Yes, Intel’s new Panther Lake chips are outstanding, but full GPU-equipped gaming laptops still lead the pack for performance

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndicate partners may earn a commission.

Fast, fiery, fabulous. This is how I described the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H in my review and I stand by it. It has an Arc B390 iGPU that crushes everyone else we’ve tested for gaming performance, and that’s a remarkable technical achievement considering the size of the graphics card relative to the rest of the chip.

But there is one significant caveat to the Intel Arc B390, and it goes like this: it’s very, very fast…for an iGPU. Sure, it’s capable of gaming laptop-like performance, but compare it to any current-gen discrete mobile GPU and the small graphics card’s limitations are quickly revealed.

Now, none of this is meant to detract from the considerable achievements of Intel’s engineers. No one expected its new mobile graphics hardware to compete with, say, something from the RTX 50 series.

In fact, Intel claims that the Core Ultra X9 388H is 10% faster gaming (on average) than a lappy with a mobile RTX 4050. And if you look closely at these claims, you’ll see that they’re made in reference to a 60W gaming laptop with “2x upscaling” enabled.

Again, that’s still pretty impressive for an iGPU, especially since the Core Ultra X9 388H machine was claimed to use 45W for the whole shebang during those tests. But in reality, an underpowered mobile RTX 4050 isn’t particularly fast by modern standards.

Intel Arc B390 1080p Gaming Benchmarks

No upscaling

Cyberpunk 2077 (Medium)Black Myth Wukong (Medium)F1 24 (medium)Horizon Zero Dawn (original)Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (High)

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

64

52

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

41

35

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

33

27

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

81

56

0255075100

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

39

31

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

23

20

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

17

14

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

53

44

015304560

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

113

100

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

74

65

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

155

108

050100150200

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

82

58

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

54

12

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

37

20

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

111

60

037.575112.5150

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

49

33

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

27

7

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

27

18

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

43

30

015304560

And if you bump up the GPU’s power to something you’d find in a typical entry-level machine (75W, in the case of our Acer Nitro V 15 test laptop), Nvidia’s lowest-end, high-end graphics hardware ranks well ahead in most of our benchmarks.

We don’t include frame generation in our iGPU test suite, but we do run the numbers again with upscaling enabled. And yes, the Intel iGPU is remarkably fast compared to its direct competition, especially with some XESS improvements. But hold it up against a previous-gen gaming laptop with a half-decent dose of juice and it tends to lock up.

Intel Arc B390 1080p upscaled gaming benchmarks

Upscaling was set to Quality

Cyberpunk 2077 (Medium)Black Myth Wukong (Medium)F1 24 (medium)Horizon Zero Dawn (original)

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

92

60

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

53

45

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

40

33

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

110

63

037.575112.5150

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

57

43

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

36

29

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

30

23

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

81

63

0255075100

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

141

126

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

80

65

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

150

85

037.575112.5150

Average FPS

1% FPS low

Intel Arc B390 (Asus Zenbook Duo)

94

67

Radeon 890M (Asus Zephyrus G16)

77

12

Intel Arc 140V (Asus Zenbook S 14)

37

20

RTX 4050 Mobile (75 W, Acer Nitro V 15)

116

83

037.575112.5150

Again, this is not to cast doubt on Intel’s claims, nor do I want to put too much spin on all the hype surrounding Panther Lake’s performance. Trust me, I’m excited too. But it’s important to see the Arc B390 iGPU in context. And it has to be said, compared to most modern mobile GPUs, it’s still up to speed for the most part.

But the benefits of getting a real dose of graphics grunt in a single chip are plenty, though. It means that thin and sleek, productive-style gaming laptops that use the latest Panther Lake chips can realistically be called gaming laptops in their own right, even without any dedicated, off-chip hardware to handle the demanding stuff.

Never mind the energy efficiency gains. I spent a day in the office with a Panther Lake test machine without a charger and came away very impressed. Without a dGPU on board and with huge efficiencies brought to the way Intel’s new chips manage their power load, we managed about 11 hours away from the wall outlet with 18% battery left to spare. And yes, that included some light games on the train.

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips are made of remarkable stuff, and that’s plain to see. I can’t wait to see what happens when one (or something similar to what we’ve currently seen) makes it into a portable gaming rig, as this kind of performance combined with its power-saving tendencies seems like a recipe for a truly excellent portable gaming machine.

But should you want one in your next gaming laptop? Maybe not, if your goal is cutting edge performance. And I haven’t even mentioned the price yet.

My Asus Zenbook Duo tester will likely retail for over $2,000 (US pricing has yet to be confirmed, although the UK version starts at $2,300). Of course, it’s a dual-OLED-equipped wonder, so traditional lappies with the new B390-equipped Intel chips will likely be cheaper. But even if that knocks the price down by $500, maybe even $800, anything on our list of gaming laptop deals under $1,000 is likely to be around it for raw gaming performance.

One more time for good measure: I’m impressed with the new Intel chip. But if you’re on a budget or aren’t too fussed about all-day battery life and still want high frame rates in the latest games, it’s still a discrete GPU-equipped machine that should be near the top of your shopping list.

Traditional gaming laptops have nothing to fear from Panther Lake, I guess, but they have new competition in town with some clear benefits, and that’s worth celebrating. I’ll stop being too depressed now, I promise.