Intel has faced considerable challenges recently, but a new contender has emerged. At CES 2026, the company unveiled its Panther Lake chip, designed to revitalize the laptop experience. Initial tests suggest a step forward, but the crucial question remains: how does it stack up against Apple’s silicon?
A recent evaluation involved an Asus ZenBook Duo powered by the Core Ultra X9 388H Panther Lake chip. Rigorous benchmarking revealed promising results for Windows users, but a direct comparison to Apple’s M-series chips provides a more nuanced picture. The data highlights a developing rivalry in laptop performance.
In direct comparisons, the 388H surpasses the current M4 chip found in the MacBook Air. However, it falls behind the base M5 chip in the MacBook Pro, a chip poised to soon appear in the MacBook Air as well. The difference is particularly noticeable in single-core performance, where the M5 demonstrates a clear advantage.
The 388H does showcase strength in GPU performance, exceeding the M5 in the Geekbench Compute test using OpenCL. It’s important to note that Apple favors its Metal framework for optimal performance on macOS, and scores using Metal reveal a significant lead for the M4 and M5 chips.
Power consumption presents another layer of complexity. The Intel chip is rated at 25W, while the M5 operates at 15W. Testing showed the ZenBook Duo achieving approximately 22 hours of battery life on a single screen, exceeding the MacBook Air’s 18 hours, but benefiting from a larger battery capacity. Performance on the ZenBook Duo did decrease by roughly 20 percent when running solely on battery power.
The emergence of Panther Lake is significant, but the data reinforces a key takeaway. Apple’s strategic shift to its own silicon has proven to be a decisive move, establishing a clear path forward in laptop innovation and performance.
