Intel Core Ultra 9 185H: Meteor Lake processor loses to Core Ultra 7 155H on Geekbench ^↺

So far, leaks have revealed at least two high-end laptops with Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processors, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra and Asus ROG Zephyrus M16. It shouldn't be long before others show up, but another report said they'll be available for purchase in mid-2024. A recent Geekbench listing may have shed light on why that is the case.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H scores 2,047 and 11,274 on Geekbench 6.2's single and multi-core tests. While we can't compare it with its initial showing (1,803/9,806) as it was tested on Geekbench 5.4, the performance is still sub-par. Its lower-specced counterpart, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, scores 2,424 and 12,437 points in the same benchmark.

It is common for pre-production hardware to perform below expectations. However, the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H's performance is worse than its last-gen counterparts (US$1,999 on Amazon), indicating that there are some other problems. A cursory glance at its clocks during Geekbench shows a high degree of instability, with the CPU being unable to hold its advertised 5 GHz boost clock.