Intel Core i3-4120U vs Intel Core i3-4000M

The Intel Core i3-4120U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor for ultrabooks launched in Q2 2014. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Threading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel, leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.0 GHz and includes no Turbo Boost support.

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

According to the identical clock rate, the Core i3-4120U offers the same performance as the Core i3-4158U (28 W TDP). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as most applications.

The integrated HD Graphics 4400 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 200 - 1000 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it somewhat faster than the former HD Graphics 4000 at similar clock speeds. However, the HD 4400 is somewhat slower than the HD 5000 of other ULV models.

The Core i3-4120U is rated at a TDP of 15 W including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited for small ultrabooks 11-inches or greater.

The Intel Core i3-4000M is a middle-class dual-core processor for laptops launched in Q2 2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Threading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.4 GHz and includes no Turbo Boost support.

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Due to these changes, the performance per clock has been improved by almost 10 percent compared to Ivy Bridge. Therefore, the i3-4000M is about as fast as the former Sandy Bridge model i5-2410M.

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 400 MHz up to 1100 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it about 30 % faster than a similarly clocked HD 4000.

The i3-4000M is rated at a TDP of 37 W including the graphics card, memory controller and VRMs. Therefore, the CPU is suited for laptops 14-inches or greater.