Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Review: Lunar Lake Tested In Dell’s XPS 13

Let's get to some benchmarks. We'll start off the barrage with ATTO. The ATTO disk benchmark is a quick and dirty test, which measures read/write bandwidth and IOPS across a range of different data transfer sizes. While we don't typically compare these results across multiple machines, but it's useful to gauge whether a particular notebook's storage subsystem is up to snuff.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

In this case, Dell's choice of NVMe SSD isn't the most performant option on the market for M.2 drives, especially conisdering Intel's Core Ultra 200V platform supports up to PCIe 5 SSDs. That said, topping out at 4.7GB/sec and 3.7GB/sec reads and writes, respectively, for a thin and light machine, is a reasonable showing of storage subsystem performance that shouldn't hamper overall throughput of the platform. 

Speedometer 3.0 Browser Benchmark

We use BrowserBench.org's Speedometer test to take a holistic look at web application performance. This test automatically loads and runs a variety of sample web apps using the most popular web development frameworks around, including React, Angular, Ember.js, and even simple JavaScript. This test is an example of how systems cope with real-world, modern web apps. All tests were performed using the latest version of Chrome.


In this early light-duty web app test that's a fairly reliable measure of system responsiveness, we see Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V onboard Dell's XPS 13 just edge-out the Snapdragon X Elite 78-100-powered HP EliteBook Ultra G1q, though it falls short of Dell's XPS 14 with a previous gen Core Ultra 7 155H CPU and the higher performance Snapdragon X Elite-powered Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge. However, nothing catches the MacBook's (also running Chrome) here.

MAXON Cinebench 2024 3D Rendering Benchmark

Next up is the latest-generation 3D rendering benchmark from Maxon, based on the Cinema 4D rendering engine. It's a purely CPU-based test that doesn't make use of the graphics processor or NPU, and it scales very well with additional CPU cores. We ran both single- and multi-threaded tests on all of the machines in the charts.


We've sorted this graph by the Multi-Thread results, only because the bars are longer and it's less confusing. Here, Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V, in either Ultra Performance or Optimized mode on the Dell XPS 13, leads all but the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 in the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge in Single-Thread throughput. However, due primarily to its 4 fewer cores and lack of HT, the 8-core Core Ultra 7 258V drops into the lowest quadrant with AMD's previous gen Ryzen 7840U, which is also an 8-core chip. We can't help but wonder what a Core Ultra 7 268V or Core Ultra 9 288V might offer up here, in terms of multithreaded perf, with higher boost and base clocks, but apparently we'll have to wait a few more weeks for that. 

Geekbench 6 CPU Performance Benchmark

Geekbench is a cross-platform benchmark that simulates real-world workloads in a wide variety of tasks, including encryption, image processing, physical simulation, machine learning, and many more. We tested the systems featured here with the latest Geekbench 6 version to get an idea of their overall system performance.


Geekbench offers a similar profile of performance, with a top three showing for Lunar Lake in single threaded performance, but a notch behind previous generation Core Ultra performance in the benchmark's multi-threaded workloads. On the flip side, we're less interested in synthetic benchmark results, but generally lean towards real-world performance in apps that people use every day. So, let's dig into some of those metrics, next.

UL PCMark 10 Applications Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Applications benchmark measures performance in the Microsoft Office suite, as well as in the Edge browser, offering native instruction set-compatible versions of the apps for optimal performance across a wide variety of workloads in tools office workers, students and home users utilize every day. The following results should show a view of performance with a best foot forward from all systems tested.


In the PCMark Applications test, the Core Ultra 258V platform onboard Dell's XPS 13 vaults to the top quadrant of results where the pack of test machines is tightly grouped. It even bests Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 chip, though it can't quite catch Intel's previous gen Core Ultra 7 165H on board MSI's larger Prestige 16 laptop, with higher TDP. That said, the Prestige 16 is a large 16-inch machine with a bit more thermal headroom to stretch its legs as well.  

UL Procyon AI Computer Vision Benchmark

The idea of "edge AI", or running AI workloads natively on your local devices, instead of in the cloud, is only just emerging on mainstream PCs. As such, benchmarks for these workloads aren't exactly prolific. Fortunately, UL has already built a few into its Procyon benchmark suite. The following is a look at how a few machines do in this benchmark suite's AI Computer Vision benchmark, which exercises the test subject's ability to handle machine vision workloads, which you'll find in everyday tasks like webcam background blur, subject tracking, eye gaze correction and other effects, for example. 


