Not created equal yet again: Retail Core i7-1165G7 laptops can be up to 50 percent slower than Intel's in-house claims
As we've mentioned time and time again, it takes more than one laptop sample to fully represent any specific processor because said processor will very likely perform differently on other laptops. Benchmarking several consumer-ready laptops each equipped with the same processor would be the best way to paint a bigger picture of what the CPU is capable of. And yet, we still get headlines jumping to conclusions about a processor based on just one or two random benchmark entries.
With 11th gen Intel Tiger Lake now available on store shelves, we've tested five different laptops thus far each equipped with the Core i7-1165G7 and the results haven't been as good as we had initially hoped. When Intel invited us to test a Core i7-1165G7 developer unit last Summer, we recorded some impressive multi-thread and single-thread performance numbers as shown by the comparison chart below. Unfortunately, not even one of our five retail laptops could match what we recorded on the Intel developer unit in terms of multi-threaded performance. The Acer SF514-55T, which is the fastest Core i7-1165G7 laptop we've tested thus far that's actually available for consumers, is almost 20 percent slower than the in-house Intel unit while the Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 can be anywhere from 20 to 50 percent slower when it levels off at 15 W.
So, why the wide performance deltas? It all has to do with Turbo Boost sustainability as some laptops are better equipped than others at running higher clock rates for longer due to higher temperature ceilings or better cooling solutions. Our CineBench R15 xT loop graph above shows that even the Acer SF514-55T can start out flying through the gate before performance eventually drops by over 30 percent as clock rates steadily decline over time.
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
i7-1165G7 Pre-Sample | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (1060 - 2657, n=81) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
i7-1165G7 Pre-Sample | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (442 - 589, n=81) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
i7-1165G7 Pre-Sample | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (553 - 1027, n=86) | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
i7-1165G7 Pre-Sample | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (115 - 230, n=78) | |
Acer SF514-55T |
Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (468 - 1138, n=80) | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (4478 - 5507, n=80) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (15347 - 27405, n=80) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (1302 - 1595, n=77) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA |
Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (3078 - 5926, n=77) |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (1.39 - 8.47, n=80) | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (21.5 - 88.1, n=78) | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD |
R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1165G7 (0.552 - 1.002, n=80) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Razer Blade Stealth i7-1165G7 GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | |
Acer SF514-55T |
* ... smaller is better
Gaming performance shows a similar trend where the same aforementioned consumer laptops each with the integrated Iris Xe G7 GPU struggle to reach the same benchmark scores as Intel's in-house kits. The average Xe GPU is at least 20 percent slower than the initial Intel reference design thus far based on our small handful of tested retail units.
Intel Tiger Lake is barely a month old and there's still plenty to test in the year ahead. Graphics drivers in particular are still maturing meaning average gaming performance should only get better from here. But for now, these early Tiger Lake systems are following the same trend that we observed on both Ice Lake and AMD Ryzen laptops when they first became available this time last year.
3DMark 11 | |
1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Intel Iris Xe Graphics | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (2867 - 7471, n=193) | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1280x720 Performance Combined | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1926 - 7238, n=192) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 |
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark | |
1280x720 Lite Quality | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (14.9 - 56.5, n=174) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1920x1080 Standard Quality | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (10.5 - 28, n=170) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1920x1080 High Quality | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (8.15 - 27.8, n=163) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 |
The Witcher 3 | |
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (28.9 - 110, n=181) | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
1366x768 Medium Graphics & Postprocessing | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (21.4 - 74.1, n=179) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (10.6 - 45.9, n=184) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (8.79 - 20.1, n=174) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 |
X-Plane 11.11 | |
1280x720 low (fps_test=1) | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 15W | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (13.4 - 88.4, n=206) | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
1920x1080 med (fps_test=2) | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 15W | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (11.6 - 69.5, n=207) | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 | |
1920x1080 high (fps_test=3) | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 28W | |
Acer SF514-55T | |
Intel Reference Design Laptop 15W | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (11.1 - 59.8, n=206) | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 |
Strange Brigade | |
1280x720 lowest AF:1 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (48.5 - 107.3, n=160) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1920x1080 medium AA:medium AF:4 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (18.2 - 48.3, n=158) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1920x1080 high AA:high AF:8 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (15.4 - 38.1, n=157) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 | |
1920x1080 ultra AA:ultra AF:16 | |
Dell XPS 13 9310 Core i7 FHD | |
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (13.2 - 30.8, n=155) | |
Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA | |
Lenovo Yoga 7 14ITL5 |