It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.
This review was made possible thanks to review samples provided by Intel.
Intel and MSI had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.
The new H and HX-series are afflicted with some befuddling contradictions, but overall are competent and reliable chips.
Intel Core Ultra 9 285H review: What is it?
Series 2 also marked Intel Core Ultra’s debut on desktops with the powerful K-series.
Expect to see the H-series in creator-focused laptops, enterprise workstations, and even compact gaming laptops.
The latest Intel Core Ultra chips are designed for laptops with unique features or specialized intent.
On top of that, these two MSI Prestige laptops differfar morethan just their processor of choice.
That’s especially true in single-core performance, which is incredibly important for day-to-day smoothness and can impact efficiency.
Despite boasting 6 fewer cores, though, the Ryzen AI 9 365 is never far behind.
SSD speeds have nothing to do with the processor, but the differences between these laptops can impact benchmark results.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Synthetic testing is done, and Intel is off to a solid (if not exceptional) start.
So, how does the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H fare when you’re actually using your laptop?
Really good, honestly.
In the intensive Cinebench 2024 CPU rendering test, the Core Ultra 9 285H barely beats the Ryzen AI 9 365, but overall performs quite well.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Exceptional single-core performance helps make day-to-day operation as smooth as silk.
Booting up, waking from sleep, and logging in viaWindows Hellohas also been fast and seamless.
Push the hardware further, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H can get very hot…
Intel fares better in Geekbench 6, where it competes with 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core i9 HX-series chips in gaming laptops.(Image credit: Windows Central)
But not so hot that I couldn’t touch the MSI Prestige 16.
That’s a great score.
Under the same conditions, the Ryzen AI 9 365 drained 10% in both tests… What I can compare is performance off the charger.
The Intel-powered MSI laptop performed extremely well in the general productivity CrossMark benchmark, with the single biggest contributor likely being excellent single-core performance.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Yes, that includes thenew ultra-affordable Snapdragon Xand AMD’s most budget-friendly chips like the Ryzen AI 5 340.
If you want efficient graphical prowess, this is a good place to start.
Outside of that, this is a performant, efficient platform.
The new Intel Arc 140T is absolutely impressive as an integrated GPU, especially before we can get our hands on AMD’s new Ryzen AI MAX chips.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Encoding a 4K video is one area where AMD often beats Intel, at least in our testing, and it’s no exception here.(Image credit: Windows Central)
I’ve zero complaints about how the Core Ultra 9 285H performs, but I didn’t really expect to.
At least on this laptop, the Core Ultra 9 285H is more efficient than we’ve come to expect from 16-core CPUs.
Intel talked big about AI, but the entire H and HX-series of chips are immediately behind the times.
I’ve no doubt we’ll see some truly awesome laptops with these new H and HX-series Core Ultra chips, but Intel does confuse me with some of its decisions.
