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Intel Core i5-5287U

Intel Core i5-5287U Broadwell: Is it Worth Choosing a Laptop with This Processor in 2025?

Introduction

In 2025, the laptop market is overflowing with processors featuring 8 cores, neural accelerators, and AI support. However, even now, we can still find devices powered by the Intel Core i5-5287U—a chip from 2015 manufactured using a 14nm process technology. Why is it still being sold? Who would benefit from such a laptop? Let’s dive into the details.

Architecture and Process Technology: What’s Inside?

Broadwell Code, 14nm, and Dual-Core Base

The Core i5-5287U belongs to the Broadwell family (5th generation Intel Core). It's the first "tick" in Intel's "tick-tock" strategy, where "tick" denotes an optimization of an existing architecture. The chip is built on a 14nm process, which was groundbreaking in 2015 but seems archaic in 2025.

- Cores and Threads: 2 cores, 4 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Frequencies: Base clock — 2.9 GHz, turbo mode — up to 3.3 GHz.

- Cache: L3 cache — 3 MB (modest even for its time).

- Integrated Graphics: Intel Iris Graphics 6100 with 48 execution units. By 2025, this is only sufficient for basic tasks.

Architectural Features

- Support for DDR3L-1600/1866 and LPDDR3-1600/1866.

- Power-saving technologies: SpeedStep, Turbo Boost 2.0.

- Lack of support for AVX-512 and other modern instructions.

Power Consumption and TDP: The Cost of Compactness

The processor’s TDP is 28W. In comparison, modern ultrabooks use chips with a TDP of 15W (e.g., Intel Core i5-1335U). The high TDP for a dual-core processor is explained by the powerful Iris integrated graphics and the features of the 14nm process.

What Does This Mean for Users?

- Heating: Laptops with this CPU require active cooling. In compact cases, fans can become noisy under load.

- Performance Balance: Turbo mode (up to 3.3 GHz) works briefly— the system quickly reaches thermal limits.

Performance in 2025: What Can You Do?

Geekbench 6

- Single-Core: 1029 — acceptable for basic tasks.

- Multi-Core: 1989 — weak even for budget modern chips (for example, AMD Ryzen 3 7320U scores around ~4500).

Real-World Scenarios

1. Office Work:

- Working with documents (Word, Excel), browsers (10+ tabs) — possible but with lag when switching between heavy web applications.

- Example: Google Meet + Slack + 5 Chrome tabs — the CPU is loaded at 80-90%.

2. Multimedia:

- Watching 1080p/4K video (with hardware acceleration) — no problem.

- Editing photos in Lightroom — long processing times for RAW files (2-3 minutes per frame).

3. Gaming:

- Iris 6100 can only handle games from before 2015 at low settings:

- CS:GO — 30-40 FPS (720p).

- The Sims 4 — 25-35 FPS (768p).

- Modern titles like Fortnite or Valorant won’t start or will run at 1-10 FPS.

Turbo Boost Mode

The processor can temporarily boost up to 3.3 GHz, but in laptops without effective cooling (like ultrabooks from 2015-2016), the frequency quickly drops back to base levels.

Use Cases: Who Is It Suitable For?

Core i5-5287U is a choice for very limited tasks:

1. Students — for lectures, working with texts, and presentations.

2. Seniors — browsing, online communication, simple games.

3. Backup Laptop — in case the main device breaks down.

Who Should Avoid It?

- Freelancers working with graphics or video.

- Gamers.

- Programmers running virtual machines or Docker.

Battery Life: How Long Will the Laptop Last?

With a TDP of 28W and a typical battery size of 40-50 Wh (for ultrabooks from 2015-2016), the runtime will be:

- Video playback: 4-5 hours.

- Office work: 3-4 hours.

Power-Saving Technologies

- Intel SpeedStep — dynamic frequency reduction during idle time.

- C-states — shutting down unused components.

However, modern processors (like the Apple M1) perform these tasks 2-3 times longer under similar conditions.

