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Intel Core i5-1235U
The volume 12th-gen ultrabook processor, found in countless sub-$700 laptops. Two P-cores and eight E-cores cover office work and browsing comfortably, but it was never built for rendering, compiling or sustained multi-core loads.
Pros
- Cheap, everywhere, and fine for office and web work
- Ten cores handle heavy multitasking better than old quad-cores
- Low 15W base power suits thin chassis
- Supports DDR5, LPDDR5 and LPDDR4X
Cons
- Weakest multi-core showing of the 12th-gen mobile line
- 80-EU iGPU is entry level
- Sustained clocks drop quickly in thin laptops
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i5-1235U
General
- Announced
- 2022
- Process
- 10 nm
- Base TDP
- 15 W
- Max TDP
- 55 W
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 10
- Performance cores
- 2
- Efficiency cores
- 8
- Threads
- 12
- Base clock
- 1.3 GHz
- Boost clock
- 4.4 GHz
- L3 cache
- 12 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel Iris Xe (80 EU)
- iGPU clock
- 1,200 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- LPDDR5-5200 / DDR5-4800 / LPDDR4X-4267
- Max memory
- 64 GB
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 2,000Bottom 15%
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 6,100Bottom 12%
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,520Bottom 27%
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 6,200Bottom 14%
- PassMark
- 12,415Bottom 18%
- PassMark (single thread)
- 3,044Bottom 22%
- 3DMark Time Spy Graphics (iGPU)
- 1,175Bottom 36%
Devices with the Intel Core i5-1235U
1 device in our catalog uses this chip
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i5-1235U good in 2026?
The Intel Core i5-1235U earns an Inno Score of 46.9/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The volume 12th-gen ultrabook processor, found in countless sub-$700 laptops. Two P-cores and eight E-cores cover office work and browsing comfortably, but it was never built for rendering, compiling or sustained multi-core loads.
Does the Intel Core i5-1235U count as "Core i7 or equivalent"?
Its PassMark CPU Mark average is 12,415 (cpubenchmark.net, retrieved Sep 26–Oct 8, 2026), which puts it in Tier C of our CPU tier checker: older or low-power Core i7, and many recent Core i5 chips. Requirement pages word this differently, so check the exact wording with your department.
Which devices use the Intel Core i5-1235U?
One device in our catalog uses the Intel Core i5-1235U: Surface Pro 9.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i5-1235U?
Cores: 10 · Threads: 12 · Boost clock: 4.4 GHz · Base TDP: 15 W
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i5-1235U?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core 3 100U, AMD Ryzen 5 6600H, Apple M1 (8-core) — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
