Home / Intel Core i5 / Intel Core i5-6267U: Performance and Specs

Intel Core i5-6267U

Intel Core i5-6267U in 2025: Is It Worth Buying a Laptop with This Processor?

Introduction

The Intel Core i5-6267U processor, released in 2016, is still found in budget laptops and discounted devices. Despite its age, it remains relevant for a range of tasks due to its architecture and integrated graphics. But is it worth buying such a laptop in 2025? Let’s break down the details.

1. Architecture and Process: What's Inside?

Skylake Features

This processor is built on the Skylake microarchitecture (6th generation Intel Core) with a 14 nm manufacturing process. It was one of the first mass-market architectures to support DDR4 RAM and PCIe 3.0. However, in 2025, 14 nm chips seem outdated compared to the 5-7 nm chips from AMD, Intel, and Apple.

Cores, Threads, and Frequencies

- 2 cores, 4 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Base frequency: 2.9 GHz, maximum in turbo mode: 3.3 GHz.

- L3 cache: 4 MB.

For single-threaded tasks (like browsing), the processor shows adequate speed, but the two physical cores limit multitasking. For example, running Photoshop and a video conference simultaneously may cause stuttering.

Integrated Iris Graphics 550

- 48 execution units (EU) compared to 24 in standard HD Graphics 520.

- Supports DirectX 12 and 4K output.

- Maximum frequency: 1.1 GHz.

Iris 550 graphics in 2025 are suitable only for light gaming:

- CS:GO — 30-40 FPS on low settings (720p).

- Minecraft — 50-60 FPS (1080p).

- Retro and indie games (Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley) — no problem.

2. Power Consumption and TDP: Balancing Power and Heat

The TDP of 28 W sets the i5-6267U apart from other U-series chips (which typically have a TDP of 15 W). This means:

- Pros: higher performance under peak loads.

- Cons: requires an enhanced cooling system, resulting in thicker laptops.

In practice, in compact ultrabooks (like the Dell XPS 13 9350), the processor can overheat under sustained load, reducing frequencies. In cases with better ventilation (like the HP ProBook 650 G2), thermal performance is better.

3. Real-World Performance

Office Work and Multimedia

- Microsoft Office, Google Docs: launching 10-15 tabs in Chrome + Word document — no visible lags.

- Zoom/Teams: video call + presentation — CPU load around 70-80%.

- 4K Video: playback via VLC or YouTube (with hardware acceleration) — smooth.

Gaming

- Fortnite (Low, 720p): 25-30 FPS — playable, but not very comfortable.

- Rocket League (Medium, 720p): 40-45 FPS.

- Emulators (PSP, GameCube): stable operation in RetroArch.

Turbo Mode: How Long Can It Hold Up?

Under load on both cores, the frequency rises to 3.1-3.3 GHz, but throttling begins after 2-3 minutes (dropping back to 2.9-3.0 GHz). For short tasks (launching applications, rendering PDFs), turbo is useful, but it’s ineffective for prolonged processes (like video conversion).

4. Use Case Scenarios: Who Is the i5-6267U Suitable For?

- Students: working with texts, presentations, online courses.

- Office Workers: email, spreadsheets, video conferencing.

- Users of Light Multimedia Tasks: editing in Shotcut (1080p), photo processing in Lightroom (with patience).

- Casual Gamers: retro and indie games.

Not Suitable For:

- 4K video editing, 3D modeling, modern AAA games.

- Working with neural networks or VR.

5. Battery Life: How Long Will the Laptop Last?

With a TDP of 28 W and a typical 45-50 Wh battery, the runtime is:

- 5-7 hours under moderate load (brightness 50%, Wi-Fi, office tasks).

- 2-3 hours under stress (gaming, rendering).

Power-saving Technologies:

- Intel SpeedStep: dynamic frequency adjustment.

- C-states: reducing voltage during idle.

- However, these mechanisms are 30-40% more efficient in modern chips (like Intel Alder Lake-U).

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 3 3200U (2019)

- 2 cores/4 threads, Vega 3 Graphics.

- Pros: better multi-threaded performance, supports DDR4-2400.

- Cons: weaker graphics (Vega 3 vs. Iris 550).

