Intel has a pair of new flagship CPUs coming to a variety of pricey gaming laptops: the Core Ultra 9 290 HX Plus and Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus. The Arrow Lake Refresh chips sport 24 cores / 24 threads and 20 cores / 20 threads, respectively. Like Intel's recently announced desktop CPUs, the new Plus models for laptops are "pushed further for enthusiasts," and also feature the Intel Binary Optimization Tool that can improve native performance "in select games."
Intel's Josh Newman states that the new chips "deliver meaningful, real‑world performance gains so users can experience smoother gameplay, faster creation workflows, and mo …