Intel Core i9-10885H vs Intel Core i7-1185G7 vs Intel Core i7-10750H

Intel Core i9-10885H

The Intel Core i9-10885H is a high-end processor for laptops with eight cores based on the Comet Lake architecture (CML-H, 4th generation of Skylake). The processor clocks at between 2.4 and 5.3 GHz and can execute up to sixteen threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading. The processor is still manufactured in the old 14nm (14nm++) process.

The Comet Lake architecture is similar to Coffee Lake and offers the same features and is produced in the same 14nm process. Other than the improved clock rates, the memory controller now also supports faster DDR4-2933 RAM. More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

The Core i9-10855H supports the management features vPro, TXT and SIPP. 

Performance

The performance of the Core i9-10885H should be slightly above the older Core i9-9980HK top model, thanks to the potential higher single core turbo. Thanks to the 8 cores and high Turbo speeds, even demanding applications should run very good on the CPU. However, long term performance is always depending on the laptop cooling system and system configuration. At the time of announcement, the i9-10885H is the second fastest Comet Lake-H CPU behind the Core i9-10980HK.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 iGPU is supposed to offer a similar performance as the UHD630 in the Core i7-9880H. As a  low-end solution it will only run current games smoothly at reduced details - if at all.

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 45 watts and therefore the i9 is only suited for big laptops with good cooling solutions. Using cTDP-down, the CPU can also be configured to 35 Watt resulting in a reduced performance.

Intel Core i7-1185G7

The Intel Core i7-1185G7 is a power-efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation (UP3) that was introduced September 2020. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading). Each core can clock from 1.2 GHz (12 W base clock speed), 3 GHz (28 W base clock speed) to 4.8 GHz (single-core boost). All cores at once can clock at up to 4.3 GHz. At the time of announcement, the i7-1185G7 is the fastest model of the line-up. Since early 2021, the i7-1185G7 supports management features like vPro.

Another novelty is the integrated Iris Xe iGPU based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. It should offer a significantly higher performance compared to the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake). In the i7-1185G7 it uses 96 EUs and clocks between 400 - 1,350 MHz. The GPU and CPU can together use the 12 MB of L3 cache.

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

Performance

The average 1185G7 in our database is just as fast as AMD's hexa-core Ryzen 5 4500U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While the i7 is not the fastest Tiger Lake chip by any stretch of imagination, it's more than usable for your productivity and creative apps, with a bit of gaming possible as well.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 55 W, the Stealth 15M A11SEK is among the fastest laptops powered by the 1185G7 that we know of. It can be almost twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This little Core i7 here has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop manufacturers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, that's a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The chip is manufactured on Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i7-10750H

The Intel Core i7-10750H is a fast 45 W processor designed for use in larger, beefier laptops. The Comet Lake-H family CPU was launched in mid-2020. It features six cores (twelve threads) running at 2.6 GHz Boosting up to 5 GHz (single-core Boost). The likely all-core Boost frequency is 4.3 GHz. Most of the specs are the same as the 10750H’s direct predecessor, the i7-9750H. The newer model has two advantages over its predecessor in that its Boost frequency is higher and the memory controller can now officially host memory clocked at 2,933 MHz, an upgrade over the 2,666 MHz limitation of the outgoing model.

Architecture

Comet Lake is a yet another revision of the dated Skylake architecture (not unlike the previous Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake, Kaby Lake families) for similar feature set and performance-per-MHz figures. Core i7-10750H is manufactured on the third-gen 14 nm Intel process that is undeniably inferior to TSMC's 7 nm process, the one AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series laptop-grade processors are manufactured on.

The hexa-core CPU is compatible with up to 128 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 RAM and has support for PCI-Express 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 but not the professional features (vPro, TXT, SIPP) as found in the case of Core i7-10850H.

Both the CPU cores and the iGPU have access to 12 MB of L3 cache. Four PCI-Express 3.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 3.9 GB/s provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

The 10750H gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (BGA1440 socket interface) and is thus pretty much impossible to replace.

Performance

Multi-thread performance is most similar to the Core i5-10500H, the Core i5-11400H and also the Ryzen 7 4700U. While perhaps not the best bang for the buck, the i7 is fast enough for any task, gaming included, as of late 2021.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 75 W, the ThinkPad P15 Gen 1-20ST000DGE is among the fastest laptops built around the 10750H that we know of. It can be about 80% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

We've known the Intel UHD Graphics 630 iGPU for a while. This is the same iGPU the Core i7-9750H and Core i7-8750H processors had. In this i7, the 24 EU iGPU is clocked at 350 MHz to 1,150 MHz.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 will let you connect up to 3 monitors with resolutions of up to 4096x2304@60. The built-in video decoder will happily handle AVC, HEVC, VP9 and other popular video codecs (AV1 is not supported though). This is not a gaming GPU as it is not fast enough to handle most AAA titles released in 2020. At 720p, Escape from Tarkov runs at just 17 fps (low quality preset), to give you an example. As the iGPU has no VRAM of its own, it is paramount that it is mated to fast system RAM.

Power consumption

This Core i7 series chip is built with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes leading to subpar, as of early 2022, energy efficiency.

The Core i7-10750H has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 45 W; laptop makers are free to reduce the value somewhat, 35 W being the lower limit, allowing for leaner designs at the cost of performance. Either way, a quality cooling solution is a must.