{"id":434822,"date":"2026-01-26T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434822\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T18:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:52:20","slug":"intel-panther-lake-laptop-cpu-review-call-it-a-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434822\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel Panther Lake laptop CPU review: call it a comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intel\u2019s been talking the talk<\/a> for months<\/a> about its new generation of laptop chips<\/a>, the first made on its long-anticipated<\/a> 18A process<\/a>. 18A is meant to steer Intel back toward bluer waters by making its chips better, and, if possible, attracting chip designers like Qualcomm and Nvidia<\/a> to use Intel\u2019s foundries, not just its rival TSMC\u2019s. Last year\u2019s Arrow Lake chips received a mixed reception<\/a>, particularly desktop versions<\/a>. The mobile-only Lunar Lake chips, on the other hand, were great, showing that the x86 architecture still has plenty of fight in it against a slowly rising tide of Arm-based Windows laptops<\/a>. But Lunar Lake<\/a> was a one-off that Intel designed more than manufactured, relying on TSMC silicon<\/a> to do the heaviest lifting. Panther Lake puts homegrown Intel inside once again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been testing the flagship Intel Core Ultra X9 388H Panther Lake chip in the 2026 Asus Zenbook Duo<\/a> dual-screen laptop, and it\u2019s been a treat. It\u2019s fast enough for intensive work and multitasking, powerful enough for 1080p gaming at high settings, and lasts well over a full workday using productivity apps on battery power. With Panther Lake, Intel is walking the walk.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a><\/p>\n

We tested Panther Lake in the $2,300 Asus Zenbook Duo laptop. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Panther Lake CPUs come in 8- and 16-core versions, made up of Cougar Cove performance cores (P-cores) and Darkmont efficiency cores (E-cores). The Core Ultra X9 388H in the Zenbook Duo is the top-tier 16-core model with an Intel Arc B390 GPU (consisting of 12 Xe graphics cores), a base power of 25W and a maximum turbo power up to 80W. Intel hyped it as more efficient than Lunar Lake<\/a> while simultaneously more powerful than the Arrow Lake chips that are typically found in higher-power workstation and desktop replacement laptops.<\/p>\n

Against its closest competition, Panther Lake isn\u2019t an outright winner. Most benchmark scores in our table below are dominated by Apple\u2019s M5 and AMD\u2019s top-tier Strix Halo. But the Intel 388H Panther Lake chip handily beats AMD\u2019s highest-end Strix Point chip in all but one of the tests we ran. That\u2019s a solid leapfrogging by Intel, considering Strix Point handily beat<\/a> Lunar Lake just a year ago. Now, Panther Lake also trounces our examples of both Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake-H.<\/p>\n

While Apple is still the speed champ in most of these categories, I was pleasantly surprised to see Panther Lake slightly edge out the MacBook Pro in our 4K video export in Adobe Premiere Pro. That\u2019s those 12 graphics cores at work.<\/p>\n

Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (Panther Lake) \/ Asus Zenbook Duo \/ 32GB \/ 1TBApple M5 \/ MacBook Pro 14 \/ 16GB \/ 1TBAMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Point) \/ Asus Zenbook S16 \/ 32GB \/ 1TBAMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 (Strix Halo) \/ Asus ROG Flow Z13 \/ 32GB \/ 1TBIntel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake) \/ Acer Swift 14 AI \/ 32GB \/ 1TBIntel Core Ultra 7 255H (Arrow Lake) \/ Lenovo Yoga Book 9i \/ 16GB \/ 1TBCPU cores16101216816Graphics cores1210164088Geekbench 6 CPU Single300942082828298626092802Geekbench 6 CPU Multi172681794813565198451069011976Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)568394905935991808192898439643Cinebench 2024 Single129200113116118123Cinebench 2024 Multi98310859981450596722PugetBench for Photoshop8773123547348105156598Not testedPugetBench for Premiere Pro (version 2.0.0+)5492071122Not testedNot testedNot testedNot testedPremiere 4K Export (shorter time is better)3 minutes, 3 seconds3 minutes, 14 secondsNot testedNot testedNot testedNot testedBlender Classroom test (seconds, lower is better)6144308Not testedNot testedNot tested3DMark Time Spy (1080p)9847Not testedNot tested1204359555746<\/p>\n

In real-world use, Panther Lake\u2019s speed is palpable. When I fired up my Adobe Lightroom Classic catalog and started editing some of my 50-megapixel RAW files, it felt as quick \u2014 or nearly as quick \u2014 as a MacBook Pro. I could make heavy-handed changes in the Develop module, and bounce around between images, without everything bogging down as it often does on other Windows laptops. Even subject detection and healing brush removal were snappy.<\/p>\n

