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Not worth your time: The average Intel Core i7-9750H is just 6 percent faster than the Core i7-8750H

The average Intel Core i7-9750H is just 6 percent faster than the Core i7-8750H
The average Intel Core i7-9750H is just 6 percent faster than the Core i7-8750H
If you already own a Core i7-8750H laptop or are planning to upgrade from an older model, don't even bother with the 9th gen Core i7 series. The raw performance benefits are as minor as they can get between the two generations based on the 25+ 9th gen Intel laptops we've tested thus far.

The jump from 7th gen Kaby Lake-H Core i7 to 8th gen Coffee Lake-H Core i7 was quite significant. Intel increased the physical core count from 4 to 6 for a 40 to 50 percent boost in multi-threaded performance to be a "true" gen-to-gen leap.

Unfortunately, we can't say the same about the jump from 8th gen Coffee Lake-H Core i7 to 9th gen Coffee Lake-H Core i7. After testing over 25 different laptops equipped with the Core i7-9750H, we've discovered performance to be only 6 percent faster than the last generation Core i7-8750H on average according to CineBench benchmarks. The gap is so narrow that even some select Core i7-8750H laptops can consistently outperform a newer and more expensive Core i7-9750H laptop.

Users who have been following the Intel roadmap will not likely be surprised by this data. The 9th gen Coffee Lake-H series was designed to be a minor refresh of 8th gen at the silicon level. In fact, the most important distinction between 8th gen and 9th gen isn't performance but security; Intel finally patched up the Meltdown vulnerability via hardware on its 9th gen SKUs.

Users who are looking for a larger performance leap will have to jump from 8th gen Core i7 to 9th gen Core i9 as the latest Core i9 series adds an additional two physical cores for a total of 8.

Most laptops with the Core i7-9750H tend to be high-performance business laptops or gaming laptops. In general, we recommend sticking to Core i7-8750H models as they tend to be less expensive while offering essentially the same performance as the i7-9750H. Gamers in particular should invest the money saved on a higher GPU option instead where the gains in performance are actually tangible.

See our dedicated pages on the Core i7-8750H and Core i7-9750H below for more benchmark comparisons between the processors.

Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
HP Pavilion Gaming 17-cd0085cl
Intel Core i7-9750H
193 Points
Average Intel Core i7-9750H
  (170 - 194, n=82)
183.7 Points
CPU Multi 64Bit
Average Intel Core i7-9750H
  (952 - 1306, n=85)
1182 Points
HP Pavilion Gaming 17-cd0085cl
Intel Core i7-9750H
1172 Points
Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Average Intel Core i7-8750H
  (163 - 177, n=86)
172 Points
Dell G7 17 7790
Intel Core i7-8750H
164 Points
CPU Multi 64Bit
Dell G7 17 7790
Intel Core i7-8750H
1183 Points
Average Intel Core i7-8750H
  (863 - 1251, n=93)
1113 Points
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 07 > Not worth your time: The average Intel Core i7-9750H is just 6 percent faster than the Core i7-8750H
Allen Ngo, 2019-07-24 (Update: 2019-07-25)