Since Pat Gelsinger took over as Intel CEO in early 2021, he has introduced a new project called IDM 2.0 (Integrated Device Manufacturing) and 5N4Y (five new semiconductor chip manufacturing processes in four years) to revive their semiconductor chip manufacturing division, which has been stuck producing chips using 14nm and 10nm processes for so long, when companies like TSMC and Samsung have already moved towards 5nm, producing much more powerful and efficient processing chips.
He has now been replaced by Lip-Bu Tan, but the IDM 2.0 project is still ongoing, and now, with the introduction of their 18A (1.8nm) chip manufacturing process, Intel has finally started producing their own modern processing chips after two generations of relying on TSMC's production capacity. Starting with the Intel Panther Lake chip, or Intel Core Ultra 300, Intel seems to have started to get back on track as a global semiconductor chip giant that not only designs its own semiconductor chips, but is also able to produce them without the need for outside help.
5N4Y Finally Pays Off
Before moving on to the review of this laptop and processor chip, I want to talk a little about Intel's efforts to return as one of the largest semiconductor chip manufacturers in the world. Intel is one of a small group of semiconductor chip manufacturers that come with the ability to not only design their own chips, but also to produce their own supplies.
When Pat Gelsinger took over the leadership of Intel in 2021, he introduced the 5N4Y plan or the introduction of five new semiconductor chip production nodes within four years.
At that time, Intel was still using 14nm and 10nm production nodes to produce their processor chips when companies like TSMC and Samsung were already using 5nm and 4nm technology processes for the production of semiconductor chips at that time.
This caused Intel to no longer be a leading semiconductor chip manufacturer, and to fall behind these companies. With the 5N4Y plan, they have accelerated the development of semiconductor chip manufacturing technology, and starting this year, Intel Panther Lake has been produced in-house again using their latest 18A (1.8nm) process.
Previously, Intel's Alder Lake desktop processor chips, Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake laptop processor chips were designed by Intel, but used TSMC for their production because at that time, Intel, which was just using the Intel 4 (4nm) process, was not yet able to compete with TSMC for semiconductor chip production with modern processes.
What's Up with Intel Core Ultra 300
The Intel Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" processor chip series is the successor to the Intel Core Ultra 200 "Lunar Lake" processor chip series introduced in 2024 for thin and light laptops that still come with Intel Arc graphics processing power, which is seen as quite powerful.
With the Intel Core Ultra 300, Intel has made a big change, moving the memory component out of the SoC, giving laptop builders the freedom to configure their own memory configurations. However, for this series of chips, they are still required to use high-speed memory, including LPDDR5X-9600 for the Core Ultra X9 and Core Ultra X7 CPUs and LPDDR5X-6000 for the others.
The naming of this series of processors has also been changed, with two different names. For example, the Intel Core Ultra X9 and Intel Core Ultra 9 models. The “X” label indicates that the processor model comes with an updated Xe3 “Battlemage” graphics processor. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and Intel Core Ultra X7 358H models in particular come with the Intel Arc B390 graphics processor built in, which is a significant upgrade over the Intel Arc 140V graphics processor introduced with Intel Lunar Lake.
Intel says that the most significant change to the Panther Lake processor is their new Low Power E-core, now manufactured using the 18A process. The Darkmont core is said to not only offer better single-core processing capabilities than the Skymont cores used previously, but also be more power efficient.
In short, with the new Intel Core Ultra 300 “Panther Lake” processor series, Intel seems to have finally found a combination of performance and energy efficiency that has been difficult to achieve until now.
Specifications and Design
Model Name MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+
Display Size 14″, 2K (1920 x 1200) OLED 16:10, 120Hz, Touch Support
Processor Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, 4.8GHz (Boost)
(16 cores, 16 threads)
Intel AI Boost 50 AI TOPS
Graphics Chip Intel Arc Graphics B390 (2.5GHz)
RAM 32GB LPDDR5X
Internal Capacity 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
Full HD Camera
I/O Ports 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
2x USB 4.0 Thunderbolt 4 Type-C DP/PD
1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS
Operating System Windows 11 Home
Security Face Scan with Windows Hello, fingerprint scanner
Battery 81WHr
Charger 65W
Price Will announced
Intel sent us an MSI Prestige 14 AI+ laptop for us to test out the latest laptop processor. It houses an Intel Core Ultra X7 258H processor, which comes with 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
With Panther Lake, you'll notice that there are two series of processors with different names, one is the regular Intel Core Ultra, and the other is the Intel Core Ultra X. The "X" designation is important because this series of processors, which consists of the Intel Core Ultra X9 288H, Intel Core Ultra X7 258H and Intel Core Ultra X5 338H, comes with the latest Intel Xe3 "Battlemage" graphics processor. This is the Intel Arc B390 (for the Intel Core Ultra X9 and Ultra X7 models) and the Intel Arc B370 (Intel Core Ultra X5) which comes with better graphics processing capabilities.
