{"id":1277,"date":"2016-09-20T18:43:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T18:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2020-04-07T19:31:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T19:31:45","slug":"desktop-vs-mobile-processors-whats-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/desktop-vs-mobile-processors-whats-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Desktop vs Mobile Processors \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like most compute tech, processors come in essentially two classes \u2013 mobile and desktop. Mobile processors, whether they be for laptops, smartphones, or IOT devices, are generally designed for efficiency first and performance second. Desktop processors being less limited by thermals and not at all by potential battery life, are by far the performance champs and will on average have more cache, higher stock and Turbo speeds, and higher TDP (Thermal Design Power).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>So is a mobile i7 not the same as a desktop i7?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>No, not really. Even though both desktop and mobile processors can share the same i7 (and i5 or i3 for that matter) name, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re equal for the reasons I describe above. For example, a desktop Intel Core i7-6700 runs 4 cores at 3.4\/4.0 GHz with 8MB cache for a Passmark score of 9,973. Its mobile counterpart, the Intel Core i7-6700HQ, comes in at 2.6\/3.5GHz with 6MB of cache for a Passmark score of 8,001, or almost 20% less.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What do those Intel Processor model number suffixes mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Intel uses a letter at the end of many desktop model numbers as a way of classifying different processor product lines (i.e. i7-6700<strong>HQ<\/strong>, i7-6820<strong>k<\/strong>, etc). Here\u2019s a quick breakdown of the most common and what each means.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1281\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1281\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/MX70_NEW-Flat_web-Res-300x197.png\" alt=\"Raptor MX70\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/MX70_NEW-Flat_web-Res-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/MX70_NEW-Flat_web-Res-768x505.png 768w, https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/MX70_NEW-Flat_web-Res.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our MX70 uses the mobile i7-6700HQ processor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Mobile Processors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>U<\/strong> \u2013 meaning \u201cultra-low power,\u201d these processors are typically found in Ultrabooks and similar style laptops where battery life trumps performance. TDP is usually around 15W but speed suffers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>HQ<\/strong> \u2013 designated for \u201cHigh performance graphics, quad core,\u201d HQ processors are found in many <a href=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/gaming-laptops.php\">gaming laptops<\/a> like our Raptor MX70. TDP is around 45W but performance is much better.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>HK<\/strong> \u2013 meaning \u201cHigh performance graphics, Unlocked,\u201d these processors are similar to the HQ class but can also be overclocked like many desktop processors. Due to the cooling limitations of mobile platforms, it\u2019s not something we recommend though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Desktop\u00a0Processors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>K<\/strong> \u2013a desktop processor that\u2019s unlocked and can be overclocked by either the OEM or end user. This post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/intel-processors-locked-vs-unlocked-processor\/\">locked vs unlocked<\/a> goes into more details.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>T<\/strong> \u2013 Intel describes this product as designed for the \u201cpower optimized lifestyle. \u2018T\u2019 class processors are similar in terms of specs to the HQ line but are typically found in All-in-One PCs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>None<\/strong> \u2013 Processors with no alpha suffix are desktop processors with no specific designation. But they\u2019re important too!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1246\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1246\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1246\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Signature15_MAIN_Windows-300x211.png\" alt=\"Our Signature 15 is powered by a desktop i7 processor\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Signature15_MAIN_Windows-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Signature15_MAIN_Windows-768x541.png 768w, https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Signature15_MAIN_Windows.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1246\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our Signature 15 is powered by a desktop i7 processor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>So does a laptop with a desktop processor mean better performance? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In short, yes. Because desktop processors have higher clock speeds and less power restrictions than their mobile brethren, you\u2019ll get much better performance, especially with higher demand applications like photo manipulation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/digital-design-workstation.php\">3D design<\/a>, and video editing. The downside is that desktop processors do run warmer and because of the higher power draw, are not conducive to long battery life, so it is a bit of a trade off. Make sure you choose appropriately for your specific use-case and applications.<\/p>\n<p>So there you have it, the differences between\u00a0desktop vs mobile processors. What did we miss?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like most compute tech, processors come in essentially two classes \u2013 mobile and desktop. Mobile processors, whether they be for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Desktop vs Mobile Processors \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Desktop vs Mobile processors: Mobile processors are designed for efficiency first and performance second. 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