Intel’s Ultra Series 2 PC chipsets are one of the more interesting hardware releases of the year. They are found in slim and light laptops but these chipsets could clearly work wonders in a handheld gaming PC, like a Steam Deck 2.
Intel Ultra Series 2 sees Intel effectively do what Apple did in 2020 with its M-series chipsets. Or what Qualcomm did this year with the Snapdragon X Elite processors that power the CoPilot+ range of PCs.
A laptop with an Intel Ultra 7 258V can can last absolutely ages off a charge with normal work, because of a more efficient design, but is still powerful. I’ve tried it in the Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED, and was so impressed it made me question whether it actually brings the generational performance boost the lack of which Valve says is the reason the company is not making a Steam Deck 2 any time soon.
You’re unlikely to hear quite as positive a take in reviews of laptops that use these Series 2 Intel Ultra chipsets, though, as their multi-threaded CPU performance is not great. But here are three reasons Intel Ultra could be great news for handheld gaming PCs, even if they have no chance of making it into a Steam Deck 2. And after that you’ll find some gaming benchmark results from an actual Series 2 Intel Ultra PC, for an idea of real-world results:
17W is a sweet spot
One of the magic characteristics of the Steam Deck processor is it doesn’t need a great deal of power to do its best work. Its draw is limited to 15W. And this isn’t too far off the 17W standard draw of the Intel Ultra 7 258V.
I found the Asus ZenBook S 14 OLED would use up to around 20W when playing games, according to the MSI Afterburner software I used to monitor power levels.
This is a lot lower than the 28W base power of the last-generation Intel Ultra 7 155H, and in the right ballpark for handheld PC use.
Despite catching some flak for delivering disappointing multi-core CPU power, the Intel Ultra Series 2 processors are still far more punchy on compute than a Steam Deck. For example, it scored up to 10065 points in Geekbench 6, where a Deck might achieve up to 4500. There’s a big gap.
Gaming performance could destroy a Steam Deck’s
Valve has pulled off minor miracles with the Steam Deck, getting it to perform well above its pay grade in a real-world context. It’s not close to the Intel Ultra 7 258V in terms of gaming power, though.
In 3D Mark’s Time Spy test I recorded a score of 4122 points from the Ultra, where a Steam Deck will typically score around 1700 points.
In games this will often mean an ability to both jump from 720p resolution to 1080p, and a moderate jump in graphics settings. You will find more real-world gaming benchmark results from the Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED below.
There’s no compatibility headache
A lot of the fuss has been made this year about Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite PCs, which have ultra-efficient chipsets “made for AI.”
The 2nd Gen Intel Ultra crowd are a better fit for running a wide array of games, though. Qualcomm Snapdragon systems will suffer from compatibility issues, because they use an ARM-based architecture rather than x86 — which has been the standard in Windows PCs for decades.
Even that point is moot, as the Intel Ultra 7 258V laptop I tested, the Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED, dramatically outperformed the fistful of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite laptops I’ve tried for gaming anyway.
And if Valve were able to work its same magic on the underlying basic of the Intel Ultra series with a custom version, as it did in the Steam Deck, we could be looking at something very special indeed.
Here’s a look at how the Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED with Intel Ultra 7 258V compares to the Lenovo 7X Yoga Slim with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor in a handful of gaming tests. Why these games? They have built-in benchmarks, allowing for easy-to-track results across different systems.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED (1200p resolution, Medium visuals)
Average 96fps
Max 139fps
Min 69fps
Lenovo Yoga 7X Slim (1080p resolution, Medium visuals)
Average 64fps
Max 158fps
Min 30fps
Alien Isolation
Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED (1080p resolution, Max visuals)
Av 102fps
Max 133fps
Lenovo Yoga 7X Slim (1080p resolution, Max visuals)
Av 56fps
Max 97fps
Cyberpunk 2077
Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED (1080p resolution, Medium visuals)
Av 48fps
Max 64fps
Min 37fps
Lenovo Yoga 7X Slim (1080p resolution, Medium visuals)
Av 26fps
Max 36fps
Min 20fps
3DMark Time Spy
Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED
4122 points
(3910 graphics, 5960 CPU)
Lenovo Yoga 7X Slim
1849 points
(1665 graphics, 4964 CPU)
