Pat Gelsinger, then CEO of Intel, came out swinging on June 4, 2024, at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan, with the highlight of his keynote presentation: AI PCs.
Gelsinger compared his presentation that day to the introduction of Wi-Fi 25 years ago and boldly stated, “We expect that by 2028, 80% of all PCs will be AI PCs.” And Intel is leading the way.
Just seconds later, Gelsinger dropped the curtain on a dozen impending AI PCs. Several of them were running Intel’s latest CPU, Lunar Lake, which was the star of the show that day.
Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs were the most advanced consumer AI chips yet, as well as the most recent additions to its Core Ultra lineup. Gelsinger predicted during his Computex presentation that new chips will provide up to 50% greater graphics performance and up to four times more NPU AI processing capacity. In a September 2024 presentation at IFA Berlin, Intel claimed that Lunar Lake will consume up to 50% less power.
That raised the bar for Lunar Lake laptops, especially given the success of AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series chips and the release of Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm chips this year. However, Intel rose to the challenge and delivered in one critical area. While the Lunar Lake laptops we evaluated this year had some significant problems, Intel did emerge victorious in one unexpected area.
This article is ranked third among the year’s 24 most influential moments in artificial intelligence. The Biggest AI Moments of 2024 — a Laptop Mag Special Issue contains the entire rankings as well as additional pieces like this.
Intel Dominated in Battery Life With Lunar Lake, but at What Cost?
When we first received test results for laptops powered by Intel Lunar Lake CPUs earlier this year, it was evident that they were battery-life beasts. For example, the Dell XPS 13 with Intel Core Ultra 7 258V lasted 18 hours and 34 minutes in our battery life test. That’s enough for two full work days on one charge!
Of course, if you’re doing more resource-intensive applications like gaming or Photoshop, you’ll deplete the battery considerably faster. However, that score is still impressive, particularly for commuters and students who rely on long battery life.
Our battery life test was not only dominated by the Dell XPS 13. The Asus Zenbook S14, Asus ExpertBook P5, and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition all had over 13 hours of battery life. So Intel’s boasts about Lunar Lake’s better battery life are accurate.
However, this does not mean that Lunar Lake has no downsides.
Excellent battery life typically comes at the expense of something else. A more powerful processor or a higher-quality display, for example, will consume more battery life than less powerful or pricey alternatives. With long battery life comes significant tradeoffs.
A fantastic example is, strangely, the Dell XPS 13. The non-OLED variant lasted 18 hours and 34 minutes in our battery test. The version with a premium OLED display lasted only 8 hours and 40 minutes, which is less than half as long.
We also found other trade-offs besides display quality. In our assessment of the Acer Swift 14 AI, we saw that Lunar Lake appears to lag behind in multicore performance, which can be a significant disadvantage for multitasking.
Joanna Nelius, a critic, writes, “Maybe this is the result of Intel ditching hyperthreading on its new processors — a process that improves a computer’s ability to multitask and increases its multicore performance.”
These drawbacks are frustrating, but Intel did achieve some successes with Lunar Lake. Its biggest victory will likely surprise you.
The Startling Silver Lining of Intel Lunar Lake
Lunar Lake laptops may not be perfect, but there was one unexpected, last-minute success for Intel’s latest processor series this year: the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus.
If you heard anything about the terrible initial MSI Claw earlier this year, you’re definitely scratching your head right now. I would be too.
At least until I tested the new and improved Claw at IFA Berlin in September. Even during my brief hands-on, I could see MSI listened to user feedback. The new iteration of MSI’s flagship handheld gaming PC received numerous improvements and design revisions in reaction to its predecessor’s rocky launch. One of these revisions included an Intel Lunar Lake processor.
The MSI Claw 8 AI Plus was one of the top tech upgrades of the year. While the original Claw garnered only 2.5 stars from us, the Claw 8 AI Plus received a resounding Editor’s Choice award, thanks in part to its Lunar Lake processor, which enabled top-tier performance and long battery life.
Gelsinger left Intel late this year, leaving the iconic firm in a state of flux – at least in public. However, the success of the MSI Claw AI Plus suggests that it may be moving in the right direction.
