Laptop CPU names vs speed: what “Core i7” tells you

What to look at instead of the badge

• The generation or launch year. Intel says the generation of a Core i3/i5/i7/i9 chip is the number (or two numbers) after the i3, i5, i7 or i9 (Intel): the i7-8550U is 8th generation, the i7-1255U 12th. The newer names (Core Ultra, Ryzen AI) encode a generation too, but it is harder to decode, so the chip's page is the easier place to read its launch year.
• The letters at the end of the model number. Most say what kind of laptop the chip was designed for (on Intel chips such as the i7-1165G7, G1–G7 gives the graphics level instead); the section below has Intel's descriptions and PCWorld's summary of AMD's scheme.
• The chip's own test results. Every processor page lists its benchmark results with sources, and the CPU tier check answers whether it meets a “Core i7 or equivalent” requirement.

Context: how Intel and AMD name their chips

In June 2023 Intel announced a brand update: Intel Core Ultra for its most advanced client processors, and 3/5/7/9 tiers starting with its Meteor Lake chips (Intel). Intel introduced the Core Ultra mobile family on December 14, 2023 (Intel). The “i” names did not end at once: in January 2024 Intel launched 14th Gen HX laptop chips such as the Core i7-14700HX and, in the same release, its new Intel Core mobile processor Series 1 family, led by the Core 7 150U (Intel). A laptop sold in 2024 can therefore carry a Core i7, a Core 7 or a Core Ultra 7.

Intel's processor-numbers page describes its laptop suffixes as U “Power efficient”, P “Performance optimized for thin and light laptops”, H “Highest performance” and HX “Highest performance, all SKUs unlocked” (Intel). The letter says what a chip was designed for; it does not adjust for age: in our catalog the Intel Core i7-8750H (H, 2018) scores 9,728 and the Intel Core i7-1255U (U, 2022) 12,941.

AMD changed its laptop model numbers starting with its 2023 portfolio. The first digit is the “portfolio year”, 7 for 2023 (PC Perspective); the third is the architecture, “2” for Zen 2, “3” for Zen 3 and Zen 3+, “4” for Zen 4; and the letter suffix gives the form factor or power class (PCWorld). A leading 7 does not mean Zen 4: AMD's CES 2023 release lists the Ryzen 7 7730U among its Zen 3-based Ryzen 7030 Series (AMD). In our catalog the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (2023) scores 16,909 and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (2023, third digit 4) 24,388.

PassMark says nearly all results in its CPU charts are averages of data sent in by users of its PerformanceTest software, and that some portable systems may run on restricted power profiles that limit CPU performance (PassMark). That is why this page counts only gaps of 10% or more.

How we counted

• The sample is every laptop processor in the InnoReviews catalog that carries a numbered badge (Intel Core i3/i5/i7/i9, Core 3/5/7, Core Ultra 5/7/9, AMD Ryzen 3/5/7/9, Ryzen AI 5/7/9) or belongs to Ryzen AI Max, Qualcomm Snapdragon X or Apple M, and has a PassMark CPU Mark average: 131 chips. Celeron, Pentium, Intel Processor N/U and Huawei Kirin chips have no badge to compare and are left out. The catalog does not hold every laptop chip ever made: it holds the chips in the laptops we cover plus a selection of older ones, so the counts describe the catalog, not the whole market.
• Speed is the PassMark CPU Mark average from cpubenchmark.net, read Sep 26–Oct 8, 2026. It averages results submitted by PassMark users, so the same chip in a thin laptop with a lower power limit can score below its average. Chips whose average still rests on too few results are left out, as in the CPU tier check.
• “Slower” means slower by at least 10%: a gap of a few percent is within the spread between laptops and is not counted either way.
• The year is the chip's launch year in our catalog: the maker's launch date, which can come weeks or months before laptops with the chip go on sale. Core Ultra X7 and X9 count as Core Ultra 7 and 9. The Core 7 230H is left out: Intel aimed it at small desktop boards, and we found no laptop that uses it.