Intel Core i7-1185G7 vs Intel Core i7-8650U

Intel Core i7-1185G7

The Intel Core i7-1185G7 is a power-efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation (UP3) that was introduced September 2020. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading). Each core can clock from 1.2 GHz (12 W base clock speed), 3 GHz (28 W base clock speed) to 4.8 GHz (single-core boost). All cores at once can clock at up to 4.3 GHz. At the time of announcement, the i7-1185G7 is the fastest model of the line-up. Since early 2021, the i7-1185G7 supports management features like vPro.

Another novelty is the integrated Iris Xe iGPU based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. It should offer a significantly higher performance compared to the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake). In the i7-1185G7 it uses 96 EUs and clocks between 400 - 1,350 MHz. The GPU and CPU can together use the 12 MB of L3 cache.

Furthermore, Tiger Lake SoCs add PCIe 4 support (four lanes), AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6 in the chip.

Performance

The average 1185G7 in our database is just as fast as AMD's hexa-core Ryzen 5 4500U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While the i7 is not the fastest Tiger Lake chip by any stretch of imagination, it's more than usable for your productivity and creative apps, with a bit of gaming possible as well.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 55 W, the Stealth 15M A11SEK is among the fastest laptops powered by the 1185G7 that we know of. It can be almost twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This little Core i7 here has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop manufacturers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, that's a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The chip is manufactured on Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i7-8650U

The Intel Core i7-8650U 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 predecessor the Core i7-7600U, which were still dual-cores, the i7-8650U is equipped with four cores but at a lower base frequency of 1.9 GHz. The Turbo Boost can go up to 4,2 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

According to Intel, the new quad core models are up to 40% faster than their dual core predecessors. Due to the reduced TDP and the same 14nm+ process, the long term performance and throttling behaviour will be interesting and depending on the laptop design. Therefore, the older 35 Watt quad-core models should be faster in applications that demand longer CPU loads. The performance however is highly depending on the TDP settings and cooling solution of the laptop. Especially, longer loads will show varying results in different laptops.

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.