12th Gen Intel Core processors for laptops enable up to 14 cores for high-end laptops

In addition to announcing new desktop processors, Intel is also expanding its Alder Lake architecture to laptops. Intel has announced 12th-generation Core processors for everything from high-end gaming laptops to thin-and-light ultrabooks, with inexpensive Pentiums and Celerons thrown in as good measure.

These laptop chips use Intel’s new hybrid processor architecture, which combines larger, higher performance cores with smaller, more efficient cores (P-cores and E-cores, respectively). How many P-cores and E-cores you get depends on the processor you buy, and you’ll need an operating system that supports Intel’s “Thread Director”technology to get the best performance from the chips. Windows 11 supports it now, Linux support is in development, and Windows 10 doesn’t and won’t.

High performance: H and P series processors

Intel’s H-series processors are the highest-performing laptop GPUs available, and 12th-generation H-series chips will begin shipping to laptops in February. We’ve provided tables with all the core counts and clock speeds above, but to quickly recap the differences between the eight different H-series processors:

• Core i9 models include six P cores and eight E cores, as well as an integrated GPU with 96 execution units (EU). The i9-12900HK is the only overclockable laptop processor in the entire 12th Gen Intel lineup.
• Core i7 chips also use six P-cores and eight E-cores, but with slightly lower clock speeds. Their GPUs also include 96 EU, but the youngest i7-12650H only uses 65 EU.
• The Core i5 chips use four P-cores and eight E-cores, reducing the maximum turbo output from 115W to 95W. Their GPUs include 80 EU except for the 48 EU i5-12450H.

Intel’s performance numbers are centered mostly on the top-end Core i9-12900HK, which the company compares favorably with the latest generation i9-11980HK, the AMD Ryzen 5900HX, and the Apple M1 Max and M1 Pro, although there aren’t many of them. Apple’s comparisons and Intel’s own slides show that Apple’s chips consume much less power. Intel’s performance comparison also excludes the just-announced Ryzen 6000 series laptop processors.

The integrated GPUs in these chips will usually be paired with some kind of dedicated GPU, as they are mostly used in gaming laptops and workstations. But the Intel GPU in these laptops is still usually responsible for driving internal and external displays, so decent performance is still a must.

Intel is also introducing the P-series processors, which will ship in the first quarter of this year – many of these models are almost identical to the H-series in hardware, but with reduced base power and maximum turbo power consumption. This means that their clock speeds aren’t as high and they won’t be able to run as long at maximum overclocking speeds, but they will be able to fit into thinner and lighter PCs with smaller cooling systems.

Most P-series Core i7 and Core i5 processors include four P-cores and eight E-cores with L3 cache, clock speed, and the number of EU GPUs that you gradually decrease as you move down the stack. There is no Core i9 option, although the Core i7-1280P offers the same combination of six P-cores and eight E-cores. And underneath you have one Core i3-1220P with two P-cores and eight E-cores.