Intel’s Budget Wildcat Lake CPU Trades Blows With MacBook Neo in Early Benchmarks

Intel's Wildcat Lake mobile processors are due to arrive soon, targeting the more budget friendly mainstream laptop segment. Plenty of information has already leaked regarding Wildcat Lake, including this sample laptop and Geekbench results for the 5-core Intel Core 3 304 SKU. Today, additional benchmarks have come to light featuring the Intel Core 5 320. The Intel Core 5 320 will likely be a direct competitor with the MacBook Neo, boasting 6 x86 cores compared to the 6 ARM64-based cores in the Neo's Apple A18 Pro. 

New Passmark benchmarks show the Intel Core 5 320 looking competitive with the more powerful Apple A19 Pro, which will reportedly be used in an upcoming refresh of the MacBook Neo. While the Intel chip's single-thread CPU benchmark result is only 4040 versus the A19 Pro's 5177, the multi-core score is higher for the Wildcat Lake-based Intel Core 5 at 15258 compared to the A19 Pro's 14837. Since current MacBook Neo models are powered by an A18 Pro that scores lower in both single and multi-core tests, at 3562 and 8945, respectively, Intel's Wildcat Lake may be well positioned moving forward.

1st @PassMarkInc sample of Intel Core 5 320 Wildcat Lake!

Only 70mm2 approx 18A + IOD N6 (non monolithic)? without MoP? Right? 2+0+4, incredible perf.

& incredible perf. of (only) 2 Xe3 (1st 18A iGPU)

2746 vs 5133 140v (8Xe2).https://t.co/Uf8cCup6kb pic.twitter.com/0kTgXgn8v3

— X86 is dead&back (@x86deadandback) April 27, 2026

This early benchmark data bodes well for the Intel Core 5 320, especially if it makes its way into laptops more affordable than the $599 MacBook Neo or its refresh. We are also eager to see how the Intel Core 5 320's 2 Xe Arc graphics cores compete with the Apple A18 and A19 Pro's 5 GPU cores, however. Based on existing data regarding the A19 Pro's GPU performance, the upcoming Wildcat Lake laptops may be hard-pressed to compete with the MacBook Neo in many graphics workloads. Fortunately, Panther Lake is strong in that regard.

For the entry-level market targeted mostly at schools and basic computing, Wildcat Lake seems to be positioned well to combat the MacBook Neo.