Intel CPU Generations Explained (How to Tell Which Generation Core i3/i5/i7/i9 Is)

Intel CPU Generations

Intel Core / Core Ultra Series

The “Intel Core” series (Core i3/i5/i7/i9) has been a long-running, standard CPU family since its debut in 2008. The familiar “Nth generation” naming convention became established mainly around the desktop Core i lineup.

On the other hand, from late 2023 through 2024, Intel significantly reorganized its branding—primarily for laptops—and introduced a new generation-style naming scheme: “Core Ultra (Series 1/2…).” As of 2025, the least confusing way to think about it is: desktop CPUs go up through 14th Gen (Raptor Lake Refresh), while mobile is centered around the Core Ultra generations (Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, and so on).

Major generations (desktop-focused guideline)

A newer generation doesn’t always mean a big performance jump. For example, even on the same 14nm process, some generations improved through refinements, while others focused more on power efficiency, integrated graphics, AI features, or I/O upgrades (PCIe/DDR). So it’s not accurate to simply say “older by X generations = slower.”

Also, even if a CPU is older, the performance gap between tiers within the same generation (for example, Core i7 vs. Core i3) can be large, so it’s entirely possible for “an older i7 to be faster than a newer i3.” The most reliable approach is to judge based on the use case (gaming, video editing, everyday use, multitasking), core/thread counts, and real benchmark results.

Major laptop generations

For laptop Intel CPUs, even when they’re called the same “Nth generation,” the internals (codename, power limits, integrated GPU) often differ from desktop parts, which makes direct comparisons across platforms harder when looking at “generation” alone. In particular, since late 2023, “Core i Nth Gen” and “Core Ultra (Series)” naming have begun to overlap in a major way, so in 2025 it’s less confusing to organize things using a “laptop-focused generation table.”

Also, even with the same CPU name, laptop performance can vary significantly depending on power settings (TDP/PBP equivalents) and cooling design, so it’s safer to check benchmarks and reviews using “CPU name + laptop model” before buying.

How to Compare Performance Across Different Intel CPU Generations

When CPU generations are far apart, phrases like “XX% faster than the previous generation” don’t really make it clear how big the performance difference is. After all, without owning the prior-generation CPU, it’s hard to know what that “XX%” baseline even refers to, so it’s not obvious how much faster it really is.

So how can CPUs from different generations be compared? The answer is benchmark software. Many benchmark tools aggregate user-submitted benchmark results on websites, so by comparing the CPU in a current PC with the CPU in a PC being considered, it becomes possible to roughly estimate how much performance will improve.

For CPU benchmarks, Cinebench is popular on Windows and Geekbench is popular on Mac, but Geekbench is especially convenient because it publicly lists the full dataset on its website.

Because benchmark results are available both by CPU model and by specific PC model, it’s easy to compare CPU performance across different generations.