Comparison with Competitors

Intel

- Core i3-1215U (2022): 2 cores (4 threads), 8GB DDR5, Iris Xe. Geekbench 6 Multi-Core — ~4500. Laptop prices start at $400.

- Pentium Gold 7505 (2023): Comparable price but better performance in multi-threaded tasks.

AMD

- Ryzen 3 7320U (2023): 4 cores, Zen 2, Radeon 610M. Multi-Core — ~5000. Laptops from $350.

Apple

- MacBook Air M1 (2020): 8 cores, 18-hour battery life. Used models — from $500, new models — discontinued.

Conclusion: The Core i5-5287U falls short compared to even budget modern chips.

Pros and Cons

Strengths

- Low price of laptops (new devices starting from $250).

- Adequate for basic tasks.

- Compact sizes of ultrabooks on this platform.

Weaknesses

- Only 2 cores.

- High power consumption.

- No support for modern standards (USB-C, Wi-Fi 6).

Recommendations for Laptop Selection

Types of Devices

- Ultrabooks from 2015-2016: For example, Dell XPS 13 (model 9343). Pros — premium design, cons — worn-out battery.

- Budget Laptops: For instance, HP Pavilion 13.

What to Pay Attention To?

1. Battery Condition: After 10 years of use, its capacity may have dropped by 50-70%.

2. SSD Upgrade: Replacing HDD with SSD will extend the device's lifespan.

3. RAM: At least 8GB.

Advice: If the budget allows $300-400, it's better to opt for a new laptop based on Intel Core i3 12th generation or AMD Ryzen 3.

Final Conclusion

In 2025, the Intel Core i5-5287U is an option only for those who critically need to save money. It is suitable for:

- The most basic tasks: document work, watching YouTube.

- As a temporary solution.

Key Benefits:

- Extremely low price.

- Portability of ultrabooks.

However, even budget modern processors offer a better balance of price, performance, and battery life. If your requirements exceed "typing text and checking email" — look for alternatives.

Prices are current as of April 2025. They are for new devices, if such are still available for sale.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

March 2015

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-5287U

Code Name

Broadwell

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

2.90 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

3.30 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.30 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

L3 Cache

3 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCBGA1168

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

28 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

105°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

2.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

4x1 | 2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR3L 1333/1600 | LPDDR3 1600/1866

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

16 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

5 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

25.6 GB/s

GPU Specifications

GPU Name

Intel® Iris® Graphics 6100

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

300 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.10 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

16 GB

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

11.2/12

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

2560X1600@60Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

3840x2160@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP/DP/HDMI

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

3 MB

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel Flex Memory Access

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.3

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1029

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

1989

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

741

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1680

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1955

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3105

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i7-5750HQ

1109 +7.8%

Xeon D-2899NT

1076 +4.6%

Core i5-5287U

1029

Core i5-7200U

978 -5%

Core i3-7100H

926 -10%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Ryzen 7 2700U

2430 +22.2%

Xeon E5620

2172 +9.2%

Core i5-5287U

1989

Core i7-5650U

1838 -7.6%

Core i3-6157U

1676 -15.7%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon E3-1220 v3

780 +5.3%

Celeron G4900

761 +2.7%

Core i5-5287U

741

Pentium Silver N6000

726 -2%

Xeon E5-4667 v3

705 -4.9%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-6442EQ

1954 +16.3%

Pentium Gold G6400

1834 +9.2%

Core i5-5287U

1680

Athlon X4 950

1581 -5.9%

Core i5-6287U

1487 -11.5%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon E5-2637 v3

2009 +2.8%

EPYC 7502P

1982 +1.4%

Core i5-5287U

1955

Athlon PRO 300U

1931 -1.2%

Core i3-8130U

1903 -2.7%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-6600U

3446 +11%

Core i7-6500U

3279 +5.6%

Core i5-5287U

3105

Core i7-3540M

2978 -4.1%

Opteron 3350 HE

2825 -9%

Intel Core i5-5287U