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Intel Core i5-7260U

Intel Core i5-7260U: Outdated, but Still Relevant for Basic Tasks?

Analysis of the 2017 Processor in the Reality of 2025

Introduction

The Intel Core i5-7260U processor, released in 2017 as part of the Kaby Lake platform, appears archaic today compared to modern chips with Hybrid cores (Intel) or Zen 4 architecture (AMD). However, laptops featuring this CPU are still available in the budget segment (new devices range from $400 to $600). Let’s analyze who might find such a processor useful in 2025 and what challenges it may face.

Architecture and Process Technology: What's Inside?

A Dual-Core Base and Modest iGPU

The Core i5-7260U is built on a 14nm process technology that Intel employed from 2014 (Skylake) until the release of the 10nm Ice Lake. Key specifications:

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

- Base frequency of 2.3 GHz, with a turbo boost maximum of 3.4 GHz (for a single core).

- Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 — integrated graphics with 48 execution units and a frequency of up to 950 MHz.

Architectural Features:

- Support for DDR4-2133 / LPDDR3-1866 memory (up to 32 GB).

- Integration of Speed Shift technology for quick frequency switching depending on load.

- Lack of AVX-512 support and a limited instruction set for AI tasks (critically outdated by 2025).

The iGPU Iris Plus 640 in 2025 can handle only basic tasks:

- 4K video playback (with hardware decoding via HDMI 1.4).

- Less demanding games like Among Us or Stardew Valley at low settings.

Power Consumption and TDP: Balancing Power and Battery Life

The CPU's TDP is 15 W, typical for ultrabooks. However, by 2025 even budget chips (like AMD Ryzen 3 7420U) with the same TDP offer 4 cores and higher IPC.

How This Affects Laptops:

- Thickness of 13–15 mm, passive or modest active cooling.

- Average battery life — 6–8 hours during web surfing (for comparison, Apple M1 laptops achieve 12–15 hours).

- Energy-saving technologies:

- Intel SpeedStep — dynamic frequency reduction during idle.

- C-States — disabling unused cores.

Performance: What Can the Processor Do in 2025?

Real-World Scenario Tests

- Office Work (Chrome, Word, Zoom):

Loading 10 tabs plus a video call leads to 70–80% CPU usage. Noticeable stuttering occurs when switching between applications.

- Multimedia:

Converting a 10-minute video to 1080p (HandBrake) takes 22–25 minutes (the Ryzen 5 5500U does it in 8–10 minutes).

- Gaming:

- CS2: 720p, low settings — 30–40 FPS with drops.

- Fortnite: 720p, Performance mode — 25–35 FPS.

Turbo Boost:

Under load on a single core, the frequency rises to 3.4 GHz, but due to limited thermal design power (15 W), Turbo mode lasts no longer than 20–30 seconds.

Use Cases: Who Would Benefit from the i5-7260U?

1. Students — for handling documents, online courses, and Netflix.

2. Office Workers — if heavy Excel spreadsheets or graphics editing are not required simultaneously.

3. Linux Users — distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora are optimized even for weaker hardware.

Not Suitable For:

- Video editing, 3D modeling, or AAA gaming.

- Working with neural networks (Stable Diffusion, local ChatGPT).

Battery Life: How Long Will It Last?

Laptops with the i5-7260U come equipped with batteries of 40–50 Wh. Real-world results:

- YouTube Viewing (1080p): 5–6 hours.

- Text Editor + Music in the Background: 7–8 hours.

Advice: Opt for models with low-brightness (250 nits) IPS panels — they consume less power.

Comparison with Competitors

Relevant Analogues in 2025:

1. AMD Ryzen 3 7420U (4 cores/8 threads, Zen 2, 15 W):

- Better multi-threaded performance (+40% in Cinebench R23).

- Radeon Graphics (2 GB) — 30% faster than Iris Plus 640.

- Laptop prices: $450–700.

2. Apple M1 (8 cores, 10 W):

- 3–4 times higher rendering performance.

- Support for neural accelerators.

- Price: starting from $900 (new MacBook Air).

3. Intel Core i3-1215U (6 cores, 15 W, 2022):

- Hybrid architecture (2 P-cores + 4 E-cores).

- Integrated graphics Iris Xe (64 EU) — twice as powerful as Iris Plus 640.

Conclusion: The i5-7260U lags behind even budget modern CPUs, but it remains competitive on the second-hand market.

Pros and Cons

Strengths:

- Low heat output — quiet operation even under load.

- Sufficient for basic tasks (web, office, video).

- Affordable laptops in 2025 (new ones starting at $400).

Weaknesses:

- Only 2 cores — limited multitasking capability.

- No support for PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4.

- Outdated graphics — unsuitable for modern gaming.

Laptop Selection Recommendations

1. Device Type: Ultrabooks (Acer Swift 3, Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5) or budget Chromebooks.

2. What to Look For:

- Display: Full HD IPS — less strain on the eyes.

- RAM: At least 8 GB (16 GB recommended for Windows 11).

- Storage: Must have SSD (256 GB and above).

3. Avoid: Laptops with HDD and TN displays — they will slow down even with the i5-7260U.

Final Conclusion: Who is the Processor Suitable For?

The Intel Core i5-7260U in 2025 is ideal for those who:

- Are looking for a cheap new laptop for study or office use.

- Don’t plan to run "heavy" applications.

- Value compactness and quiet operation.

Key Benefits:

- Price below $600 for a new device.

- Compatibility with most operating systems and software.

- Proven reliability (architecture without "growing pains").

However, if the budget allows an additional $200–300, it would be better to choose a laptop with Ryzen 5 or Core i3 from the 12th generation — prolonging device relevance by 3–4 years.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

January 2017

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.

i5-7260U

Code Name

Kaby 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.

Basic Frequency

2.20 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.

3.40 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.40 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

15 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.

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

GPU Name

Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 640

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.

950 MHz

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@30Hz

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

Max Resolution (VGA)

N/A

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 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 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 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

1093

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

2299

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

769

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1594

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1987

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3978

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Ryzen 5 PRO 2600

1166 +6.7%

Core i3-4360

1128 +3.2%

Core i5-7260U

1093

Core i7-8670

1050 -3.9%

Ryzen 3 PRO 2200G

1000 -8.5%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon E5-4610 v4

2810 +22.2%

Ryzen 5 3450U

2512 +9.3%

Core i5-7260U

2299

Xeon X5660

2075 -9.7%

Xeon E3-1260L

1890 -17.8%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Core i7-4870HQ

803 +4.4%

Xeon Silver 4210R

785 +2.1%

Core i5-7260U

769

Xeon D-2123IT

745 -3.1%

Core i5-6260U

733 -4.7%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Athlon PRO 200GE

1844 +15.7%

Core i3-6300T

1699 +6.6%

Core i5-7260U

1594

Core i3-4160T

1494 -6.3%

Pentium G3450

1417 -11.1%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i5-6440EQ

2044 +2.9%

Core i5-8500T

2015 +1.4%

Core i5-7260U

1987

Core i7-7560U

1963 -1.2%

Core i5-3470

1941 -2.3%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Xeon E5-1603 v3

4428 +11.3%

Core i3-7300T

4211 +5.9%

Core i5-7260U

3978

Core i7-7560U

3773 -5.2%

Pentium Gold G6400T

3588 -9.8%