Ratings
A broad overall performance indicator is a CPU’s power rating, usually expressed as a single number—thermal design power (TDP)—in watts (W). TDP is less of a measurement of power consumption than a guideline for PC designers when they choose a cooling system to dissipate heat. TDP represents the amount of thermal energy the system must be able to dissipate so that the processor can operate without overheating.
Note: Intel’s 12th through 14th Generation Core and new Core Ultra Series 1 and Series 2 processors have muddied the terminology with the measure “base power,” which is essentially the same as TDP. We will stick to the blanket term of processor power rating to simplify laptop shopping.
This rating varies greatly, from just a few watts in the thinnest and lightest laptops (the 15W of many ultraportable processors) to 45W or 65W in beefy gaming rigs or workstations. You’ll find more to choosing a laptop CPU than its power rating, but the higher the wattage, the better its relative performance should be.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Most mainstream laptop CPUs are rated between 15W and 28W, giving them a low enough thermal profile to work in slim notebook designs but sufficient power to approach desktop boost clocks for at least short periods. Notebooks with such chips almost always require active cooling: One or two small onboard fans spin up when the system grows warm. Laptops with fanless passive cooling are appealing because they’re silent, but these designs are restricted to low-power processors. These chips will be adequate for everyday tasks but ill-suited for demanding jobs like video editing or analyzing large datasets.
Laptops with passive cooling via fanless designs are appealing because they run silent, but they’re restricted to just a few watts of power.
A letter at the end of the CPU name often indicates its wattage, in a general sense. For instance, AMD and Intel use a “U” suffix for their most battery-friendly chips and an “H” suffix for their more powerful ones, with “HX” indicating their most extreme performance parts found in gaming laptops, mobile workstations, and other desktop replacements. (More about model numbers and letters later.)
High-performance laptops often have multiple cooling fans inside. (Credit: Charles Jefferies)
CPU Cache: You’ve Got Enough
When browsing CPU specifications, you’ll read about a processor’s cache—a small memory pool, usually just a few megabytes, separate from the system’s slower (but higher capacity) main memory (RAM). The cache helps the CPU manage its workflow by providing a lightning-fast way to retrieve data.
More cache—often subdivided into Level 1 through Level 3 (L1 through L3) cache depending on its closeness to the core logic—means quicker performance, but you can safely ignore this spec in most cases. The days when CPUs were sent out into the world with too little cache to perform effectively are over. We only mention it because it’s one of the few processor specs you can safely disregard.
The exception is with the handful of AMD chips that feature what’s known as 3D V-Cache, a special layer of memory that comes in especially handy for speeding up PC gaming in gaming laptops. Models with Ryzen chips featuring 3D V-Cache are relative rarities but indicate an enthusiast-grade machine, and these chips have model numbers that end with the suffix “X3D” (example: AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D).
The GPU on the Chip: What Are Integrated Graphics?
You’ll find two types of graphics processing units (GPUs) in laptops. Most laptops use integrated graphics processors (IGPs), which are inexpensive solutions built into the CPU that provide sufficient performance for everything except intense gaming and 3D design work. In other words, they’re fine for window animations, video playback, and casual gaming. Meanwhile, gaming laptops and workstations use dedicated (also referred to as “discrete”) GPUs, which are separate and far more powerful chips from AMD or Nvidia.
We’ll dive deeper into integrated graphics performance later. For now, just know that while the latest integrated GPUs can handle light or casual gaming—Intel, especially, has made considerable strides since the molasses-like graphics of its older CPUs—serious gamers and CAD or CGI renderers will unquestionably want a laptop with a powerful discrete GPU inside.
The ABCs of the Archrivals: Core, Ryzen, Snapdragon, M Series, and More
AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and Apple differentiate their laptop processors according to the basic concepts discussed earlier, but most shoppers know them by their top-level branding. Here are their basic product lines by intended market. Qualcomm chips have been a new addition since early 2024. Before then, Arm CPUs in Windows devices saw scarce, limited adoption.
For years, Intel tagged its laptop and desktop processors in ascending order of performance with the vaguely BMW-like numeric names Core i3, i5, i7, and i9, roughly mimicked by AMD’s Ryzen 3, 5, 7, and 9. Intel recently overhauled its labeling, which could create short-term confusion. Now, the Core i3 and newer Core 3 go against AMD’s Ryzen 3. Then, the Core i5, Core 5, and Core Ultra 5 compete with the Ryzen 5. Finally, Intel’s Core i7, Core 7, Core Ultra 7, Core i9, and Core Ultra 9 square off against AMD’s Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9.
In the short term, consumers will find several different Intel options while searching for a new laptop. If they don’t follow technology news or research reviews, they will have difficulty determining which option is best for their needs without spending too much.
