Mediatek MT8121 vs Intel Core i5-1155G7 vs Intel Core i5-1135G7

Mediatek MT8121

The Mediatek MT8121 is a low-cost ARM SoC (System on a Chip) mainly used in tablets. It is manufactured in 28 nm and integrates a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor and a PowerVR SGX 544 GPU. The CPU cores are typically clocked at 1.3 GHz while the GPU is clocked at 156 MHz.

Performance

Since the Cortex-A7 architecture is somewhat slower than a Krait or Cortex-A9 design at the same clock speeds, the performance of the MT8121 is just below Nvidia's Tegra 3 or the Samsung Exynos 4412. The PowerVR SGX 544 is also just a low-cost solution not designed for ultra-high resolution displays or very demanding games.

Features

In addition to the processor and GPU, the SoC integrates a decoder for 1080p video, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well as GPS, but lacks a 2G/3G/4G radio. Cameras are supported up to a resolution of 13 MP.

Power consumption

Thanks to the energy-efficient A7 cores and 28 nm manufacturing, the power consumption is likely very low and suitable for even smaller tablets.

Intel Core i5-1155G7

The Intel Core i5-1155G7 is a power efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation that was announced in mid 2021 as part of the refresh. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading). The base clock speed depends on the TDP settings and ranges from 1 GHz (12 Watt TDP) up to 2.5 GHz (28 Watt). Boost clock speed is 4.5 GHz.

Tiger Lake SoCs add PCIe 4 support (4 lanes), AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 and Wifi 6 in the chip.

Another novelty is the integrated Xe graphics adapter with 80 EUs based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. It offers a significantly higher performance compared to the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake).

Performance

The average 1155G7 in our database proves to be a very decent mid-range processor, as of mid 2022, trading blows with the Core i7-10810U and the Ryzen 5 4500U as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While perhaps not the best option for power users, this Core i5 will make most consumers happy, providing for short load times and generally pain-free experience.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Power consumption

This Core i5 series chip has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop makers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, this is a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The i5-1155G7 is built with Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for lower-than-average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-1135G7

The Intel Core i5-1135G7 is a quad-core, mid-range SoC designed to be used in ultra-light laptops. The Tiger Lake-UP3 processor was introduced in September 2020. It features four Willow Cove CPU cores running at 2.4 GHz (base clock speed @ 28 W TDP) Boosting up to 4.2 GHz (1-core Boost). The all-core Boost clock speed sits at 3.8 GHz. This is a Hyper-Threading-enabled CPU, allowing for up to 8 concurrent processing threads.

Architecture

A sizeable performance-per-MHz boost is one of the multiple strengths of Tiger Lake compared to the older Ice Lake and Comet Lake product families. Core i5-1135G7 is compatible with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4x-4267 RAM, supports PCI-Express 4.0 (4 lanes) and is capable of HW-accelerating AI workloads. Thunderbolt 4, USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6 support is partially baked into the chip. Four PCI-Express 4.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 7.9 GB/s, provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

The i5 is manufactured on Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin that is supposedly comparable to TSMC's 7 nm process that Ryzen 4000 series laptop-grade processors are manufactured on. Both the CPU cores and the iGPU enjoy access to 8 MB of L3 cache. Higher-end Core i7-11x5 processors are notable for their larger Level 3 cache (12 MB versus 8 MB), faster iGPUs and higher clock speeds. Core i5-1135G7 is supposed to be permanently soldered to the motherboard (BGA1449 socket interface) and is thus not user-replaceable.

Performance

The average i5-1135G7 in our database delivers multi-thread benchmark scores close to those of the Core i7-10810U, Core i5-1145G7, Core i5-1230U and also the Ryzen 7 3780U. The performance may not be ground-breaking, but it’s still on the sunnier side. This Core i5 will have no difficulty coping with some light gaming and video editing on the go, and the usual web browsing and spreadsheet editing will pose no problem to it, either.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 25 W, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 is among the fastest laptops built around the 1135G7 that we know of. It can be about 60% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

The 80 EU Iris Xe Graphics G7 is based on Intel's Gen 12 architecture. The iGPU is somewhat faster than the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake) and much faster than the UHD 620 (Comet Lake). The 80 EUs are clocked at 400 MHz to 1,300 MHz. This graphics adapter can drive up to 4 monitors in resolutions up to SUHD 4320p@60 and hardware decode the AVC, HEVC, VP9 and last but not the least AV1 video streams. The iGPU's gaming performance is close to what a typical GeForce MX250 has in store; casual gamers will be happy with the Xe as it will easily handle most titles at 720p on low or medium quality settings. An important thing to keep in mind is that the iGPU has no video memory of its own, making fast RAM a necessity.

Power consumption

Just like all other Tiger Lake-UP3 chips, the i5-1135G7 has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop makers will go for a higher value to get higher clock speeds and thus better performance. Either way, these values are a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The CPU is built with Intel's 3rd generation 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for decent, as of mid 2022, energy efficiency.