We've listed results here according to the processing engine that offers up the best score from any machine tested. In some cases, that result was driven by the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or the CPU. Generally speaking, the newest crop of machines with the most powerful NPUs deliver the top results in this test, when the NPU is supported. However, AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX series currently can't run the benchmark on its NPU, due primarily to its current lack of software support for Windows ML or a native framework, like Intel's OpenVino or Qualcomm's SNPE SDK.

Regardless, Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V once against pulls rank with the top results in this test, this time powered by its 47 TOPS rated NPU. It actually bests the lower-end Snapdragon X Elite-powered machines here, but can't quite catch the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge, powered the higher-end Snapdragon X Elite 84-100 SoC. Finally, the top result is listed here just for reference, with a nod to NVIDIA, where the discrete GeForce RTX 4070 mobile GPU on board the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 delivers break-out performance with its TensorRT framework. That said, the power draw that comes with this result is in a different class, versus the other thin and light machines with integrated NPUs and GPUs. 


Here's a quick-take look at the performance delivered across all the available processing engines onboard Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V processors. As you can see, the NPU offers the most throughput of all the engines, and Intel's excellent OpenVino framework delivers the best results, regardless of what engine you run this AI workload on Intel's new laptop platform.  

UL 3DMark Gaming Benchmarks

3DMark has a wide variety of graphics and gaming related tests available. In this next test, we chose to run 3DMark Night Raid, a modern DirectX 12 test specifically for mobile platforms with integrated graphics, as well as the more-demanding, cross-platform Wild Life Extreme benchmark which utilizes more modern rendering APIs.


In Night Raid, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machines listed here can't run the test natively, but instead rely on emulation. As such, graphics performance isn't optimal for this platform. However, we're now seeing a real strong suit emerging for Intel's Core Ultra 200V Series, and that's its Arc 140V Battlemage graphics engine that chalks up class-leading performance here. As we'll show later in this review, we should also note that when the new Dell XPS 13 (9350) is set to Ultra Performance mode, the machine's cooling solution remains relatively quiet and cool to the touch as well. 


The more demanding and cross-platform 3DMark Wild Life test shows a clear advantage for the Dell XPS 13 with its Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake processor. Only the MacBook Pro 14 outpaces the pack, due to the M2 Pro's larger GPU and high memory bandwidth. Regardless, amongst Windows machines, the Dell XPS 13 with Lunar Lake edges out the competition, including AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with its Radeon 890M integrated graphics.

F1 22 Formula 1 Racing Game Benchmark

Racing simulator F1 2022 is a DirectX 12 game title that is surprisingly sensitive to certain system configurations, so we enjoy using it as a test because it can really tease out some performance characteristics. We tested the game in its High graphics preset, with upscaling disabled, and at 1080p resolution.


Here the Snapdragon X Elite machines fall to the rear of the pack, while it's a virtual dead heat between Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V onboard Dell's XPS 13 and the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with Radeon 890M graphics onboard the ASUS ZenBook. We'd really like to see how Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V scores in this test, but regardless, this is a very strong showing for Intel's latest iGPU in a benchmark that typically favors AMD iGPUs or discrete solutions.

Gears Tactics Strategy Game Benchmark

Gears Tactics, released in 2020, still makes an excellent benchmark for integrated graphics. It's a tightly-optimized Unreal Engine title with a highly-configurable built-in benchmark that provides a wealth of performance data after each run. We tested it on High, Medium, and Low presets at 1920×1080 resolution.

The gaming-optimized ASUS ROG Ally X puts up a strong showing here, but Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V and the Dell XPS 13 once again are right in the mix, edging out all competitors. In fact, Lunar Lake has a substantial lead at the Medium quality preset and even AMD's Ryze AI 9 370 HX fails to catch Intel's Arc 140V graphics engine. Finally, the Snapdragon-powered machines have to run this test under Prism emulation and that cuts their performance significantly. There's just no substitute for native apps, and with Intel platforms, as well as AMD, you don't have to worry about this issue.

With all of those performance metrics out of the way, let's move on and test battery life, thermals, and acoustics of the new Dell XPS 13 (9350) with Lunar Lake.