Which Intel Core Ultra 200 laptop is for you?

At CES 2025, Intel revealed its Arrow Lake chipset and showed off what it has in store for upcoming devices. A lot of this went over my head, so Intel allowed me to speak with Robert Hallock, the VP and General Manager of Client AI and Technical Marketing.

Hallock guided me through Arrow Lake to help create an approachable guide to the new CPUs.

For the masses

Lunar Lake is the codename for the Core Ultra 200V Series mobile processor and is the successor to Meteor Lake. The 200V series, announced last year, is for the masses, most users would be happy with a laptop with a V series SoC.

Hallock says that customers spend most of their time on office-style productivity, Outlook, PowerPoint, web browsing, general life management, and making lists. It does light-duty work and offers insane battery life—offering battery life over every other metric. The V series also has AI capabilities for productivity apps like Microsoft Word, Outlook, and making lists.

A laptop with a 200V SoC should be fine if you primarily use it for writing and other simple features.

“Lunar Lake is for people who live in the day, people who just need a laptop to do work, take care of chores, etc.,” says Hallock. 

Laptops that include a 200V SoC include:

• Dell XPS 13 9350: Has a 13.4 in 16:10 IPS or OLED screen
• Dynabook Portege X30W-M: Has a 13.3 in 16:10 IPS screen
• HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Has a 14 in 16:10 OLED, 3K 120Hz touchscreen
• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition: Has a 15.3 in 16:10 IPS, 2.8K 120Hz touch screen

Star of the show

Arrow Lake, the Core Ultra 200H Series mobile processor, was announced at CES 2025. This SoC is a monster and sports an integrated Intel graphics card. It also has an NPU and can push up to 99 TOPS. 

This means you can do everything Lunar Lake does, including office-style productivity, Outlook, PowerPoint, web browsing, and general life management. It has AI capabilities for productivity apps like Microsoft Word and Outlook, making lists, translating, etc. With an integrated Intel graphics card, you can play various titles like Marvel Rivals, F1 2024 and more. You can expect to play these games with a high frame rate in 1080p and run at a low CPU package power, and you shouldn’t run into any issues. These laptops lack a discrete GPU, so they might be considered entry-level systems in these areas. However, despite an entry-level system, you still should have a good time gaming. However, if you want to turn on the highest possible image quality settings and turn on features like ray tracing, you’ll experience a drop in frame rate. 

Hallock says these laptops are “ultra-portable, thin, a couple pounds, fit in a bag. However, we find that OEMs typically call it a creator book. These customers aren’t just doing web browsing; they’re doing video encoding, 3D rendering, architecture, and gaming. They needed something a little more powerful than Lunar Lake because Lunar Lake just doesn’t have enough CPU cores for those customers. This market is much more performance aware and is willing to give up a bit of battery life in exchange for a lot more raw CPU performance.”

Of course, it needs a processor that can push out AI features because the second biggest market for AI is content creation software, such as Adobe, Blackmagic Design, and Canvid.

“If I were to go out and buy a laptop today, H would be my choice,” says Hallock. 

Hardcore CPU  

Last but certainly not least is the Intel Core Ultra 200HX series, which lacks the Intel Core H’s NPU and GPU power but replaces it with raw CPU power. The Intel Core Ultra 200HX lacks a big GPU, as users in this market will likely have a dedicated GPU besides the Core Ultra 200HX. 

Hallock says only gamers and those creating serious content, such as advanced 3D rendering, will purchase an Intel Core Ultra 200HX. I was confused during our interview because I thought the Intel Core Ultra H was for gamers, so Hallock explained further. 

“So gaming is also a very diverse market now. Early on, when we started the HX segment, there was kind of no in-between option. You either had productivity solutions like Lunar Lake or products that came before it, and you had these new HX cards, but there was this giant gap in the middle of the market, both on price and performance, where people were like, ‘hey, I don’t really need all that HX can give me, can you give me something smaller with better battery life, can you give me something that’s good enough for gaming performance,’ and that became the H segment. So what ends up happening is you’re just stair-stepping gaming performance.“

An HX system is also bigger, about five to seven pounds and can replace your desktop. It can also run the best GPUs, which the Intel Core Ultra H series can’t always use. 

“If you’re a customer who’d go out and buy a very high-end desktop gaming PC, but you’re at a point in your life where that kind of system doesn’t fit in your home anymore, or you have to take it out because you got kids, and now there’s a baby room instead. Those kinds of customers often go to an HX system instead because it’s nearly the same performance as a high-end desktop but fills very little space. So we tend to see reactive professionals buying those HX systems or gamers who have frankly aged out of buying a desktop.”  

Many users would benefit from a Lunar Lake laptop, but can purchase a 200H system if they need more power. Customers can turn to an HX if they need pure raw CPU power, but expect a much bigger laptop and price tag. 

The Intel Core 200H will be available in February, and the Intel Core Ultra HX series will be available in the first half of 2025. You can already buy Intel Lunar Lake systems.