And I did my photo editing on battery power. Unlike most Windows laptops I\u2019ve used up till now, the Zenbook Duo is just about as fast on battery power as it is connected to the wall. This is often something that Windows laptop makers restrict in their hardware designs, but I\u2019m relieved it\u2019s not the case with Panther Lake on the Zenbook Duo. It\u2019s a big win for editing and content creation on Windows, as it lets the platform match one of the major strengths of modern MacBooks. I just hope all Windows laptop manufacturers follow suit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here you see a Geekbench CPU test run on wall power.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here, the same test on battery power. Allow me to reiterate: this is awesome.<\/p>\n

Speaking of battery power, Panther Lake in the Zenbook Duo is a champ. Especially when you consider it\u2019s powering two bright, high-resolution OLED displays. You can read deeper details on my real-world experience with the Zenbook Duo\u2019s battery life in my full review of the laptop<\/a>, but here are a couple quick hits: It lasted over 14 hours in our rundown test, and I could easily last a nine-hour workday of dual-screen multitasking with enough juice left over for some lighter casual use in the evening.<\/p>\n

As for gaming, Intel claims that Panther Lake\u2019s 12 Xe graphics cores are on par with Nvidia\u2019s discrete RTX 4050 laptop GPU, much like how Strix Halo goes toe-to-toe with the RTX 4060. Digital Foundry\u2019s early testing at CES found Panther Lake to be nipping at the heels of a desktop RTX 3050<\/a> card at 1080p resolution.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Intel Graphics Software app is where you can choose your XeSS multi-frame generation override, as well as download graphics driver updates.<\/p>\n

I only did a handful of scripted gaming benchmarks, because I wanted to spend more time actually playing. But one benchmark that stood out to me was Cyberpunk 2077, which averaged 40fps at 1920 x 1200 resolution on Ultra settings. That\u2019s without ray tracing, but also without any XeSS (Intel\u2019s version of super resolution upscaling). Panther Lake is no slouch, even if AMD\u2019s beefy Strix Halo chip still has the edge on graphics.<\/p>\n

Once I dove into playing titles like Cyberpunk, Helldivers 2, Battlefield 6, and a few others, I discovered that Panther Lake can typically hit 60fps or slightly below at 1920 x 1200 resolution on High settings with XeSS Balanced enabled. You can push the graphics quality further by turning on ray tracing or flipping XeSS from Balanced to Quality, but I\u2019d only do that if you\u2019re comfortable playing closer to 30fps. I prefer 60fps as my baseline.<\/p>\n

Setting game graphics to hit a baseline of 40 to 60fps means you can flip on the new XeSS multi-frame generation<\/a>, which can make games look buttery smooth at well above 120fps. You can control multi-frame generation in Intel\u2019s app, and pick between 2x, 3x, and 4x frame generation. It felt smooth enough to use in Battlefield 6 and got close to the Zenbook Duo\u2019s native 144Hz refresh (though I turn it off in multiplayer to ensure there\u2019s no chance of increased input latency). Nvidia may be marching on toward 6x Multi Frame Generation with DLSS 4.5<\/a>, but Intel\u2019s doing a fine job on its slower cadence \u2014 and it\u2019s still ahead of AMD\u2019s Redstone<\/a>, which doesn\u2019t support multi-frame gen.<\/p>\n

\"Cyberpunk<\/a><\/p>\n

Cyberpunk 2077 running on its High preset in 1920 x 1200 resolution, with XeSS set to Quality and 3x frame generation. \u201cFake frames\u201d are fine in my book for single-player games.<\/p>\n

\"Battlefield<\/a><\/p>\n

Battlefield 6 running at 1920 x 1200 resolution, Medium preset with Balanced XeSS, and resolution scaling set to 75 percent. This ensured mostly 60+ fps without frame generation.<\/p>\n

As excited as I am for Panther Lake to finally arrive, and to stick its landing this well, I\u2019m now looking forward to further testing of slightly lower-end versions \u2014 ones found in more moderately priced laptops than this $2,300 dual-screen with a massive battery. (A handheld<\/a>, perhaps?) And I\u2019m equally excited to see how new contenders from AMD<\/a> and Qualcomm<\/a> stack up, including those cheaper gaming-focused Strix Halo variants<\/a>. It\u2019s an exciting time for new laptop releases (rising prices aside, of course).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of upcoming competition, but Panther Lake is first out of the gate and looking like the Windows laptop chip to beat. Welcome back to the show, Intel.<\/p>\n

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Antonio G. Di BenedettoAsusClose<\/p>\n

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