{"id":488918,"date":"2026-06-21T21:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488918\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T21:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:09:09","slug":"intel-core-3-test-shows-it-could-give-windows-laptops-a-fighting-chance-again-macbook-neo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488918\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel Core 3 test shows it could give Windows laptops a fighting chance again MacBook Neo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple\u2019s MacBook Neo<\/a> has shaken up the budget laptop market with its $599 price tag and surprisingly capable A18 Pro chip<\/a>. But if fresh benchmark numbers are anything to go by, Intel may finally have a worthy response<\/a>. The company\u2019s upcoming Core 3 304 processor has surfaced on PassMark, and the results suggest that entry-level Windows laptops could soon be much more competitive.<\/p>\n

Intel\u2019s Core 3 304 is closing the gap with Apple\u2019s A18 Pro<\/p>\n

According to new PassMark results<\/a> (via x86deadandback<\/a>), the Intel Core 3 304 achieved an average CPU Mark score of 11,543 points, putting it just 2.2% behind the Apple A18 Pro inside the MacBook Neo, which currently averages 11,804 points. In single-threaded performance, the Intel chip trails by about 7.7% in average scores, though one benchmark submission even matched the A18 Pro\u2019s peak result.<\/p>\n

\"Intel<\/p>\n

\t\tPassMark<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly interesting is that Intel is achieving this with a 5-core, 5-thread design, compared to the A18 Pro\u2019s 6-core, 6-thread configuration. The Core 3 304 is expected to be part of Intel\u2019s low-power Wildcat Lake family aimed at affordable laptops, making the comparison especially relevant for budget-conscious buyers.<\/p>\n

\"Computer,<\/p>\n

\t\tNadeem Sarwar \/ Digital Trends<\/p>\n

Of course, synthetic benchmarks only tell part of the story. Battery life, thermals, graphics performance, software optimization, and overall user experience will still play a major role once shipping products arrive. But from a pure CPU perspective, Intel appears to be much closer to Apple\u2019s latest budget silicon than many would have expected.<\/p>\n

Maybe the budget Windows laptop isn\u2019t dead after all<\/p>\n

The funny thing is that the MacBook Neo\u2019s biggest selling point was never just macOS or battery life. It was the idea that buyers could get flagship-level responsiveness at an entry-level price. If Intel can deliver similar everyday CPU performance with Wildcat Lake<\/a>, it could remove one of Apple\u2019s biggest competitive advantages in this segment.<\/p>\n

\"Intel-Wildcat-Lake-chipset\"<\/p>\n

\t\tIntel<\/p>\n

That said, benchmarks don\u2019t sell laptops in isolation. OEM pricing, display quality, memory configurations, and battery life will ultimately determine whether these upcoming Windows machines can truly challenge the MacBook Neo. Still, if these early numbers hold up, Intel may have just given budget Windows laptops the opening they\u2019ve been waiting for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s MacBook Neo has shaken up the budget laptop market with its $599 price tag and surprisingly capable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[351,371,6163,245206,170069,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-488918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-apple","tag-computing","tag-intel","tag-intel-wildcat","tag-macbook-neo","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}