Following the announcement of Core Ultra 200S Plus series desktop processors, Intel has also announced the laptop equivalent with the debut of Core Ultra 200HX Plus series mobile processors, adding two new models – Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus – into the existing Arrow Lake architectural family.
Intel Core Ultra 200HX Plus Series
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus & Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus
Like their desktop counterparts, the new processors also feature the Plus-exclusive die-to-die (D2D) frequency increase by up to +900MHz, effectively cutting down memory latency that should help with gaming performance in general. Unlike the desktops however, the laptop Plus models do not get core count increases, meaning they’re the same over their non-Plus counterparts (8P+16E for 290HX Plus and 285K, 8E+12P for 270HX Plus and 265K). The Plus chips also get an almost negligible increase in E-core boost clock by another +100MHz, to 4.7GHz.
The new Intel Binary Optimization Tool also found its way into the new laptop chips, and to sum it up, it’s a software-based translation/optimization layer designed to improve code instruction efficiency, which converts into extra performance in some applications and games. The chipmaker also mentioned a new “Platform Performance Package”, although it didn’t go into detail on what’s new on the table.
Intel provided first-party benchmarks with the new Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus pitted against the Core Ultra 9 285HX, and it claims the Plus model is on average 8% faster in gaming, and similarly, productivity performance sees single-digit percentage’s worth of uplift across the board. Perhaps taking a page out of Apple’s marketing playbook, the chipmaker also compared the same chip to the flagship 4 generations prior (or 3 if you ignore the Meteor Lake which didn’t really exist for “heavyweight” gaming laptops), where the gains are naturally much more pronounced.
Intel says systems powered by Core Ultra 200HX Plus processors are expected to be available through various laptop makers starting from March 17, 2026, with additional models launching throughout the year. Here are the announced models so far:
| Brand | Models |
|---|---|
| Acer | Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 AI |
| ASUS | ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 |
| COLORFUL | COLORFUL iGame M16 Origo |
| Dell (Alienware) | Alienware 16 Area-51 Gaming Laptop Alienware 18 Area-51 Gaming Laptop Alienware 16X Aurora Gaming Laptop |
| HP (HyperX) | HyperX OMEN 15 HyperX OMEN 16 HyperX OMEN MAX 16 |
| Lenovo | Lenovo Legion 7i (16”, 10) Lenovo Legion 5i (15”, 11) Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16”, 10) Lenovo Legion Pro 5i (16”, 10) |
| MAINGEAR | MAINGEAR Ultima 18 |
| Mechrevo | Mechrevo Yaoshi 16 Ultra Mechrevo Yaoshi 18 Pro |
| MSI | MSI Raider 16 Max HX |
| Origin | Origin PC Gaming Notebook EON16X Origin PC Gaming Notebook EON18X |
| Puget | Puget Mobile C162-G |
| Razer | Razer Blade 18 |
Pokdepinion: Not too bad in terms of performance gains, despite not getting any meaningful improvement in hardware capabilities.
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