Complete list of Intel Core i9 laptops (12th-gen i9-12900HK/i9-12900H, 11th-gen i9, etc.) in 2022

If you’re looking for a high-performance mobile computer, there’s a very good chance you’re considering one of the Intel Core i9 laptops available in stores today, or soon to be launched. These i9s are, after all, some of the most powerful processors you can get on notebooks right now, alongside the Ryzen 9 alternatives from AMD.

There are however a few aspects you should keep in mind when shopping for an Intel Core i9 computer. First off, there are several different types of i9 notebooks: those built on mobile platforms, and the select few built on the more powerful desktop-grade Core K i9s. The mobile hardware is more efficient and better suited for smaller computers, while the desktop i9s require extra cooling and an overall massive chassis, that’s why these are only available in a limited number of designs.

Furthermore, given the amount of power required by the Intel i9 platforms to run at full blast, their overall performance is highly dependant on the engineering and thermal design of each unit, with significant variations between the different implementations. That’s why it’s important to document your purchase and do your own diligence before deciding on this kind of powerful laptop, as well as make sure that the cooling on your model of choice can keep the i9 at bay within reasonable noise levels. Otherwise, you’re not going to fully benefit from getting an i9 configuration over the more affordable Intel Core i7 specs. You’ll only find these details in thorough reviews, such as the ones on our site.

As far as this article goes, we’ll talk about both the desktop (up to Core i9-12900K – 20 Core or Core i9-11990K – 8 Core) and mobile variants (up to the latest 20Core i9-12900HK units from 2022, as well as the Core i9-11980HK – 8Core from 2021 and previous 2020 and 2019 generatios) available in laptop formats today, or scheduled for immediate launch. We’ll tell you what to expect from these Intel Core i9 laptop CPUs, how they compare to the mainstream Core i7s available in most multimedia and gaming notebooks these days, and whether (or rather when) these processors are worth your money, considering you’ll have to pay a significant premium for these i9 configurations.

We’ve also compiled a complete list of the notebooks built on the Intel Core i9 mobile platforms, both portable formats and full-size models, and we’ll update it in the months to come with new models as they’re announced. You can jump straight to the list via this link, follow this link for another updated selection of Intel Core i9 laptops available in stores right now, or carry on for our quick summary of the i9 platforms, followed up by the list of available models.

12th gen Intel Core i9-12900HK, i9-12900H Alder Lake

The Core i9-12900HK is the latest top-tier Intel mobile platform scheduled for launch early in 2022, as part of the 12th gen Intel Alder Lake hardware platform.

We’ll update this section once the hardware is officially unveiled, and for now, we’ll only briefly go over it. Unlike the previous generations, Alder Lake is a completely new hardware design built around a Big.Little approach, combining several high-performance Cores with a handful of high-efficiency Cores.

As a result, the Core i9-12900HK is a 14Core/20 Thread processor, with 6 high-performance Cores that support Hyperthreading, and 8 extra efficient Cores. As explained in our coverage of the Alder Lake platform, the efficient Cores are not just there to help with battery life and quiet runtimes on battery, but also help out the system’s overall performance in demanding loads.

The high-performance Cores are based on Intel’s Golden Cove architecture, a follow-up of the Willow Cove cores in the Tiger Lake processors, with a promised 5-19% increase in IPC over previous generation architectures. The high-efficiency cores are based on the Intel Gracemont architecture, a follow-up of Tremont and Goldmont that were at the basis of past Intel Atom processors. However, a cluster of 4 of these E-Cores occupies less space on the die than a Performance core, and together provide an increase in processing performance over a P-Core.

12th-gen Intel Alder Lake architecture and design principles

That’s why, with the new design, extra threads, and the technological updates of the new hardware generation, we can expect the 12900HK to be a significant improvement in performance over the previous 11980HK/11900H processors in demanding loads and games, especially since most of the 2022 top-tier gaming laptops are also paired with updated GPUs (Nvidia RTX Ti, AMD RDNA2) over their 2021 predecessors, as well as faster storage and DDR5 memory.

