Lunar Lake is Intel’s Snapdragon killer.
Intel’s Core Extremely Sequence 2 (Lunar Lake) used to be particularly designed to emphasise low continual, however with aggressive efficiency. On this it rather succeeds, regardless that the Core Extremely 7 258V chip I examined can nonetheless run a far off 2d, or 3rd, at the back of AMD’s cellular Ryzen processors. However Lunar Lake additionally supplies extremely just right, Snapdragon-like battery lifestyles with a formidable, embedded GPU able to enjoying the day before today’s top-tier video games.
Intel equipped us with a Lunar Lake-powered Asus ZenBook S14 pc for assessment, and we’ve spent the remaining week or so checking out it to respond to the query: Of the AMD Ryzen AI 300, Intel’s Lunar Lake, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, which is the most productive pc processor to this point in 2024? And the way does Lunar Lake examine to its predecessor, Meteor Lake?
We’ve run all 3 chips via quite a lot of benchmarks — with separate assessments run whilst plugged in and on battery continual. We expect it’s vital that you recognize the utmost efficiency possible of those pc processors in addition to how a lot efficiency is misplaced to stay your pc up and operating when unplugged.
Intel introduced Lunar Lake on the Computex 2024 display in Taiwan, the place executives promised a “no-compromise enjoy.” The Asus ZenBook S14 and different Lunar Lake and Ryzen AI 300 laptops now qualify as Copilot+ PCs, even if a Home windows replace to permit their AI options received’t happen till October.
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
How we examined Intel’s Lunar Lake
This assessment makes use of benchmarks compiled on my own, my colleague Gordon Mah Ung, and different PCWorld pc reviewers over present and former checking out. I’ll focal point at the 3 key chips of this era: Intel’s Core Extremely Sequence 2/Lunar Lake, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, and the AMD Ryzen AI 300, on occasion including some older processors for added context, comparable to a Core Extremely Sequence 1/Meteor Lake processor.
I’ll check out to provide an explanation for what each and every take a look at covers, why it issues, and the way take a look at efficiency will replicate at the subsequent pc you purchase. If you need much more intensity, take a look at Gordon’s Lunar Lake video (under) that runs via intensive benchmarking and checking out:
The pc that Intel and Asus equipped features a Core Extremely 7 258V. That’s about halfway down the stack of the Core Extremely Sequence 2 chips Intel introduced, and it’s somewhat ordinary in that Intel isn’t handing us its one of the best chip for comparability checking out. As an alternative, the Extremely 7 258V contains 4 efficiency cores, 4 low-power potency cores, and a 4.8GHz turbo clock to be had when wanted. All informed, simply 8 threads are to be had for processing.
The great factor is that Intel and Asus have constantly used equivalent pc fashions for comparability between chip generations, particularly the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED, which is house to each the Lunar Lake and previous-gen Meteor Lake Core Extremely processors under. AMD used the Asus Zenbook S 16 as a debut platform for the Ryzen AI 300. At the Qualcomm facet, regardless that I reviewed the Microsoft Floor Professional eleventh Version, I commandeered the Floor Computer seventh Version Gordon examined and ran some further benchmarks. It’s a fairer comparability for Qualcomm. In sure benchmarks, as a result of logistics, I used an MSI Status 16 AI Evo with an equivalent Meteor Lake chip within.
Lunar Lake examined: CPU efficiency
I examined all of our take a look at gadgets with two artificial benchmarks: Cinebench R23 and Cinebench 2024. Each push the pc’s CPU to its limits, first the use of each and every processing thread to be had and however with only a unmarried thread. The adaptation between R23 and and Cinebench 2024 is that the latter has a specialised Arm model, whilst the R23 model is administered by way of the Snapdragon’s emulator instrument that interprets X86 directions into Arm code.
Two issues stand out right here: Whilst you code for Arm, Snapdragon’s efficiency improves considerably, propelling it to the highest of the heap. That pushes Lunar Lake (the Extremely 7 258V) down the scores. However you’ll additionally be aware that Intel’s older Meteor Lake (the 155H) outperforms its newest chip. What this tells me is that Intel is prioritizing battery lifestyles, no longer efficiency.
