Our expectations of the new Raptor Lake CPUs for the smaller performance classes were pretty muffled after we saw the specs, because there are no changes compared to Alder Lake except for slightly higher clocks. Our verdict is also pretty sobering after we actually reviewed the new Raptor Lake Core i7-1360P. Intel managed to improve the performance and efficiency (roughly between 5-10 %), which is actually not a bad result considering that the chip is still manufactured in a slightly improved Intel 7 process (10 nm). The new Raptor Lake CPUs also have an advantage over Alder Lake at higher clocks.
However, the big problem is that the chip does not nearly manage to run at the highest clocks of 4.5 GHz for all P-cores even at the specified maximum consumption of 64W. We only managed to see about 4 GHz for the P-cores and only 3-3.2 GHz at 38, where there is no real advantage over the previous Alder Lake chips. The same applied for the integrated GPU, because the additional 100 MHz is not noticeable. Intel was already lacking in this regard last year (especially compared to Apple), and the difference will be even bigger when AMD launches the new Zen4 chips. Despite the slightly improved efficiency, Intel is still clearly beaten by AMD and Apple in terms of efficiency and GPU performance.
The new Raptor Lake Core i7-1360P is slightly faster and more efficient than its predecessor, but the overall efficiency and the performance of the integrated GPU are still far behind AMD and Apple.
Intel’s high power limits are also an issue for the laptops and we already saw problems for many of the Alder Lake devices last year. Many 65W power adapters are often not able to handle the maximum consumption, so the battery has to be used in peak load scenarios as well. The fans are also very active, which is also the case for the new Lenovo Yoga 9i 14. The fan will even run during light workload, even when you only stress one core. There are obviously differences between laptop models, but the fans of modern Intel laptops just tend to be more active compared to similarly equipped AMD machines.
Apple already launched its new processors (M2 Pro and M2 Max) and the efficiency of the CPU section is a bit lower compared to the old M1 Pro chips, but the advantage over Intel is still significant (our comprehensive analysis of the new Apple SoCs will be published in a couple of days). We are still waiting for AMD’s new CPUs though; the first Ryzen 7000 chips have already arrived in our editorial office, but only Zen3+ models and not Zen4. AMD’s new line-up is actually pretty confusing, while Intel has reduced the number of processors for Raptor Lake.
The availability will probably be a major factor again when you decide between Intel and AMD, because Intel clearly has an advantage in this respect. The Ryzen 7 6800U was already the superior mobile processor overall last year, but that does not mean very much when you cannot buy many laptops with the CPU. The next couple of months will show if the situation changes this year.
.