For now, I’ll just leave you with a brief summary of the 12th gen i9 mobile processors next to the previous-gen variants, and look for updates in the near future.

11th-gen Intel Core i9-11980HK, i9-11900H Tiger Lake

The Core i9-11980HK and i9-11900H are part of the 2021 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake hardware platform.

Much like with the previous 10th gen Core i9-10980HK, the 11th gen Tiger Lake Core i9-11980HK is still an 8Core 16Thread (with HyperThreading) processor, now with a Base Clock speed of 2.6 GHz, an all-core Turbo Clock of 4.8 GHz, and up to 5.0 GHz Turbo in up to two cores with Thermal Velocity Boost 3.0. As a noticeable novelty, Intel allows OEMs to implement these processors at either a 45W TDP, or a higher 65W cTDP in supported thermal designs, in which case the base clocks jump to 3.3 GHz.

Furthermore, the K at the end means that this processor is overclockable, with an unlocked multiplier. In practice, overclocking a mobile processor greatly varies between the different models, as a potent thermal design that can sustain 4.5+ GHz in sustained all-core loads is a prerequisite that very few designs can meet.

As far as I can tell for now, on paper this i9-11980HK is only a minor update in terms of clock speeds over the Comet Lake i9 HK, but the devil is in the details, so we’ll have to look into detailed reviews for a more in-depth performance analysis.

Aside from the clock speed, the i9-11980HK benefits from an increased amount of L3 Cache memory (24 MB, vs 16 MB on previous-gen), improved UHD graphics based on the Intel Iris Xe technology, as well as theoretical improved IPC and efficiency, as this platform is partially based on Intel’s 10nm SuperFin lithography, and no longer just a 14nm ++++ refresh. PCIe 4 CPU support (with up to 20 lanes), as well as Thunderbolt 4/ USB 4 and WiFi 6E 6 GHz partially integrated on the die are also new additions to the 11th gen Core H platform.

In comparison, the unlocked Core i9-11900H is also an 8C/16T processor, just slightly lower-clocked than the HK variant, while the main-stream i7-11800H is also a 8C/16T processor in this generation, with even slightly lower clocks and without Turbo velocity. Finally, the 11th-gen Core i5-11400H is now a 6C/12T processor, and most likely a competent option for mid-range gaming laptops later in the year, if we’re to judge based on what we already know about the Intel 10nm desktop platforms. All the Core H i5/i7/i9 models can be configured at either 35 or 45W TDP, based on each design.

Previous-gen mobile Core i9s

The i9-10880H and i9-10980HK are the 2020 10th-gen Comet Lake options, with a slight frequency boost over the 2019 9th-gen models and support for faster memory. They’re still built on an Intel 14nm +++ architecture and require a lot of power to reach their potential in sustained loads. The i9-9880H and i9-9880HK are the 9th gen Coffee Lake-R i9s launched in 2019.

Both Comet and Coffee Lake-R i9s get 8Cores/16 Threads, 16 GB of L3 cache, and support for up to 128 GB of RAM. Previous year’s top-tier Intel Core i9-8950HK processor pales in comparison, with 6 cores, 12 threads, 12 MB of cache memory, a standard frequency of 2.9 GHz, and a maximum Turbo Boost frequency of 4.8 GHz, and supports up to 64 GB of DDR4 2666 MHz of dual-channel RAM.

How about the Core i9 K laptops?

The Core i9 Ks are desktop processors with a much higher TDP than their mobile counterparts, which means they can constantly run at higher clocks in demanding loads and allow some extra room for overclocking, but also require a significantly increased thermal effort to keep cool. That’s why the Ks are only implemented in beefy desktop replacement notebooks, while the mobile i9s make their way in a multitude of form factors, both ultraportable and full-size.

In all fairness, even the mobile i9s run at much higher sustained power than their 45W stock TDP in performance laptops, so while you will get improved results with the few i9 K models out there, the mobile i9 HK variants don’t trail them by much.