- Laptops with Ryzen 3 3200U start at $450 (e.g., Lenovo IdeaPad 3).

Apple M1 (2020)

- 4 cores/4 threads + 7-core graphics.

- Pros: 3-4 times higher performance, 18 hours of battery life.

- Cons: price (laptops from $800), limited compatibility with Windows.

Intel Core i3-1215U (2023)

- 6 cores (2P+4E)/8 threads, Iris Xe Graphics.

- Pros: supports PCIe 4.0, DDR5, two times higher performance.

- Cons: laptops from $600.

Conclusion: The i5-6267U falls short against modern counterparts but can be a good choice within a $500 budget.

7. Pros and Cons of the Processor

Strengths:

- Best integrated graphics among U-series of its generation.

- Support for DDR4 and USB 3.1.

- Adequate performance for basic tasks.

Weaknesses:

- Only 2 cores limit multitasking.

- High TDP for a U-series chip.

- Lack of support for AVX-512 and AI acceleration.

8. Recommendations for Laptop Selection

Types of Devices

- Ultrabooks: Dell XPS 13 (2016-2017) — compactness, but risk of overheating.

- Business Laptops: HP EliteBook 840 G3 — reliable cooling, serviceability.

- Budget Universals: Acer Aspire E5-575G — discrete GeForce 940MX graphics for gaming.

What to Look For

1. Cooling: check reviews about noise and throttling.

2. Display: Full HD panel is essential — HD (1366x768) is outdated.

3. SSD: even a 256 GB SATA SSD will enhance system responsiveness.

4. Ports: USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support — rare but useful for monitors.

Examples of 2025 Models with i5-6267U (new):

- HP 255 G8: price $430, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 15.6" HD display.

- Lenovo V15 Gen 2: $470, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 15.6" Full HD display.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Is the i5-6267U Suitable For?

This processor should only be considered if:

- Your budget is strictly limited ($400-500).

- You need a laptop for study, office work, or browsing.

- You are okay with 4-5 hours of battery life.

Key Benefits:

- Low price with SSD and Full HD screen.

- Ability to run older games and light projects.

- Reliability (proven platform).

However, if you can spend an additional $100-150, it’s better to choose a laptop with a Ryzen 5 5500U or Intel Core i5-1135G7 — they will last longer and handle modern tasks better.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

July 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.

i5-6267U

Code Name

SkyLake

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

CPU Socket

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

FCBGA1356

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.

100°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.

3.0

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.

1x4 | 2x2 | 1x2+2x1 and 4x1

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.

DDR4-2133 | LPDDR3-1866 | DDR3L-1600

Max Memory Size

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

32 GB

Memory Channels

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

Bus Speed

4 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).

34.1 GB/s

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® Graphics 550

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.

1.05 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

32 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

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

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.

4096x2304@24Hz

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.

4096x2304@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.

4096x2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

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

eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI

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.

4 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 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.

4.5

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

1024

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

2155

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

704

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1710

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1858

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3406

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i7-8705G

1106 +8%

Athlon 240GE

1074 +4.9%

Core i5-6267U

1024

Core i7-5650U

973 -5%

Xeon E5-2628 v3

921 -10.1%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon E3-1505L v6

2613 +21.3%

Core i5-7287U

2402 +11.5%

Core i5-6267U

2155

Athlon Silver PRO 3125GE

1974 -8.4%

Xeon E5-1607 v2

1820 -15.5%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon E5-2637 v2

741 +5.3%

Xeon Gold 6240

725 +3%

Core i5-6267U

704

Pentium G3440

681 -3.3%

Core i5-5200U

660 -6.3%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i7-2675QM

1976 +15.6%

FX-8100

1858 +8.7%

Core i5-6267U

1710

Xeon E5-2603 v4

1603 -6.3%

A8-6600K

1503 -12.1%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i7-4578U

1923 +3.5%

Core i3-4130

1892 +1.8%

Core i5-6267U

1858

Xeon E5-2660 v3

1812 -2.5%

Core i3-3240

1789 -3.7%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Xeon E5630

3754 +10.2%

Core i3-8130U

3585 +5.3%

Core i5-6267U

3406

Core i5-6300U

3239 -4.9%

FX-4320

3072 -9.8%