Laptops containing AMD’s Athlon chips usually cost less than $350, competing with Intel’s N and U series in laptops and Chromebooks. At the opposite end of the market, Intel has discontinued its laptop-grade Xeons to add mobile-workstation-class features, such as support for error-correcting code (ECC) memory, to its highest-end Core chips. ECC is a type of RAM that can find and solve single-bit errors in memory processes, which is important in tasks handled by workstations that require airtight data accuracy.
The Core HX lines of Intel chips target workstations with higher power ratings and support for extra PCI Express (PCIe) lanes. PCIe lanes are data channels that facilitate communication within a computer’s mainboard and to and from attached components, like graphics processors and storage.
For most shoppers, the middle members of the Core and Ryzen families will provide the best balance of performance and value. The Ryzen 5, Core 5, Ryzen AI 5, and Core Ultra 5 are well-rounded chips. They’re more potent than the Ryzen and Core chips bearing the number 3 but generally cost less than those carrying the number 7. Meanwhile, Arm buyers will find decent value in the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus and Apple M4 line.
Users with cash to burn—professionals for whom time means money in number-crunching or media rendering—are the leading candidates to spring for a Core Ultra 9 or Ryzen 9. These processors, like Apple’s M4 Max, are overkill for almost everyone else.
Laptop Processor Generations and Codenames: Here’s Your Decoder Ring
Intel used to delineate its processors by generation (13th Gen CPUs with model numbers beginning with 13; 14th Gen chips starting with 14) but has quit the practice in favor of generation-less Core and Core Ultra. AMD still embeds the generation in the model number; the Ryzen 9 8945HS, for instance, is a top-of-the-line (Ryzen 9 rather than 5 or 7) chip of the eighth generation. The graphic below sums it up nicely:
(Credit: AMD )
Tech sites like PCMag also indulge in the codenames used by AMD and Intel to differentiate chips while in development, such as “Arrow Lake” for Intel’s Core Ultra 2 Series, “Strix Point” for AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series, and “Oryon” for Snapdragon’s Elite mobile CPUs. These inside-baseball terms are industry lingo more than consumer marketing terms, but they still get quoted even after chips are released and are easier to remember than model names. Confusingly, a single processor generation may go by more than one codename.
An Intel “Tiger Lake” laptop CPU die (Credit: Intel)
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(Pro tip: Intel’s ARK site lets you drill down into processor generations and codenames, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X page offers similar insight. We often reference CPU codenames before chips are released, sometimes after; you can winnow our coverage by searching our site for a given codename.)
Knowing a CPU’s generation or codename can help determine when it was released and locate specific performance data. The two rivals typically refresh their processors every 12 to 18 months. Unless you have some financial incentive to buy a laptop with an older chip, we advise purchasing the most recent generation to ensure you get the newest features and the most longevity. We’ll have more on chip lines later, but here are cheat sheets to the laptop-CPU codenames of the last five years:
Key Processor Series: It’s All in the Name (Well, Sometimes)
As mentioned earlier, AMD and Intel subclassify their processors by power rating. The power rating is essential since it determines a processor’s clock speed and, thus, its performance. The rule is, the higher the power rating, the higher the clock speed, especially under sustained use.
Both chipmakers denote their highest-wattage—that is, highest-performing or most desktop-like—laptop chips with an “H” suffix for a power rating of 45W. AMD also uses an “HX” suffix, and Intel uses both “HX” and “HK” suffixes for chips that can run at greater than 45W, with overclocking features for extreme-performance gaming rigs and workstations.
The next rung down in power is AMD’s “HS” suffix, rated for 35W. As of the Core Ultra line, Intel has H-class processors rated for 28W; these replaced Intel’s P-class chips, which only existed for the past few generations. A laptop with a 45W processor will produce more potent performance (but probably briefer battery life) than a 28W chip; the latter represents a middle ground between the highest- and lowest-power CPUs.
Intel has a new V-series tier just below its 28-watt H-class processors. This tier is basically an SoC featuring ultrafast memory and an enhanced Neural Processing Unit (NPU) on the die to enable localized AI processing. These chips run at 17W.
Intel and AMD denote their highest-wattage—highest-performing or most desktop-like—laptop chips with an HX suffix.
The chips with the lowest power ratings carry a “U” suffix, usually rated for 15W, but they can go lower (typically to 10W for AMD and 9W for Intel). These have low base clocks (typically between 1GHz and 2GHz) and can maintain their turbo clocks only for short bursts; chips with higher power ratings can run flat out for much longer. But a U- and an H-class chip can perform similarly for tasks that use CPU power mainly in spurts of a few seconds.
On the other hand, Apple and Qualcomm don’t specify wattage for their chips, at least not publicly. System designers can tweak the chip’s operating frequencies to suit their systems so they stay within a specific thermal profile.