Performance

As mentioned already, the performance of these i9 processors greatly varies between implementations and SKUs, but the table below gives you a ballpark idea of what to expect in a couple of different designs (full-size laptops or thin-and-light portable models):

We’ve yet to include the 11th gen i9-11980HK and i9-11900H in here. As for the new 2022 platform, we’ve already seen some leaks of 12900HK implementations and they’re looking promising, so I’ll update this section in the near future as well.

These results are based on our reviews, as well as on average scores from Notebookcheck.net, which have a larger pool of reviewed notebooks.

i9 laptops built on 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900H, i9-12900HK CPUs

While we’ve seen some leaks already, I can’t share the exact 12th gen i9 configurations that I’m aware of at this point, so look for this section to be updated early into 2022, once the Intel platform and most of the notebooks are officially unveiled.

I would expect many of the previous-gen i9 platforms listed down below to get a bump to the 12th gen Intel Alder Lake processors, with the i9-12900HK CPUs in full-size performance laptops, and the i9-12900Hs in some of the thinner designs. We’ll also most likely see a handful of interesting new designs as well.

Plus, as already mentioned, expect these top-tier 2022 Core i9 computers to include the latest available features, such as fast screens of different kinds, DDR5 memory, PCIe gen4 storage, and the latest Nvidia and AMD graphics chips.

— updating

i9 laptops built on 11th-gen Intel Core i9-11900H, i9-11980HK CPUs

This section includes all the i9-11900H and i9-11980HK laptops available in stores right now, or soon to be available, both the portable designs and the full-size performance behemoths.

Previous generation Intel Core i9 Laptops

This section includes the selection of laptops available with 10th-gen Comet Lake Intel Core i9-10980H and i9-10980HK processors. Previous 9th gen and 8th gen models are included in the next two parts of this article.

Older Core i9 laptops – portable designs

This section includes a list of the previous-gen portable notebooks that are still available in stores and can be configured with an Intel Core i9 10th and 9th gen mobile processor.

There’s a lot of hype around the i9s not performing as well as expected inside thin and light designs, and for the most part that’s true and should come so no surprise.

If you’ll look into the MacBook Pro, XPS 15 or the Zenbook Pro reviews, you’ll see that the i9 cannot maintain its high Turbo Boost speed frequencies with continuous demanding loads in these computers. For the most part, though, the i9s offer a performance boost over the i7 models, especially in the newer and more mature designs that have been carefully tweaked by their manufacturers to better handle the heat output of an i9.

So while you’re still not going to get an i9s full potential inside most of these thinner computers, these are still worth getting over the i7 models for certain tasks and workloads. Nonetheless, I do suggest carefully considering whether the i9 configurations are worth the significant premium OEMs ask for in these ultraportables. You should look into our detailed reviews that take a close look at the performance in the scenarios you’re planning to use those notebooks yourselves, and decide on the best-value model for your needs.

I do have to add that the manufacturers tend to only offer certain GPU or screen options on their higher-end configurations, usually tied to an i9 processor, so in some cases, the i9 is the only possible choice if you’re going for a specific configuration, regardless of how it performs and whether it’s worth paying extra for.

Anyway, here are the Intel Core i9 thin-and-light notebooks available in stores, with links towards our detailed reviews and updated prices and configurations.

Older Full-size Core i9 notebooks

This section includes previous generations of full-size Intel Core i9 laptops. There are some mid-range laptops with similar traits to the ultraportables above, but thicker builds and improved cooling, and there are also the no-compromise desktop replacements.

Expect most of these to be hefty and heavy, come with two bulky power-bricks (with some exceptions), but at the same time, also expect to squeeze the most out of the hardware inside and allow for tweaking and overclocking. Most of these laptops run cooly, but also noisy with gaming and demanding loads, to the point where you’ll need headphones for comfortable use.

We’ve also included laptops based on the desktop-grade Core i9 9900K processors in this list, like the Alienware Area 51m or the MSI GT76 Titan.

That’s about it for now, but we’re constantly updating these lists of Intel Core i9 performance laptops, so make sure to check back from time to time for the latest additions. And get in touch in the comments section if you have any questions or if you spotted a notebook that should be in here and we haven’t yet added.