{"id":1476517,"date":"2026-01-27T06:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/MjLLsTiBFd9vdKnibjAZCP"},"modified":"2026-01-27T06:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:37:25","slug":"intels-new-high-end-mobile-chip-is-an-impressive-game-cruncher-but-i-dont-think-proper-gaming-laptops-should-worry-just-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/intels-new-high-end-mobile-chip-is-an-impressive-game-cruncher-but-i-dont-think-proper-gaming-laptops-should-worry-just-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Intel’s new high-end mobile chip is an impressive game-cruncher, but I don’t think proper gaming laptops should worry just yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fast, feisty, fabulous. That’s how I described the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H in my review<\/a>, and I stand by it. It’s got an Arc B390 iGPU that crushes all the others we’ve tested for gaming performance, and that’s a remarkable technical achievement given the size of the graphics tile relative to the rest of the chip.<\/p>\n

But there’s a significant caveat hanging over the Intel Arc B390, and it goes like this: it’s very, very quick\u2014for an iGPU. <\/em>Sure, it’s capable of delivering gaming laptop-like performance, but compare it to any discrete mobile GPU of the current generation and the little graphics tile’s limits are quickly revealed.<\/p>\n

Now, none of this is meant to cast shade upon the considerable achievement of Intel’s engineers. No one was expecting its new mobile graphics hardware to compete with, say, anything from the RTX 50-series.<\/p>\n

In fact, Intel claims the Core Ultra X9 388H is 10% faster at gaming (on average) than a lappy with an RTX 4050 mobile. And, if you squint closely at those claims, you’ll see that they were made in reference to a 60 W gaming laptop, with ‘2x upscaling’ enabled.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Intel)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Again, that’s still fairly impressive for an iGPU, particularly as the Core Ultra X9 388H machine was claimed to be using 45 W for the whole shebang during those tests. But in reality, a low-wattage RTX 4050 mobile isn’t particularly quick by modern standards.<\/p>\n

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