Intel is bringing the power of its 13th-gen desktop CPUs down to laptops — all 24 cores worth. At CES today, Intel unveiled the Core i9-13980HX, the pinnacle of its mobile lineup. It features 24 cores (a combination of 8 Performance cores and 16 Efficient cores) and a boost speed of a whopping 5.6GHz. It's the continuation of Intel's high performance HX line, which debuted last year as a way to bring more power to beefier laptops. The company claims the new Core i9 CPU is 11 percent faster than last year's top-end 12900HK when it comes to single-threaded tasks, and it's 49 percent faster for multithreaded work (intensive tasks like encoding video and 3D rendering).
Intel's 13th-gen HX lineup scales all the way down to the Core i5-13450HX, which offers 10 cores (6P, 4E) and up to 4.5Ghz boost speeds. Basically, if you're hankering for more performance and don't mind a hit to battery life, there should be an HX chip within your budget. The rest of Intel's 13th-gen lineup looks noteworthy, as well. The P series chips, which are meant for performance ultraportables, will reach up to 14 cores, while the low-power U-series CPUs top out at 10 cores (2P, 8E) with the i7-1365U.