Core i5-1235U vs. Core i7-1165G7 benchmarks show similar CPU performance levels but slower graphics

Laptops sporting Alder Lake CPUs have been slowly but surely saturating store shelves. After recently reviewing the Lenovo Yoga 9 14 with the Core i7-1260P and Dell Inspiron 14 7420 with the Core i7-1255U, we're now in the midst of reviewing the Gateway Ultra Slim 14.1 with the Core i5-1235U. Unlike the Lenovo and Dell models, however, the Gateway model is significantly cheaper at just under $600 USD to be much more affordable than most other laptops also running on 12th gen Core CPUs. Our benchmark comparisons below show how well the Core i5-1235U can stack up against older 11th gen and Zen 3 CPUs currently in the market.

Unfortunately, users hoping to see appreciable performance gains over the older Core i7-1165G7 or even the Core i5-1135G7 are out of luck. When compared to the average i7-1165G7 or i5-1135G7 in our database, the i5-1235U is only within single-digit percentage points between them in terms of both multi-thread and single-thread performance. The gap is a bit wider when comparing the i5-1135G7 to the i5-1135U in single-thread benchmarks, but it's still relatively small nonetheless.

When looking at graphics performance, the i5-1235U is using the same integrated Iris Xe 80 EUs GPU as found on the i5-1135G7 for essentially no major performance differences between them yet again.

It's worth noting that our Core i5-1235U results thus far are based only on the budget Gateway laptop. We anticipate higher performance from pricier models that can better exploit the processor. Even so, we don't expect the performance increases to be very significant. If you're in the market for a new laptop, then you can rest easy knowing that an older 11th gen Core i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7 model can still offer essentially the same or better performance as the 12th gen Core i5-1235U.