Intel have done their CES 2026 presentation and if you're going to be in the market for CPU and GPU power together, they might have something for you. With the release of the Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) along with the new Arc B390 graphics at the top-end, we're looking at some pretty powerful stuff.
“With Series 3, we are laser-focused on improving power efficiency, adding more CPU performance, a bigger GPU in a class of its own, more AI compute and app compatibility you can count on with x86.” – Jim Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Client Computing Group, Intel.
They're calling the Core Ultra X9 388H the new x86 "battery life king" with claims of 27 hours Netflix streaming.
Here's the SKUs and specifications they've revealed:
Intel has additionally teased that a "handheld gaming platform" is coming built on Panther Lake, with more details to come later this year. They didn't go into any details on this at all, but while presenting the image behind noted the likes of Acer, GPD, MSI, ONEXPLAYER and more. So we're likely to see a big expansion in this area.
Will be really interesting to see if they can take a bigger slice away from AMD that currently remain top when it comes to PC gaming handhelds.
And of course lots and lots and lots of AI that we don't really care about.
They've said the first laptops with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 will get pre-orders today, January 6th. But the proper full global release starts January 27th and more to come through the year.
See more at Intel press.
But in Linux, their drivers are still very immature. They do fine on synthetic benchmarks, but in actual games they lag behind, like rear view mirror behind (right Pat?). It is clear they don't have dedicated developers for gaming, and everybody must have been allocated to the AI crazy efforts. And to make things worse, if memory is correct, they fired a couple developers from the Linux team last year.
So no, I would not get one of their new products until they get their shit together on the Linux front.
Quoting: M@GOidThe hardware have potential, and their Windows drivers are getting attention.Agreed, Intel Linux drivers are absolute trash right now, I would not even consider an Intel GPU until they get this mess sorted. Although from what I've seen, it's unlikely to improve because they are bleeding Linux devs left and right. So that's that.
But in Linux, their drivers are still very immature. They do fine on synthetic benchmarks, but in actual games they lag behind, like rear view mirror behind (right Pat?). It is clear they don't have dedicated developers for gaming, and everybody must have been allocated to the AI crazy efforts. And to make things worse, if memory is correct, they fired a couple developers from the Linux team last year.
So no, I would not get one of their new products until they get their shit together on the Linux front.
Quoting: M@GOidthey fired a couple developers from the Linux team last year.I'm not sure if "fired" is the right word, but they have definitely been bleeding talent:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Linux-News-2025
but at least the design is original
Last edited by elmapul on 6 Jan 2026 at 11:45 pm UTC






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