In line with our sister web site, Macworld, the MacBook Professional and MacBook Air 15, each the use of Apple’s M3 chip, reported multithreaded rankings of 693 and 658, respectively. In single-core efficiency, they reported a ranking of 141 for each platforms. So sure, Intel’s Lunar Lake is quicker, however no longer in single-core efficiency.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
One be aware: I take a look at the use of the default efficiency settings that pc makers supply, as that feels practical. That signifies that the Snapdragon assessments have been carried out at Microsoft’s “Really helpful” settings (the bottom) whilst Lunar Lake’s assessments have been carried out on the “Balanced,” or heart settings. On the other hand, I additionally take a look at chips in efficiency mode; on this case, the use of the Home windows settings for max efficiency and adjusting the Asus pc settings to its efficiency settings, too. Once in a while you’ll see battery efficiency rankings that outperform wall continual; that may be because of statistical anomalies, however it will probably additionally simply occur. We’ve noticed this in our Snapdragon and Meteor Lake checking out, too.
For those who’d like Snapdragon’s efficiency settings for comparability, my Floor Professional (eleventh Version) assessment contains the ones. (I don’t take a look at “Max” settings on battery.)
I’m no longer an enormous fan of the Geekbench suite, most effective as it runs within the background with out demonstrating what it does as an actual workload. Nevertheless it’s a well-liked take a look at, because it’s fast to run. It too has a devoted Arm model, which propels the Floor Computer seventh Version to the highest. I’ve arranged the effects hierarchically via the “the whole lot is going” multithreaded CPU take a look at, hanging the powered take a look at without delay over the take a look at operating on battery for comparability’s sake.
One among Snapdragon’s strengths is how uniformly it runs, whether or not on battery or on wall continual. Geekbench once more presentations how sharply Lunar Lake’s efficiency drops on battery…but additionally hints at one thing we’ll get to later: the very good efficiency that its built-in GPU delivers. The opposite tale is just how neatly AMD’s Ryzen continues to ship top-tier efficiency.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Another option I made used to be to make use of Procyon’s Administrative center Productiveness benchmark for this spherical of checking out. I favor PCMark 10’s vast suite of apps (from administrative center to CAD to simulated video calls) however Arm processors received’t constantly run all the assessments. Those administrative center benchmark assessments are nonetheless authentic, demonstrating how neatly the pc chips paintings inside Microsoft Administrative center, together with Outlook, the use of the real-world apps themselves.
Thankfully, or no longer, there’s no longer a lot distinction between the quite a lot of platforms. However once more, take a look at that drop-off at the Core Extremely/Lunar Lake 258V whilst you run it on battery!
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
This turns into an actual factor in sure eventualities.
Some of the realities of running at the highway is that you simply infrequently “paintings” repeatedly: You browse to a internet web page, pause when you learn it, creator an electronic mail, take a sip of espresso, take a look at your telephone… your pc is regularly sitting idle. However whilst you if truth be told ask it to execute an software, the most recent era of cellular processors may have a difficult time maintaining.
In our contemporary assessments of the AMD Ryzen AI 300, we adjusted our Handbrake take a look at to make it extra extensive. Handbrake transcodes a video — on this case, the open-source movie Tears of Metal — and it’s a computationally extensive procedure. How neatly the pc cools itself performs a task right here, however so does the battery: This take a look at can take just about an hour to accomplish, or even a powerful battery can provide out. I couldn’t loop 3 of those assessments in combination earlier than the battery expired, which is set 3 hours of continuous paintings.
Once more, regardless that, Intel’s newest and biggest…finishes remaining. It is a real-world software that you’ll be able to obtain your self, so it’s a significant take a look at. It took Lunar Lake just about 17 mins greater than the Ryzen to finish the duty.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Lunar Lake examined: Graphics and AI efficiency
To this point, Intel’s Lunar Lake hasn’t been that spectacular in comparison to the contest. However we now flip to the built-in GPU, and the brand new Xe2 graphics engine that Intel says will debut in a 2d discrete GPU, code-named Battlemage, later.