(Credit: AMD)
Cores and Thread Count: Breaking It Out by Line
On the x86 side of the coin, core and thread counts of Intel and AMD CPUs vary by product line and TDP rating, with processors numbered 7 and 9 usually having more than those numbered 3 and 5. We’ve mapped it out for chips released over the last five years…
Be careful generalizing about core counts, however. As mentioned earlier, starting with the 12th Generation, many (but not all) Intel mobile processors combine two types of cores: Performance (P-cores) and Efficient (E-cores) varieties. The latest Core Ultra chips introduce a third kind of core, Low-Power Efficient (LPE-cores), in specific models. As you can imagine, this makes Intel’s recent CPUs virtually impossible to compare core-to-core with their AMD rivals, whose cores are all the same type.
Core counts generally increase with power rating. Intel’s U-series chips have up to 12 cores, while AMD’s have up to eight. Thread count varies, too, depending on whether the processor supports multithreading. (As mentioned earlier, Intel has stopped supporting this technology with its Core Ultra 2 Series line.)
For more on Intel’s, ahem, cornucopia of cores, see our Intel Core Ultra 9 285K review for desktops.
(Credit: Intel)
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips are similar to AMD chips in that they all use the same CPU core. However, like Intel’s latest chips, they don’t support multithreading, with each core only processing one thread at a time. Apple’s M-series chips, however, incorporate both Performance and Efficiency cores into their dies, making core count comparisons to Qualcomm chips (or any other processor brand, really) superfluous.
Gauging Integrated Graphics Performance
As noted earlier, most notebooks, except mobile workstations and gaming rigs, get by with their CPUs’ integrated graphics. (Most laptops with discrete GPUs can also switch them off, using the processor’s IGP to save battery power when maximum 3D performance isn’t needed.)
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Intel’s IGPs have improved dramatically in the past several generations. As we found in testing, the latest Intel Arc solution can play today’s games in certain implementations. The same wasn’t true of the company’s earlier Intel UHD or Iris Xe solutions. Note that the Arc GPU is only available in the Core Ultra H-class and the new V-class CPUs, whereas U-series chips stick with a significantly less capable Intel Graphics solution.
Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics silicon outperformed the company’s earlier UHD Graphics. (Credit: John Burek)
AMD has also made great strides in integrated graphics solutions, with its Radeon silicon capable of playing modern games at 720p or, in some cases, 1080p resolution.
Most recently, we’ve also seen Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered laptops demonstrate impressive performance from their Adreno integrated GPUs, as we found reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16. We also conducted extensive gaming tests on Snapdragon X laptops.
Likewise, we’ve recorded increasingly impressive graphics test results from Apple’s M-series processors, with the latest models able to play many adaptations of high-end PC games at decent resolutions, frame rates, and detail settings. This includes the fanless MacBook Air models, of course, with lowered settings all around.
Acer’s 2024 Swift Go 14: Our “integrated Arc” testing sample (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Business Considerations (Intel vPro and AMD Pro)
Corporate IT managers know that the x86 duo provides processors with remote management technologies—dubbed Intel vPro and AMD Pro—to help businesses deploy and manage laptop fleets with features such as remote updates and enhanced security. (The mix of services available under these umbrellas differs with each generation; check out the details at the chipmakers’ websites.)
AMD indicates whether a CPU has AMD Pro as part of the product name, e.g., Ryzen 7 versus Ryzen 7 Pro. Intel is more subtle about vPro support, leaving it out of names and model numbers, though it’s listed on the CPU specification pages available via the invaluable ARK online database.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPUs have started to make their way into business laptops. While we haven’t seen any Intel vPro- or AMD Pro-like technologies to go with them, enterprise laptop vendors often have their own software suite to assist IT managers.
Apple is also less public about how it serves corporate and SMB customers but has the tools necessary to integrate into large and small offices. Mac hardware enjoys a dominant run of creative offices such as print houses, media production studios, and publishers.
Is Laptop CPU Overclocking Possible?
Nearly all laptop CPUs are incapable of overclocking—that is, they don’t let hot-rod users crank their clock speeds beyond factory ratings like some enthusiast or tinkerer desktop processors do. Intel Core processors with HK and HX suffixes are exceptions, as are AMD’s Ryzen HX series. Manual overclocking doesn’t exist on Qualcomm Snapdragon or Apple laptops.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Why not widely allow laptop CPU overclocking? The main reason is that laptops are built around strict thermal limitations. Hiking clock speed increases power draw and generates more heat, which can cause overheating—at best, unwanted throttling and, at worst, instability or burnout. Today, laptop overclocking is a novelty found only on a handful of bleeding-edge, big-screen gaming models with Intel K-series desktop chips and loud cooling fans.
