Page 66 - PCWorld (September 2019)
P. 66
REVIEWS
Intel’s Gen 11 graphics has
improved so much, we may have
to stop making jokes about it
After so many years of meh. BY GORDON MAH UNG
t looks like we’ll have to stop joking chips, such as Cherry Trail’s HD and Core M
about Intel’s integrated graphics. With variants, because we can stoop only so far.
the arrival of the 10th-gen Ice Lake CPU, The results aren’t exactly apples to apples,
I we’re finally seeing impressive graphics because graphics performance has varied
performance. Sure, we called out just how with drivers, BIOS, and OS evolutions, as well
much faster it is in our performance preview as each device’s cooling ability. On the other
(go.pcworld.com/pfpr), but to appreciate hand, those updates never improved Intel’s
how much of a jump 10th-gen Ice Lake brings, integrated graphics much anyway.
you have to take a few steps back. As you can see in the chart, it’s been mostly
We went to our database of reviewed laptops one horrible slog in graphics performance from
and cobbled together 3DMark Sky Diver scores 2013 until 2019, with barely an upward blip. If
from various laptop generations. The chart you subtracted Iris graphics from this, it’d be so
includes 2013’s 4th-gen Haswell U and its flat you could practically use it as a floor level.
HD4400 graphics, as well as 2015’s 5th-gen If you’re wondering about the graphics
Broadwell U’s HD 5200. We also included the load, 3DMark Sky Diver is a DirectX 11 test
lone and fairly rare Iris 540, used in 2015’s designed for “mid-range” gaming PCs and
6th-gen Skylake U. We didn’t include low-power laptops. 3DMark’s advice is to stick to this test
66 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2019 IMAGE: INTEL
