Intel Core i7-8550U vs Intel Core i7-9750H

Intel Core i7-8550U

The Intel Core i7-8550U is a power efficient quad-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Kaby Lake Refresh generation and was announced in August 2017. Contrary to its direct predecessors Core i7-7500U and i5-7260U, respectively, which were still dual-cores, the i7-8550U is equipped with four cores but at a lower base frequency of 1.8 GHz. The Turbo Boost is not specified yet, but should be at least 3.7 - 4 GHz and therefore also offer good short term single core speeds. The GPU is now named Intel UHD Graphics 620 but otherwise identical to the Intel HD Graphics 620. The integrated memory controller supports DDR4-2400 / LPDDR3-2133 and dual channel memory.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

The performance of the i7-8550U depends on the cooling solution of the laptop and the defined TDP limits for short and long term performance. This leads to big differences in our benchmark scores ranging from the 15 Watt reference by Intel up to the 23% higher score of the Inspiron 17-7773 in the Cinebench R15 Multi benchmark. Especially when taxing the CPU for longer periods, these differences can be even higher.

In our usual benchmarks, the average i7-8550U is as fast as the 35 Watt rated Core i5-7440HQ. For single thread performance, the high Turbo Boost frequency helps achieving one of the highest scores for mobile CPUs.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) is untouched from the 8th Gen Kaby Lake chips. With fast dual-channel memory it can reach the performance of a dedicated GeForce 920M.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors (14nm+), the same as the 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, which is typical for ULV chips. Depending on the usage scenario, the TDP can vary between 7.5 (cTDP Down) and 25 Watts.

Intel Core i7-9750H

The Intel Core i7-9750H is a high-end processor for laptops with six cores based on the Coffee Lake architecture (2019 refresh, CFL-HR). The processor clocks at between 2.6 and 4.5 GHz (4 GHz with 6 cores) and can execute up to twelve threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading. According to Intel, the CPU is manufactured in an improved 14nm (14nm++) process. Compared to the predecessor, the Core i7-8750H, the 9750H offers improved clock rates and a larger L3 cache.

The Coffee Lake architecture is similar to Kaby Lake and differs only in the amount of cores (now max. eight cores for the high end versions) and the improved 14nm process (14nm++ according to Intel).

Performance

Multi-thread performance is most comparable to the Intel Core i9-8950HK, an expensive hexa-core processor of the previous generation. While performance gains over the outgoing 8th Gen H-class chips are unimpressive to say the least, the average Core i7-9750H in our database is much faster than the Ryzen 7 3750H and other H-class Ryzen chips AMD sells as of mid 2019.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term power limit of around 70 W, the Walmart EVOO Gaming 17 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 9750H that we know of. It can be 40% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 is supposed to offer a slightly higher performance as its clock rate has been increased by 50 MHz compared to the UHD 630 of the 8750H CPU. The architecture is identical to that of the Intel HD Graphics 630. We do expect a performance improvement, but as a low-end solution it will probably only display current games smoothly at reduced details - if at all.

Power consumption

This Core i7 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 45 W, a value that laptop makers are allowed to reduce slightly, 35 W being the lowest Intel-recommended value. Doing so would result in lower clock speeds and lower performance. Either way, a proper cooling solution is a must for a CPU like this.

The hexa-core Intel CPU is made with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes for below average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.