Summing It Up: Which Processor Should You Get?
The exciting news for consumers is that, despite the unprecedented amount of choice and complexity, today is an excellent time to buy any laptop. Though a super-cheap notebook may have a sluggish entry-level CPU, nearly all $500-and-up models will feature a more responsive processor for everyday operations. Of course, AMD, Intel, Apple, and Qualcomm all have more potent chips for gaming, content creation, and even workstation-level tasks. (Check out our gaming laptop guide for much more on picking a processor and the complex interactions among the CPU, GPU, and gaming performance.)
You have little choice if you’re an Apple laptop shopper since the company ditched Intel for its house-brand Arm processors several years ago. Today’s M4-based MacBooks are highly competitive with AMD- and Intel-based Windows laptops, often faster for specialized creative applications and just as long-lasting, if not more so. The Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch is one of today’s laptop speed kings.
Windows and ChromeOS laptop buyers face a much greater choice among AMD and Intel CPUs, with a few Arm chips thrown in. Even inexpensive Chromebooks generally deliver a smooth computing experience, though Arm-based models are more sluggish than x86. (Google’s new, more upscale Chromebook Plus platform, introduced in late 2023, dictates an Intel or AMD chip.) If you go for an AMD Chromebook, opt for a recent Ryzen C Chromebook-specific chip rather than one of the aged A-series. Similarly, an Intel Core CPU will run ChromeOS better than an older N- or U-series, Pentium, or Celeron.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Again, AMD’s Ryzen and Intel’s Core lines are the mainstays of the modern Windows market for both business and consumer laptops. Outside of specific usage scenarios and benchmarks, like-priced Intel and AMD laptops will provide similar and more than ample performance. This gives you, with rare exceptions, the freedom to focus on a laptop’s design and features first and its CPU second.
Qualcomm’s sincere entry into the Windows device market with its Snapdragon X chips has also made it a viable alternative to Intel and AMD. These laptops tend to carry more premium prices, though we haven’t yet seen them in gaming or workstation laptops (and probably aren’t likely to). Think chic ultraportables or performance-oriented home laptops.
Down and Dirty Specs: A Guide to the Latest Laptop CPUs
We haven’t tested every laptop CPU on the planet—probably no one outside of Intel’s and AMD’s labs has—but with our general advice behind us, let’s wrap up with more specific processor recommendations for various x86 usage scenarios.
Beyond that general guide, you can get more granular with cheat sheets for the most common current-generation Intel and AMD laptop CPUs, along with their suggested usages and the kinds of systems in which you’ll find them. These final tables should be helpful when shopping for the latest-model laptops.
You’ll still see plenty of notebooks on sale with one- or two-year-old processors, so an exhaustive list would be unwieldy. Still, if you’re considering one of Intel’s or AMD’s older CPU families, it’s usually easy to identify the parallel previous-generation versions of the chips listed below. You can safely assume they’ll provide slightly lesser performance than the latest parts but hold the same relative place in the company hierarchy.
First, a look at the Intel lineup…
Look at the chart above, and the Intel mobile processor world might seem dominated by the latest Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake) line. But first-generation Core Ultra Series 1 laptops still populate store shelves, and we consider them fine performers in their classes (and they’ll increasingly show up at bargain prices).
And now for the up-to-the-minute AMD lineup…
As we said, you may see these CPUs in fewer laptops overall, but don’t hesitate; contemporary AMD processors can perform just as well as their Intel archrivals. And as with Intel, you’ll find no harm in buying a laptop with an AMD chip that’s a generation or two old if you can get one at a discount.
Qualcomm’s lineup is much more straightforward because of how fresh it is to market…
While Qualcomm’s model names aren’t exactly English, the easiest way to distinguish the tiers is by the letter after “X1,” with “E” standing for the range-topping Elite line, “P” the mid-tier Plus line, and no letter designating the base eight-core Snapdragon X model.
Finally, here’s a look at Apple’s CPU lineup, which is also straightforward because of the company’s more pared-down strategy and limited laptop ranges. Also, note that the below lineup has omitted the M2 and M3 series because those are no longer produced new-in-box:
Also, check out our guide to comparing the M3 vs M4 and our review of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro.
Best of luck with your laptop hunt! As always, for nitty-gritty details, you can check out our endless stream of reviews and lists of our current favorites among all laptops, ultraportables, gaming laptops, and mobile workstations (with links to many reviews). Any given laptop’s performance in our benchmarks may not match the results you’d get from the same chip in another system with more or less memory and a different thermal design. But our detailed tests will get you close enough in your decision that you won’t be able to tell the differences without a stopwatch. And you can safely leave that stuff to us.
About Charles Jefferies
