Skip to main content

Intel’s concerns about AMD CPU performance, laptop battery life raise eyebrows

Intel’s attempt to one-up AMD may have backfired. Intel suggested in a recent presentation that it could be very concerned about the performance of AMD CPUs on certain laptops. Intel’s slides highlight what it claims are notable performance differences when both AMD and Intel laptops are powered by battery, rather than plugged in at the wall. While Intel claims victory, the results and the methodology are dubious.

Despite holding ground with recent advancements like Iris Xe graphics, the presentation suggests that AMD’s CPUs could offer better battery life in laptops when compared to Intel’s but at the cost of CPU performance. More specifically, Intel claims that AMD’s CPUs drop their performance by about 40% to 50% versus its own, which it claims drop just 8% when only powered via battery.

^

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

The core conclusion is that in benchmarking without AC power, Intel’s chipsets perform better. Intel also claims that AMD’s CPUs take 7 to 10 seconds to engage in a turbo mode, which allows for performance loss on the battery. Intel’s own systems, meanwhile, are able to do this much faster, in line with how most people use their laptops, it suggests.

As ExtremeTech argues, however, Intel’s methodology in all these tests is flawed, and its conclusions heavily biased. By averaging results, it disregards instances where the AMD CPU pulls ahead in benchmark results and draws a very broad suggestion that battery results are the be-all and end-all of laptop performance metrics. It also fails to mention that manufacturers set many of the parameters of laptop power draw and performance, and specifically chose to test on Lenovo AMD-powered laptops, while looking at a much greater array of Intel systems.

Again, Intel could be purposely skewing these results to make AMD look bad and reignite the AMD versus Intel debate. Its own portfolio is also much larger than AMD’s, with its chips being found in more laptops. Though Intel holds its own in onboard GPU gaming, AMD is pulling ahead in many key areas in the mobile space. Considering it just dominated Intel on desktop with its Ryzen 5000 CPUs, it appears Intel is rather worried it could do the same on laptops.

Editors' Recommendations

Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
Nvidia vs. AMD vs. Intel: Who’s the winner of CES 2024?
Michelle Johnston Holthaus holding an Intel Core Ultra CPU.

Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all unveiled some of the best PC hardware of CES 2024. With plenty of processors for both mobile and desktop, as well as some new graphics cards, the three PC giants came in with plenty to offer -- but which one did it best?

We have an interesting lineup from Intel, which expanded its list of top CPUs with chips ranging from the entry-level Core i3 to the high-end Core i9-HX. AMD served up some revolutionary APUs and a new graphics card. Meanwhile, Nvidia did something unprecedented -- it actually offered better value in its new GPUs. Let's compare the three and determine who won this year's CES 2024.
Nvidia: Super cards and lots of AI

Read more
Confused about Core Ultra? We were too, so we asked Intel about it
Intel's new Intel Core Ultra badge.

It’s the start of something new for Intel: the Core Ultra era. With the launch of new Meteor Lake processors, Intel is ditching its old naming scheme for something new. Intel CPU names are going to start looking a little different, and you might be confused by what you see on a spec sheet. We’re here to get you up to speed.

At first glance, Intel is just dropping the “i” that has defined its lineup of CPUs for 15 years. There are a few new details in the naming scheme, though, and knowing them can help you navigate this new era for Intel.
The basics of Core Ultra

Read more
Intel said AMD’s Ryzen 7000 is snake oil
AMD CEO Lisa Su holding an APU chip.

In what is one of the most bizarrely aggressive pieces of marketing material I've seen, Intel compared AMD's Ryzen 7000 mobile chips to snake oil. Over the weekend, Intel posted its Core Truths playbook, which lays out how AMD's mobile processor naming scheme misleads customers. The presentation has since been deleted, according to The Verge.

There's an element of truth to that, which I'll get to in a moment, but first, the playbook, which was first spotted by VideoCardz. Intel starts with claiming that there's a "long history of selling half-truths to unsuspecting customers" alongside images of a snake oil salesman and a suspicious used car seller. This sets up a comparison between the Ryzen 5 7520U and the Core i5-1335U. Intel's chip is 83% faster, according to the presentation, due to the older architecture that AMD's part uses.

Read more