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When buying a high-end gaming laptop, a critical choice is whether to buy a model with a Core i7 or Core i9 CPU. The Core i7 CPU is powerful, but the Core i9 is supposed to be the best performing, extreme machine usually with a supplement to match.
When you focus on the CPU, it comes down to performance and two main factors affect it: the megahertz or clock speed at which the CPU runs and the amount of compute cores it has. In laptops, another very important constraint is cooling, which can throw a wrench in everything.
It helps you decide which laptop CPU is best for you, with information on Core i7 and Core i9 over Intel’s last three CPU generations and which one is probably the best choice for your laptop. Starting from the last one and going back …
11th generation: Core i9 versus Core i7
Intel’s 11th Generation Tiger Lake H marks a major milestone: Intel finally moves from the same 14nm process formula used for its H-class CPUs since 2015 to its more advanced 10nm SuperFin process. We have been waiting for this change for years.
11th generation Core i7 and affordable price
Now that Intel finally has a 10nm high-performance chip to brag about, a series of Tiger Lake H laptops have been announced. Some have already hit stores, including the thin, light and surprisingly affordable Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. that we have already reviewed.
You can see the lineup below. All Tiger Lake H chips are 8-core CPUs, another change from previous generations, where the number of cores helped define the performance expectations of different chips in the same family.
Intel
All 11th Generation Intel Tiger Lake H laptop CPUs use a 10nm manufacturing process and have 8 cores.
Clock differences are also scarce. The Core i7-11800H reaches 4.6 GHz, while the Core i9-11980HK can reach 5 GHz, which is about an 8.6% increase in clock speed. That’s not bad, but when you consider that both are 8-core CPUs, Core i9 isn’t convincing for most users.
However, there is another case for the Core i9. The Core i9-11980HK offers the optional thermal design power (TDP) of 65 watts. That higher TDP is only available on the higher-end Core i9, meaning that in a laptop that can handle the power and cooling requirements, it could actually offer higher, sustained clock speeds than a Core i7 version.
However, such a laptop would likely be thicker and larger. So, if you’re looking at two thin laptops, one with a Core i9 and one with a Core i7, the thermal and power headroom probably won’t make a difference.
Winner of the 11th Generation: For most users, Core i7
Tenth generation: Core i9 versus Core i7
With the 10th generation Comet Lake H family, Intel got stuck at 14nm. The trick he came up with this time around was to offer 8-core CPUs in his Core i7 and Core i9 CPUs, giving users more performance potential without having to pay for the more expensive chip.
10th Gen Core i7 and all RGB
Even as 11th generation laptops are starting to come out, you can still find some good 10th generation CPU products, including the MSI GE76 gaming laptop we reviewed earlier this year. With its fast CPU and 155 watt GPU, this laptop lives strong and proud. He also wears his RGB right there on the front edge.
Below you can see the four 10th generation 8-core H-class CPUs.
Intel
The 9th Gen Core i7 and Core i9 chips offer the same number of cores and close clock speeds, meaning there’s little difference for most users.
As with the 11th generation chips, the closely spaced cores and clock speeds mean the differences between Core i7 and Core i9 are minimal for most users. With a maximum boost clock of 5.3 GHz for the Core i9-10980HK and 5 GHz for the Core i7-10870H, the difference between the two chips is around 6% on paper. Unless you need to push your PC to the max, it’s probably not worth the extra money for the 10th Gen Core i9.
Winner of the 10th Generation: For most users, Core i7
Ninth generation: Core i9 versus Core i7
With the 9th generation of the Coffee Lake Refresh laptop H-class CPU, Intel was still extending the 14nm process as far as possible. A Core i9 gave you higher clocks (up to 5 GHz) and also indicated 8 CPU cores.
Slim, light and fast gaming laptop
Sure, this chip came out two years ago, but you can still find it in good gaming laptops including the XPG Xenia 15, which Intel helped design. It is thin, light and fast and also features an Nvidia RTX GPU.
Below you can see the best H-class Core i7 and Core i9 chips.
Intel
In the ninth generation of H-class CPUs, Core i9 meant two additional CPU cores over the Core i7.
The difference between the 8-core 4.8GHz Core i9-9880HK and the 6-core 4.6GHz Core i7-9850H is about 4% in clock speeds, a difference few people would be able to make. distinguish in actual use. Both of these CPUs were common in business laptops.
Most consumer laptops have seen a choice between the 8-core 5GHz Core i9-9980HK and the 6-core 4.5GHz Core i7-9750H. This added up to an 11 percent clock difference between CPUs, which are demonstrably faster and more measurable, although we again argued that most couldn’t hear the difference.
The difference in the number of cores, however, would often yield many more benefits in multi-threaded applications. We recorded scores in an older XPS 15 with a Core i9-9980HK up to 42% faster in the Cinebench R20 3D modeling test compared to a gaming laptop configured with a Core i7-9750H. Under a heavier workload that heats up the 8-core Core i9, the performance gap narrows to just 7%. Of course, laptop design matters a lot here. You could at least support the case of 8 cores versus 6 cores in some scenarios.
Winner of the ninth generation: tie between Core i9 and Core i7, depending on your needs
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