One major difference that is also shown in the Panther Lake processor this time is that it does not have a memory component built into the chip. For this series of chips, the memory components are soldered to the motherboard, but the high memory offering is still maintained. This Intel Core Ultra X7 258H processor chip in particular comes with a 32GB memory offering with a speed of 9600MT/s, and this allows it to be a fairly powerful laptop chip.
But what is more important for users is that it comes with great performance for a thin and light laptop.
User Experience
In the 2-3 weeks I used the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ laptop, there were many things that I really liked about it, but there were also some issues that were also quite troubling.
In terms of productivity capabilities, this laptop did not disappoint at all. For daily tasks, it is more than powerful and is capable of opening more than 20 tabs in the Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome web browser at once, and is capable of editing images and simple videos even when using the computer's battery power only.
High-resolution viewing (4K) also did not show any problems such as stuck issues or video and audio out of sync regardless of the source of the video viewing. In fact, with this 14-inch OLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 1920×1200, the video content displayed is very beautiful.
The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ is a laptop whose display can be rotated 360 degrees to be used as a tablet. This function is useful for collaboration purposes or used as a screen display to watch video content or play your favorite computer games without any interruptions.
In the previous paragraph, I talked a little about the gaming capabilities of this laptop. I have played some of my favorite games recently such as Wuthering Waves and Arknights: Endfield, and in my experience playing these action games, it is quite smooth, at Full HD resolution and refresh rates higher than 60FPS.
Normally, when playing computer games on a laptop, you will need to plug in a power cable to connect the computer to a permanent power supply to get the best performance. Since the Intel Arc B390 chip is a graphics chip built into the CPU component and is also energy efficient overall, I did not see any significant degradation in quality even when playing computer games on battery power.
However, you will still want to connect your laptop to a permanent power supply because depending on the game you are playing, the battery power will only last from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the computer game you are playing. Computer games that do not require so much graphics processing power and CPU will last longer.
In terms of heat generation, this laptop stays cool under normal productivity use, but when it requires higher processing power, whether it is the CPU or GPU, the keyboard area will get warm and then very quickly.
If you are using this laptop for gaming purposes, my recommendation is to use a USB controller or use an additional keyboard and mouse because the heat generated by the CPU and GPU is very, very hot.
Battery Capability
The MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ comes with an 81WHr battery, and depending on usage patterns, I found that it can last for 16-18 hours with continuous use, and typically, for me, it usually shows 15-16 hours of battery life through a combination of office tasks and occasional video watching.
The heat issue can also be seen when you use this laptop while charging it, so if you want to avoid this heat issue, my recommendation is to charge this laptop when it is not in use, and only use it on battery power, unless you are gaming with it.
The long battery life with this Intel Core Ultra 300 chip is one of the few things I really like about it. In short, on a full charge, it comes with a battery life that is almost similar to an Apple laptop but with more extensive software and gaming capabilities and support.
Benchmarks
These are the benchmark test scores that we managed to test on the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+. We are unable to show the PCMark10 score due to issues that prevented the software from completing the test.
GeekBench
CineBench R24
3DMark FireStrike Extreme
Cover
The Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor chip, or rather the Intel Core Ultra 300 series of chips, in my opinion, is Intel's years of pursuit of semiconductor chip manufacturing process technology that has finally paid off.
If you are looking for a laptop with a thin and light design combined with great processing capabilities, the Intel Core Ultra 300 series of chips could be a good choice for you, especially if the purchase cost is not a big issue for you.
However, this is only true for the Intel Core Ultra X series of processors. When buying a new laptop, you'll want to be aware of the processor model designations so you don't end up buying a laptop with the wrong CPU model. The X9, X7, and X5 models are the only ones that come with the new Xe3 graphics processor, while the other Intel Core Ultra 300 models still use the older graphics processor.
Pros:
Strong computing and gaming performance
Thin and light design
Long battery life
Supports the latest plug and play wireless technologies
Cons:
Potentially hot when used while charging
Not all models come with the Intel Xe3 graphics chip
Processor model designations have changed again and are still confusing