Given AMD’s historic power in GPUs, Intel’s resurgence is a little unexpected. However in two assessments — Time Secret agent, an older benchmark aimed toward desktop and cellular gaming, and its alternative, Metal Nomad Gentle — Intel’s Lunar Lake shines.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Are you able to edit pictures at the cross? Puget Methods, a workstation developer, authors its personal benchmarks to check out to respond to that query. The take a look at makes use of a scripted benchmark to use quite a lot of filters and changes to photographs opened inside Adobe Photoshop, after which generates a ranking.
Right here, all 3 cellular platforms are bunched carefully in combination, which most certainly signifies that every one 3 are ok for this activity…however no longer on battery. Right here’s some further context: In line with the PugetBench web site, an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D desktop gadget with a GeForce RTX 3080 generates a ranking of 9,959. A large MSI Raider pocket book with an Intel Core i9-14900HX and GeForce RTX 4090 pc GPU generates a ranking of 9,959. And an Intel Core i7-9750H desktop paired with a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti produces a ranking of four,549.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
We generally don’t run gaming benchmarks on peak of what are most often regarded as to be productiveness machines. However on this case Intel has been telling us that, sure, those machines are just right sufficient for mild gaming, particularly on Low graphics settings. That’s just right sufficient for us.
Normally, 60 frames in step with 2d is regarded as the minimal for gameplay — any much less, and the sport can stutter. On this case, we attempted out Shadow of the Tomb Raider, run at 1080p and Low settings. Any you recognize what? It appears to be like and runs beautiful dang neatly. All of our gaming assessments have been carried out on wall continual.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
After its disastrous (?) release, Cyberpunk: 2077 has surged again to develop into one of the vital extra playable video games on PCs. And on this case, it runs beautiful neatly on Lunar Lake. On the other hand, AMD’s Ryzen nonetheless outpaces it. Once more, those assessments have been run at 1080p, at Low settings. Body era used to be became on for the Ryzen processor; that’s no longer presented for the opposite two chips.
As an alternative, Cyberpunk gives XeSS solution scaling, which, mixed with dialing up the Home windows and pc settings to efficiency mode, lets in for a playable body charge of about 65fps, regardless that I noticed 69fps on a chilly run originally of the day.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
After all, we transfer to AI. AI has develop into certainly one of the freshest subjects in computing, even supposing builders nonetheless haven’t flooded the marketplace with AI packages that run in the community at the PC. (Home windows 11’s upcoming 24H2 replace must have extra, together with generative artwork for Paint and Footage, and in the end Home windows Recall.)
For now, there aren’t too many benchmarks that faucet the TOPS that those new platforms combine. Bear in mind, Intel’s Lunar Lake, AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 (as much as 50 TOPS), and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips (45 TOPS) are all Copilot+ PC-qualified, even supposing they received’t obtain their new function set and not using a Microsoft replace. Intel’s Lunar Lake chips supply a various quantity of TOPS; on this case, the Core Extremely 258V supplies 47 TOPS.
UL’s Procyon app measures the AI output via checking out each and every chip for a way neatly it executes quite a lot of AI frameworks. Just like the Cinebench or 3DMark assessments, the speculation is that you simply’re getting a generic image of the way neatly the chips will carry out AI purposes.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Whilst I don’t have a Procyon end result for the AMD Ryzen chip, the take a look at presentations that each Lunar Lake and the Snapdragon X Elite are beautiful flippantly matched; Intel’s chip does higher with AI on wall continual, however Qualcomm is the awesome AI chip at the cross.
Procyon additionally gives a more effective take a look at: generative AI symbol era, which makes use of AI to generate a chain of 8 pictures. (This take a look at doesn’t but run on an Arm processor.) I ran two assessments, simply to suggest the sensible continual of the NPU. First I used the take a look at to create a chain of 8 pictures the use of simply the NPU, after which I ran the similar take a look at with a toggle that allowed me to make use of the built-in GPU as an help. It’s this “overall TOPS” that businesses like Intel are espousing as the way forward for AI, regardless that person who in point of fact isn’t right here but, both.
The take a look at makes use of an 8-bit integer type, which generates much less advanced pictures than a floating-point type. However they’re fast: about 8 seconds in step with symbol when the NPU and iGPU are mixed. Right here, I examine the Procyon rankings.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Lunar Lake examined: Battery-life efficiency
It’s simple to measure the battery lifetime of a pc. For a chip? Neatly, that’s so much messier. How lengthy your pc will remaining relies so much at the dimension of the battery and the way giant and the way environment friendly your pc’s display is. The kind of display (IPS, OLED) additionally makes a distinction.
