Overview
- Intel launched two HX Plus chips—the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus—positioned for high-end gaming notebooks.
- Intel cites up to 8% faster gaming and 7% better single‑thread performance versus the 285HX, and up to 62% faster gaming versus the i9‑12900HX based on company tests.
- Coverage notes many of the largest frame‑rate uplifts in Intel’s charts were recorded with the Intel Binary Optimization Tool enabled, and broad independent verification of the gains is still pending.
- Hardware refinements include an increase of up to 900 MHz to the die‑to‑die interconnect (to about 3.0 GHz) to cut latency, while core counts and peak clocks remain largely unchanged from prior HX parts.
- Availability is staggered, with PCWorld reporting Lenovo Legion and Razer Blade 18 units shipping now, Dell’s Alienware 18 on March 31, MSI models in Q2, Asus targeting late May in the U.S., and Acer planning July releases.