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Intel Core i5-7440HQ

Intel Core i5-7440HQ in 2025: Is it Worth Buying a Laptop with This Processor?

Analysis of Capabilities, Comparison with Competitors, and Practical Recommendations

Architecture and Process Technology: The Legacy of Kaby Lake

The Intel Core i5-7440HQ processor, released in 2017, belongs to the seventh generation of the Kaby Lake architecture. It is one of Intel's last CPUs based on the 14-nanometer process before the company transitioned to more advanced standards. Its key specifications include:

- 4 Cores and 4 Threads — The absence of Hyper-Threading limits multitasking, but this was the standard for mid-range mobile processors at its time.

- Base Clock: 2.8 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 3.8 GHz — The turbo mode activates under a load of 1-2 cores, which is beneficial for short tasks like launching applications.

- Integrated Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 630 — 24 execution units, support for 4K via HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort. It is not suitable for gaming in 2025 but can handle streaming video and basic graphics.

- 6 MB L3 Cache — A sufficient amount to reduce latency when working with data.

Despite the outdated process technology, Kaby Lake brought improvements in energy efficiency compared to Skylake and supported hardware decoding for VP9 and HEVC video, which is important for streaming.

Power Consumption and TDP: The Cost of Performance

The CPU's TDP is 45 W, categorizing it among high-performance mobile CPUs. This means:

- Laptops with this processor are equipped with active cooling systems (2-3 heat pipes, high-speed fans).

- Battery life rarely exceeds 4-5 hours, even with a large battery (e.g., 60 Wh).

- Under load (rendering, gaming), the CPU temperature can reach 90-95°C, necessitating regular cleaning of the cooling system.

For comparison: modern Intel 13th-generation processors (e.g., Core i5-1340P) showcase comparable performance with a TDP of 28 W but with lower heating.

Performance in 2025: What Can the i5-7440HQ Do?

Geekbench 6 test results (1200 / 3101) show that the processor lags behind even budget newcomers of 2025, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 7520U (around 1400 / 4500). However, it still holds relevance in real tasks:

Office Work and Multimedia

- Microsoft Office, Browser (20+ tabs), Zoom: The CPU handles these tasks, but there can be lags when simultaneously running Photoshop or attending a 4K video conference.

- 1080p Video Editing: In Adobe Premiere Pro, rendering will take 2-3 times longer than on the Apple M1 (2020).

- Streaming Video (Netflix, YouTube 4K): Hardware decoding for HEVC allows for smooth content viewing without overheating.

Gaming

- With Integrated Graphics: Only older titles (CS:GO, Dota 2) at low settings (30-40 FPS).

- With a Discrete GPU like NVIDIA GTX 1650: In 2025, this is sufficient for Fortnite and Apex Legends at medium settings (60 FPS in Full HD), but modern AAA games (Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield) will require reducing resolution to 720p.

Turbo Boost Mode

Under short bursts of load (e.g., opening a heavy Excel file), the frequency reaches 3.8 GHz, but after 20-30 seconds, throttling begins due to overheating.

Usage Scenarios: Who Is the i5-7440HQ Suitable for in 2025?

1. Budget Laptops for Students: If the price does not exceed $400-500, and it comes with an SSD and 8+ GB of RAM — this could work for students.

2. Office Tasks: Document work, email, CRM systems.

3. Retro Gaming: Running games from the 2010s via discrete graphics.

Not Suitable for:

- Video editors, 3D designers.

- Users with a focus on battery life.

- Fans of modern games.

Battery Life: How TDP Affects Usage Time

Average power consumption at idle is 5-7 W, under load — up to 45 W. The impact on battery life:

- A laptop with a 50 Wh battery will last about 3 hours under active use (Chrome, Word).

- Power-saving technologies: Intel SpeedStep (dynamic frequency adjustment), C-states (disabling unused cores).

Tip: Turn off Turbo Boost in power settings — this can extend usage time by 15-20%.

Comparison with Competitors

- AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (2018): 4 cores / 8 threads, Vega 8 iGPU. Better in multi-threaded tasks (+25% in Cinebench R23) but weaker in single-threaded performance.

- Apple M1 (2020): 3-4 times higher performance with a TDP of 15 W.

- Intel Core i5-1240P (2022): 12 cores (4P + 8E), 18 MB cache, TDP 28 W. Advantageous even in basic scenarios by 40-60%.

Pros and Cons

Strengths:

- Reliability: Proven architecture, minimal risk of failure.

- Affordability: Laptops with this CPU in 2025 cost $300–500.

- Supports Windows 11 (if equipped with a TPM module).

Weaknesses:

- No support for PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4.

- High TDP and heating issues.

- Lack of multi-threading.

Recommendations for Choosing a Laptop

If you decide to buy a device with the i5-7440HQ in 2025:

1. Device Type: Only budget models or refurbished units. Avoid ultrabooks, as such CPUs are typically found in bulkier designs.

2. Essential Components:

- SSD (preferably NVMe).

- 8+ GB RAM (better with upgrade options).

- Discrete graphics (e.g., GTX 1650).

3. Cooling: Check reviews for overheating issues.

Example Model: Dell Inspiron 15 7567 (released in 2017) is often available at sales for $350–400 in refurbished condition.

Final Verdict: Who Is the Core i5-7440HQ Suitable for?

This processor in 2025 is a choice for those who:

- Are looking for the cheapest laptop for basic tasks.

- Do not plan to use resource-intensive applications.

- Are willing to accept short battery life and noisy fans.

Key Benefits: Low price, proven reliability, upgrade potential (in some models). However, for most users, more modern CPUs like the Intel Core i3-1215U or AMD Ryzen 3 7320U would be preferable, as they offer better performance and battery life at comparable costs ($450–600).

If your budget is tight and your tasks are limited to text work and internet use — the i5-7440HQ can still serve you well. But in the long run, investing in newer hardware will pay off in comfort and time savings.

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.

i5-7440HQ

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

2.80 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.

3.80 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.80 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.

L3 Cache

6 MB

CPU Socket

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

BGA 1440

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

45 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.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+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.

DDR4-2400 | LPDDR3-2133 | DDR3L-1600

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.

Bus Speed

8 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).

37.5 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® HD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency

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

350 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.

1.00 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 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.

6 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.

4.5

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

1200

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

3101

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

831

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

2607

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2077

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

5542

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Xeon Gold 6209U

1277 +6.4%

Core i5-1030NG7

1239 +3.3%

Core i5-7440HQ

1200

Core i3-9100TE

1166 -2.8%

Core i7-4910MQ

1131 -5.8%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i5-6600

3579 +15.4%

Core i3-8300T

3357 +8.3%

Core i5-7440HQ

3101

Core i3-10305T

2931 -5.5%

Core i5-1035G4

2646 -14.7%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

EPYC 7452

867 +4.3%

Xeon Platinum 8168

851 +2.4%

Core i5-7440HQ

831

Xeon E5-2629 v3

813 -2.2%

Xeon E5-4655 v4

799 -3.9%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-6500

2858 +9.6%

Opteron 6272

2725 +4.5%

Core i5-7440HQ

2607

Xeon E3-1245

2457 -5.8%

Xeon D-1527

2319 -11%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i3-8109U

2124 +2.3%

Ryzen Embedded R2544

2102 +1.2%

Core i5-7440HQ

2077

Core i5-4590S

2049 -1.3%

Xeon E5-1620 v2

2027 -2.4%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

FX-9370

6114 +10.3%

Atom x7425E

5777 +4.2%

Core i5-7440HQ

5542

Opteron 6272

5240 -5.4%

Core i3-7350K

4943 -10.8%