I feel one of the simplest ways to respond to this actual query is to refer you to my colleague Gordon Mah Ung’s approaching video, wherein he is taking two nearly equivalent Dell laptops — one with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip within, the opposite with an Intel Core Extremely Sequence 2 / Lunar Lake chip — and does an immediate comparability. That’s about as just right as you’re going to get in answering which chip is most productive.
We do have preceding take a look at result of the Asus ZenBook S 16 (with a Ryzen AI 300 chip within and a 78Wh battery), the 13.8-inch Floor Computer seventh Version (with a Snapdragon X Elite chip and a 54Wh battery), the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED (with a first-gen Core Extremely Core 155H and a 75Wh battery) as opposed to the present Asus ZenBook OLED (with its Lunar Lake chip and a 73Wh battery).
Working those laptops on our usual video rundown take a look at, the place we loop a 4K video time and again at a set display brightness till the pc’s battery expires, is more or less ludicrous this present day. The Lunar Lake pc lasted 21 hours!! That’s principally like taking a pc on a weekend “tenting” shuttle or a protracted gross sales convention.
It makes extra sense to invite it to do some paintings to simulate a piece setting. UL’s Procyon battery-life take a look at strikes from Administrative center app to Administrative center app, acting “duties” in each and every to simulate you running for your pc for hours on finish.
On this case, right here’s the way it labored out. Bear in mind, Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, and the Ryzen AI assessments have been run in “balanced” mode, whilst the Snapdragon X Elite used to be left in its “advisable” low-power mode. As they are saying, your mileage will range…however no less than 10 hours of computing continual from all 3 competition? That’s implausible.
Intel Lunar Lake: 17 hours, 7 mins
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite: 16 hours, 20 mins
AMD Ryzen AI 300: 10 hours, 42 mins
Intel Meteor Lake: 10 hours, 35 mins
Conclusion: Which pc chip is healthier?
Previous chip nerds will recall Transmeta, a pc processor startup that might translate its instruction set from X86, similar to Arm. Transmeta’s legacy isn’t such a lot what it achieved, however what it drove Intel to do: in the end 0 in at the pc marketplace and increase a aggressive pc processor right through the primary years of the brand new century. Now, it’s came about once more. Intel’s first Core Extremely, Meteor Lake, downplayed efficiency for lengthy battery lifestyles; Lunar Lake takes that to the following degree.
So is Intel’s Lunar Lake a Snapdragon killer? Now not precisely. In relation to potency, there’s a robust case to be made that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite remains to be the most productive processor available in the market. AMD’s Ryzen chips win at many efficiency duties, however battery lifestyles suffers.
However in some sense, that doesn’t topic. Dumping in a couple of further grams of battery necessarily “gets rid of” Qualcomm’s benefit, as our take a look at Asus pc demonstrates. However the Snapdragon nonetheless outperforms it underneath a number of eventualities, save for gaming. There, lingering compatibility problems related to the Arm instruction set and the spectacular three-D engine give the Core Extremely Sequence 2 a cast benefit. All apps simply paintings on Intel and AMD machines, however can also be hit and miss on Snapdragon laptops, regardless that Qualcomm has controlled to get a lot of the preferred apps operating on Arm.
The secret is that for any activity that is dependent upon the CPU, Intel’s Lunar Lake is middling at absolute best. When the GPU or NPU enters the equation, it surges upper. Ditto for battery lifestyles, the place it competes neatly in opposition to the Snapdragon. (At a undeniable level, do other people prevent being concerned about battery lifestyles, or does lengthy battery lifestyles equivalent a longer-life pocket book?)
A couple of years again it used to be more straightforward to spot the “absolute best” pc chip. Now, the query is what’s right for you. And it’s no longer totally answerable, both: With Arrow Lake lurking within the background, Intel may have a separate efficiency processor up its sleeve. For Intel, this can be a easy promote: Lunar Lake is a protected wager, a Snapdragon with out the compatibility issues.
