Intel 8th-gen Core i7: What happens when thin laptops get quad-core speed
Intel’s ntel’s 8th-generation Core CPUs solve a problem for the superlight (sub‑three-pound) laptops that are becoming increasingly popular. Up to now, these laptops could handle only dual-core CPUs, because quad-core CPUs created more heat than their slimmer profiles could manage. That’s all changing with Intel’s ground breaking 8th-gen mobile CPU. Quad-cores once confined only to much larger and heavier laptops can now be stuffed into a tiny laptop, or so the company claims.
But can the 8th-gen CPUs actually give you the performance you expect and you’re paying for? Or this is this just a cynical attempt to sell you on some quasi-”quad‑core” for you next laptop?
To find out, read on.
Intel’s 8th-gen Core i7 promises to bring quad-core performance to ultra-portable laptops.
LAPTOP CPU REVIEWS AREN’T EASY: HOW WE DID IT
Unlike desktop CPUs, laptop CPU performance has always been a tricky task, as isolating the CPU is nigh impossible. Different laptop manufacturers will set the CPU to run at different speeds based on how much cooling they stuff into it, or how loud they want the fans to run at.
Basically, trying to compare an 8th-gen Dell XPS 13 to a 7th-gen Acer or HP introduces so many variables out of your control that it can be difficult to render a final decision. There is one way to get you closer, though: Compare the same laptop models made by the same manufacturer.
That’s exactly what we did this time, using Dell’s newest XPS 13 with a Core i7-8550U inside ($1,300 and up ). To this, we compared a Dell XPS 13 with a 7th gen Core i7-7500U. For context we also lumped in the original Broadwell-based XPS 13 from 2015. Although outfitted with “only” a Core i5, we included it because it was also the model that first ushered in the zero-bezel “Infinity bezel” design.
