Intel has finally announced the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs for laptops. Like their desktop counterpart, they are based on Intel 7 (10nm) process and feature hybrid core architecture. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs and features of 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake mobile processors.
Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake Mobile Processors:
Intel announced an Arm-like hybrid core architecture for its 12th Gen desktops processors last year. As expected, this has made its way to the Alder Lake mobile CPUs as well.
As aforementioned, these are built on Intel 7 process node and feature two different kinds of CPU cores. The first is the Performance cores (or P-cores) which are designed to handle low-latency single-threaded performance.
Thus, it’ll mostly be active during gaming and productivity workload. On the other hand, we have Efficient cores (or E-cores) that are better suited for multi-threaded processes.
In addition, 12th gen processors bring support for both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM and their low-powered “LP” counterparts. These CPUs also have support for Wi-Fi 6E and Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gbps).
Moreover, the newly announced laptop processors are divided into three categories: H-series, P-series, and U-series.
12th Gen H-series
As with the previous iterations, the H-series is home to Intel’s high-performance mobile CPUs—the ones you are most likely to see in flagship gaming laptops.
Here, you get to choose between Core i5, i7, and i9 models. All the i7 and i9 chips have 9 P-core while the i5 only has 4 of them. Almost every CPU in this lineup has 8 E-cores except for the Core i7-12650H and i5-12450H that have 4 E-cores.
Core i9-12900HK
Anyway, the elephant in the room is definitely the Core i9-12900HK, which has a maximum turbo frequency of 5.0GHz. This chip brings 28% better gaming performance and a 43% boost in 3D rendering than the i9-11980HK. It is also the only CPU in the lineup to support overclocking.
More importantly, Intel says i9-12900HK is the “world’s best mobile gaming platform” based on its comparison with AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX. As per the company, it even outperforms Apple’s M1 Max in select productivity benchmarks such as PugetBench and AutoDesk.
| i9-12900HK | i9-12900H | i7-12800H | i7-12700H | i7-12650H | i5-12600H | i5-12500H | i5-12450H | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Cores | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 8 | |
| Processor Threads | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | |
| Number of P-cores | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Number of E-cores | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | |
| Smart Cache (L3) | 24MB | 24MB | 24MB | 24MB | 24MB | 18MB | 18MB | 12MB | |
| Max Turbo Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| E-core | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | |
| Base Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.0 |
| E-core | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.5 | |
| Processor Graphics Execution Units (EU) | 96 | 96 | 96 | 96 | 64 | 80 | 80 | 48 | |
| Max Graphics Frequency (GHz) | 1.45 | 1.45 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.2 | |
| Base Power (PL1) | 45W | ||||||||
| Turbo Power (PL2) | 115W | 115W | 115W | 115W | 115W | 95W | 95W | 95W | |
12th Gen P-Series
Next is the P series, which is the first-ever in Intel’s mobile CPU lineup. It is the middle ground between the high-power H-series and low-power U-series. These processors have a base power of 28W and will be used in performance-focused thin & light laptops.
Intel has announced a total of 6 P-series CPUs starting with the Core i3-1220P to up to i7-1280P. A lot of them are quite identical to their H-series counterparts but have lower base and turbo frequencies because of the lower wattage.
| i7-1280P | i7-1270P | i7-1260P | i5-1250P | i5-1240P | i3-1220P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Cores | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | |
| Processor Threads | 20 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | |
| Number of P-cores | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Number of E-cores | 8 | ||||||
| Smart Cache (L3) | 24MB | 18MB | 18MB | 12MB | 12MB | 12MB | |
| Max Turbo Frequency (GHz) up to | P-core | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| E-core | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | |
| Base Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| E-core | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | |
| Processor Graphics Execution Units (EU) | 96 | 96 | 96 | 80 | 80 | 64 | |
| Max Graphics Frequency (GHz) | 1.45 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.1 | |
| Base Power (PL1) | 28W | ||||||
| Turbo Power (PL2) | 64W | ||||||
12th Gen Intel U-Series
The U-series will be used in mainstream laptops without much performance requirement. It is further home to two categories of chips: one with a 15W base power and the other with a 9W base power. You can easily differentiate between the two from their moniker. The 15W powered ones end in “5U” or “5” in their name whereas the 9W chips are suffixed with “0U” or “0”.
Alder Lake U-Series (15W)
| i7-1265U | i7-1255U | i5-1245U | i5-1235U | i3-1215U | Pentium 8505 | Celeron 7305 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Cores | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| Processor Threads | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | |
| Number of P-cores | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Number of E-cores | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Smart Cache (L3) | 12MB | 12MB | 12MB | 12MB | 10MB | 8MB | 8MB | |
| Max Turbo Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | N/A |
| E-core | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | N/A | |
| Base Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| E-core | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | |
| Processor Graphics Execution Unit (EU) | 96 | 96 | 80 | 80 | 64 | 48 | 48 | |
| Max Graphics Frequency (GHz) | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | |
| Base Power (PL1) | 15W | |||||||
| Turbo Power (PL2) | 55W | |||||||
Alder Lake U-Series (9W)
| i7-1260U | i7-1250U | i5-1240U | i5-1230U | i3-1210U | Pentium 8500 | Celeron 7300 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Cores | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| Processor Threads | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | |
| Number of P-cores | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Number of E-cores | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Smart Cache (L3) | 12MB | 12MB | 12MB | 12MB | 10MB | 8MB | 8MB | |
| Max Turbo Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | N/A |
| E-core | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | N/A | |
| Base Frequency (GHz) | P-core | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| E-core | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | |
| Processor Graphics Execution Unit (EU) | 96 | 96 | 80 | 80 | 64 | 48 | 48 | |
| Max Graphics Frequency (GHz) | 0.95 | 0.95 | 0.9 | 0.85 | 0.85 | 0.8 | 0.8 | |
| Base Power (PL1) | 9W | |||||||
| Turbo Power (PL2) | 29W | |||||||
Intel Evo and vPro Announcements
The third edition of Intel Evo specifications now includes a number of new “Intelligent Collaboration” technologies such as AI background noise cancellation, integrated Wi-Fi 6E, and Intel Connectivity Performance Suite. Similarly, the vPro platform has also been updated based on the new 12th Gen processors.
Intel 12th Gen Mobile Processors Availability
According to Intel, there are over 350 laptop designs using 12th Gen Alder Lake mobile processors. We will see these laptops in the market starting Q1 2022.
| Mobile Processor Family | Availability |
| Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake) | Q1 2022 |
- Meanwhile, check out our review of the MSI GP66 Leopard 11UG (2021).
