The latest Arrow Lake refresh chip is here, but it’s not bringing the kind of leap that hardware enthusiasts might expect. The Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus maintains the same 24-core, 24-thread layout as its predecessor, the Core Ultra 9 285HX, but with a focus on clock speed optimizations rather than core count expansion.
Leaked benchmarks suggest the 290HX Plus achieves a single-core score of 3,153 and a multi-core score of 21,720 in Geekbench. Compared to the 285HX, which scores 2,965 in single-core and 20,043 in multi-core, the refresh offers around 6% more single-threaded performance and 8% more multi-threaded performance. This aligns with earlier PassMark benchmarks that showed a 15% multi-core advantage over the 285HX, though those results were compared against different systems.
While the exact boost clock remains unofficial, initial reports point to a maximum of 5.45 GHz, though some leaks suggest it may reach nearly 5.5 GHz—matching the 285HX’s peak. This indicates that Intel is fine-tuning efficiency rather than pushing raw frequency higher.
The refresh doesn’t just stop at performance tweaks. The 290HX Plus is also expected to run on a system with up to 64 GB of RAM, a notable jump from previous mobile configurations. However, the real question for buyers will be whether these incremental gains justify upgrading when the core count remains unchanged.
For now, the 290HX Plus appears to be a performance refinement rather than a generational overhaul. Whether that’s enough to sway users from holding onto their current chips—or if Intel has more surprises in store—remains to be seen.
