Intel Core i7-8650U 8th Gen Higher-End Quad-Core CPU for Business Laptops

The 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8650U laptop processor is very similar to its more popular i7-8550U sibling. Both are among the fastest laptop processors on the market. The main difference between these powerful quad-core chips is that the i7-8650U is slightly faster thanks to higher clock speeds of 1.9 GHz – 4.2 GHz as opposed to 1.8 GHz – 4 GHz. Also, the 8650U has Intel vPro built-in. vPro technology makes managing of PC systems in business environments easier and also provides enhanced security. It can be claimed that the i7-8650U is a business-class version of the i7-8550U, which is widely used in consumer laptops.

Intel Core i7-8650U CPU Benchmark

Intel Core i7-8650U 8th Gen Benchmark

User Benchmark CPU tests confirm the Intel Core i7-8650U is among the fastest laptop CPUs, while maintaining relatively low power consumption of 15 Watts. For comparison, its result is very similar to result of the 35-Watt 7th Gen i7-7700HQ you can find in powerful, pricey, and hot-running gaming laptops. What’s also very noticeable is a huge lead of the i7-8650U over its 7th Gen i7-7560U 15-Watt dual-core precursor.

The Core i7-8650U features the Intel UHD 620 (review). It’s a basic integrated graphics solution.

Note: The benchmark scores of the listed processors are averages measured across various devices with these processors. The scores and real-world performance of the Intel Core i7-8650U and compared CPUs may vary depending on the notebooks' other components, settings, cooling, and other factors. However, the benchmark results are good indicators of the processors' performance.

Specifications of the Intel Core i7-8650U

Here are the most important specs of the Intel Core i7-8650U:

Processor Name

Intel Core i7-8650U

CPU Family

8th Generation Intel Core "Kaby Lake R"

Number of Cores

Quad-core / 2 computing threads per core

CPU Clock Speed

1.9 GHz – 4.2 GHz

Cache Size

8MB

Memory Support

DDR3 (2133 MHz max. speed)
DDR4 (2400 MHz max. speed)

Integrated Graphics

Intel UHD 620

Power Consumption

15W

Production Technology

14-nanometer

Typical Use

Business laptops & 2-in-1 PCs

Notable Technologies

Intel HyperThreading (enables two computing threads per physical processor core)
Intel QuickSync Video (speeds up conversion of video files)
Intel TurboBoost (dynamically boosts performance of cores, depending on power and thermal headroom)
Intel vPro
VT-d virtualization
VT-x virtualization

User Benchmark Average CPU Score

69.1

Year of Release

2017

Published on April 23, 2018

User Reviews and Q&A on the Intel Core i7-8650U

Below you can read and submit user reviews, questions, and answers about the processor. Thank you for your contribution.

  1. Question

    Jason

    Hi, trying to decide on a laptop to buy: my two options are a 2019 Lenovo thinkpad with this processor and 24g of DDR4 ram, or a brand new Acer swift 3 with an 11th gen intel i5 1145G7 and 12g of DDR4 ram. Planning on doing writing, video editing, coding, and a bit of light gaming like Skyrim, Minecraft and Overwatch. And maybe apex legends.
    According to this website, The CPU score difference is only like seven points, and the price points are only about $100 apart.
    Any help is appreciated!

    • Dan

      The i5-1145G7 isn’t much faster in light tasks like text editing and web browsing, but the difference can be more noticeable in heavier tasks like exporting video files from video editing software. Also, the i5-1145G7 has a noticeably better graphics processor, which will enable smoother gaming than with the i7-8650U. The RAM size of 24GB of the first variant doesn’t bring any major benefits in most tasks in comparison to 12GB, which is also great.

  2. Doris Coffey

    I was reading a comment by a user who said the processor is hard-wired to the UHD620 integrated graphics on this processor and he could not run some games well because of this and got stuttering and could not change the option to the NVIDIA graphics card in the Surface Book 2 he had purchased. Any comments appreciated.

    • John

      Windows 10 has a way to force a specific gpu to be used for individual games: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/103965-set-preferred-gpu-apps-windows-10-a.html

    • Charles

      As any high-end processor, you’ll have the integrated GPU for 2D use, but the processor itself works very well with the dedicated GPU it has to work with. For some games you need to force the usage to the GPU instead of the CPU but it’s easy to do with nVidia systems.
      On this CPU, all four cores can be overclocked as long as the temperature is not too high, by the way!

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