First Core Ultra 7 355 benchmarks are in and they're nowhere near as good as the Core Ultra X7

The 2026 Dell XPS 14 is now shipping with the option to choose between the Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra X7 Panther Lake processors. We recently had the chance to check out both systems, but the less expensive Core Ultra 7 configuration entails quite the performance gap that potential buyers may want to be wary of.

As shown by our comparison graphs below, the new U-series Core Ultra 7 355 the XPS 14 is roughly 30 to 50 percent slower than the Core Ultra X7 358H when it comes to multi-threaded loads. The higher end of the deficit is most noticeable during the first minute or so of CPU stress as the Core Ultra X7 benefits from higher Turbo Boost potential than its U-series counterpart, but the 30 percent gap is still significant nonetheless even after accounting for any throttling.

Overall processor performance from the Core Ultra 7 355 is therefore closer to the last generation Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 258V but with slightly weaker NPU TOPS performance.

One might anticipate the Core Ultra 7 355 to run at lower power envelopes than the Core Ultra X7 or Core Ultra 7 258V since Panther Lake-U is slower than Panther Lake-H and newer than Lunar Lake. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. When running CineBench R23 xT on an external monitor, for example, the Core Ultra 7 XPS 14 would demand almost the same amount of power from mains as the Core Ultra X7 XPS 14 and Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 6 once Turbo Boost speeds stabilize. Thus, the aforementioned 30 percent performance deficit doesn't mean a 30 percent reduction in power draw for noticeably lower performance-per-watt when comparing between the Core Ultra 7 355 and Core Ultra X7 358H.

More benchmarks and comparisons can be found on our review of the XPS 14.