Processors/Comparison
15 specifications
Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
On the specifications we can verify, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus are closely matched. Which one is faster on your desk depends on cooling and sustained behaviour rather than on anything printed here.
Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX
Intel · Core Ultra 200HX (Arrow Lake) · Laptop
Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
Intel · Core Ultra 200HX (Arrow Lake) · Laptop
Cores and clocks
Cache and power
Platform
A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.
Reading the table
What the difference means.
The same generation
Both are Core Ultra 200HX (Arrow Lake) parts, so their figures can be read against each other directly: the same kind of core, the same memory support, the same platform. The differences in the table are the whole difference.
Power and cooling
Both are rated at 55 W, so they ask the same of a cooler and a power supply. The rating is the heat to be moved for the chip to hold its speed; both draw above it in short bursts, and either one slows down rather than fails when the cooling falls short.
Platform
Laptop processors are soldered to the board, so this is a choice between machines, not between chips you can swap. What differs between two laptops with these parts is mostly the power limit and the cooling the maker gave each one.
What no table says
How much of its speed a processor keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.
Questions
- Is the Core Ultra 9 285HX better than the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus?
- On the specifications they are closely matched. No specification says how much speed either one keeps under a long load; that depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in, and it is what a sustained test measures.
- Do the Core Ultra 9 285HX and the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus use the same socket?
- Laptop processors are soldered in place, so neither can be swapped for the other.
- Does the Core Ultra 9 285HX or the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus have integrated graphics?
- Both do: Intel Graphics on the Core Ultra 9 285HX and Intel Graphics on the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus.
More comparisons
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs Intel Core i9-13900HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs Intel Core i9-14900HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX vs Intel Core i7-14700HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Intel Core i9-13900HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Intel Core i9-14900HX
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
- Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Intel Core i7-14700HX
Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.
Nothing above describes how a processor behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.
We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.