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Intel Core i7-1265U

Intel Core i7-1265U: A Versatile Processor for Ultrabooks in 2025

March 2025

Introduction

Laptop processors in 2025 continue to evolve, but models from previous years, such as the Intel Core i7-1265U, remain relevant due to their balance of performance and energy efficiency. This chip, released in 2022, is still found in budget and mid-range ultrabooks. Let's take a look at who it's suitable for today and what tasks it can handle.

Architecture and Process Technology

Alder Lake Hybrid Structure

The Core i7-1265U is based on the Alder Lake architecture (12th generation Intel) using Intel 7 process technology (formerly known as 10nm Enhanced SuperFin). This is Intel's first hybrid design for laptops, combining:

- 2 Performance-cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading support (4 threads). Operating at a base frequency of 1.8 GHz, with turbo boost up to 4.8 GHz.

- 8 Efficient-cores (E-cores) without Hyper-Threading (8 threads). Frequency up to 3.6 GHz.

Total: 10 cores and 12 threads, distributing tasks between "heavy" and "light" cores. For instance, P-cores handle application launches, while E-cores manage background processes.

Integrated Graphics

The iGPU Intel Iris Xe (96 EU) supports DirectX 12, AV1 decoding, and HDMI 2.0. This allows for:

- Playing games at low settings: Fortnite (720p, 40-50 FPS), CS:GO (1080p, 60 FPS).

- Working with 4K video in Premiere Pro.

Power Consumption and TDP

The nominal TDP of the processor is 15 W, but in turbo mode, power can reach 55 W (PL2). However, in ultrabooks, PL2 is often limited to 25-30 W to conserve battery life.

Power-saving technologies:

- Intel Dynamic Tuning 3.0 — automatically adjusts frequencies and voltages based on load.

- Deep Sleep C-states — disables unused cores.

Real-World Performance

Office Work and Multimedia

- Chrome with 20+ tabs + Zoom — the processor handles it without lag, maintaining a temperature around 50°C.

- Rendering in Blender (BMW scene): ~15 minutes (on par with Ryzen 7 5825U).

- 4K editing in DaVinci Resolve: smooth playback with Proxy files, but export is twice as slow compared to Core i7-12700H.

Gaming

- Cyberpunk 2077 (720p, Low): 25-30 FPS (with FSR 2.0).

- The Witcher 3 (1080p, Medium): 35-40 FPS.

- Valorant (1080p, High): 60-70 FPS.

Turbo Mode: In laptops with effective cooling (e.g., Dell XPS 13), P-cores maintain a frequency of 4.5 GHz for up to 3 minutes. In slim models (like the HP Spectre x360), throttling begins after 30 seconds.

Usage Scenarios

The processor is suitable for:

- Office Workers: document handling, video conferencing.

- Students: studying, light presentation editing.

- Travelers: compactness and battery life.

Not suitable for:

- Professional 3D modeling.

- Streaming AAA games.

Battery Life

With a TDP of 15 W and a battery capacity of 60 Wh (e.g., Lenovo Yoga 9i), expected usage times are:

- Web browsing: 8-10 hours.

- Video (1080p): 12 hours.

- Maximum load: 2-3 hours.

Tip: To extend battery life, disable turbo mode in Windows power settings.

Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (Zen 3)

- Pros: 8 cores / 16 threads, better in multi-threaded tasks (e.g., rendering).

- Cons: Weaker in single-threaded tests (Geekbench 6 Single Core: 1600 vs. 1914).

Apple M2 (2023)

- Pros: Up to 18 hours of battery life, cool operation.

- Cons: Limited compatibility with Windows programs.

Pros and Cons of Core i7-1265U

Strengths:

- High single-threaded performance.

- Support for Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6E.

- Affordable laptop prices (from $800 in 2025).

Weaknesses:

- Heating in compact chassis.

- Inferior to Ryzen in multi-threading.

Laptop Selection Recommendations

1. Device Type: Ultrabooks (Asus ZenBook, Acer Swift 5) or 2-in-1s (HP Spectre x360).

2. Cooling: Look for models with dual fans and heat pipes.

3. Display: For graphic work — resolution no lower than 1920x1200, 100% sRGB.

4. Memory and SSD: Minimum 16 GB RAM and 512 GB NVMe.

Example models for 2025:

- Dell XPS 13 (9315): $999 (13.4", 16 GB, 512 GB).

- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11: $1299 (14", 32 GB, 1 TB).

Final Verdict

The Intel Core i7-1265U in 2025 is a good choice for those seeking an affordable (under $1000) ultrabook with sufficient power for everyday tasks. Its advantages include:

- Smooth performance in office applications.

- Support for modern interfaces (Thunderbolt 4).

- Moderate gaming at low settings.

Who it's suitable for: students, freelancers, and users who value portability. However, for maximum battery life or intensive software work, consider the Apple M3 or Ryzen 7 7840U.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

February 2022

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.

i7-1265U

Code Name

Alder Lake

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.

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

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.

4.80 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

4.80 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

3.60 GHz

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

12 MB

CPU Socket

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

FCBGA1744

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.

Intel 7

TDP

15 W

Processor Base Power

The time-averaged power dissipation that the processor is validated to not exceed during manufacturing while executing an Intel-specified high complexity workload at Base Frequency and at the junction temperature as specified in the Datasheet for the SKU segment and configuration.

15 W

Maximum Turbo Power

The maximum sustained (>1s) power dissipation of the processor as limited by current and/or temperature controls. Instantaneous power may exceed Maximum Turbo Power for short durations (<=10ms). Note: Maximum Turbo Power is configurable by system vendor and can be system specific.

55 W

Minimum Assured Power

12 W

Max. Operating Temperature

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

100°C

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.

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

Microprocessor PCIe Revision

Gen 4

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.

Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s Up to LPDDR5 5200 MT/s Up to LPDDR4x 4267 MT/s

Max Memory Size

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

64 GB

Memory Channels

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

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics eligible

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.

1.25 GHz

DirectX Support

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

12.1

Execution Units

The Execution Unit is the foundational building block of Intel’s graphics architecture. Execution Units are compute processors optimized for simultaneous Multi-Threading for high throughput compute power.

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.

4096 x 2304 @ 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.

7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096 x 2304 @ 120Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

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

eDP 1.4b | DP 1.4a | HDMI 2.1

Miscellaneous

Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) on CPU

A new set of embedded processor technologies designed to accelerate AI deep learning use cases. It extends Intel AVX-512 with a new Vector Neural Network Instruction (VNNI) that significantly increases deep learning inference performance over previous generations.

Yes

Intel Image Processing Unit

6.0

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

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.

12 MB Intel® Smart Cache

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 High Definition Audio

Yes

Intel Active Management Technology (AMT)

Yes

Intel Volume Management Device (VMD)

Intel® Volume Management Device (VMD) provides a common, robust method of hot plug and LED management for NVMe-based solid state drives.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Hardware Shield Eligibility

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 QuickAssist Software Acceleration

Yes

Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology

CET - Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) helps protect against the misuse of legitimate code snippets through return-oriented programming (ROP) control-flow hijacking attacks.

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.

4.6

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.

3.0

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

1914

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

6190

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1120

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

5559

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

3228

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

13953

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Ryzen 7 7840U

2098 +9.6%

Pentium 8505

2012 +5.1%

Core i7-1265U

1914

Ryzen 7 7735U

1783 -6.8%

Core i9-11900K

1691 -11.7%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon E7-8880 v3

6961 +12.5%

Xeon W-2135

6531 +5.5%

Core i7-1265U

6190

Ryzen 5 5600U

5742 -7.2%

Ryzen 7 5825C

5449 -12%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Core i5-9600K

1179 +5.3%

Core i9-10920X X-series

1147 +2.4%

Core i7-1265U

1120

Core i3-10300

1105 -1.3%

Celeron G6900T

1078 -3.8%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Ryzen 7 2700

6108 +9.9%

Core i5-1335U

5878 +5.7%

Core i7-1265U

5559

Core i7-10750H

5277 -5.1%

Core i5-9600KF

5023 -9.6%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon E-2356G

3376 +4.6%

Core i7-1255U

3304 +2.4%

Core i7-1265U

3228

Ryzen 5 6600U

3185 -1.3%

Core i5-1240U

3086 -4.4%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Xeon E-2286M

15151 +8.6%

Core i7-9700

14501 +3.9%

Core i7-1265U

13953

Xeon E5-2658 v3

13487 -3.3%

Xeon E-2334

12929 -7.3%