Core i5-8350U: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core i5-8350U is an eighth-generation Kaby Lake Refresh quad-core catalog-dated 2017 — a 4-core, 8-thread part in the same 15 W envelope the business ultrabook line had always used, and the engine of the classic ThinkPad T480-era refresh. The catalog matches it to 22 models, and it meets the recommended CPU requirement in just 1 of the 69 games the site tracks, though its minimum-tier coverage is far broader. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs, what it brings to a portable, and which laptops carry it.

Where the Core i5-8350U sits in 2026

A catalog score of 32.8 places the chip 370th of 672 scored laptop CPUs — mid-table in a ranking that spans two decades of silicon. The neighborhood mixes eras: the Core i5-6260U (33.3), Core i5-4308U (33.1) and Core i7-3740QM (32.8) just above, the Core i5-10310U (32.2), Core i7-4610M (32.1) and Core i5-5257U (32) just below. Level with the i7-branded Core i7-3740QM while running as a 15 W ultrabook part is the practical story: four cores brought this business chip level with performance badges that once sat well above it.

What the chip brings

Kaby Lake Refresh-U is a 4-core, 8-thread design on a 14 nm process rated at 15 W: a 1.7 GHz base clock and up to 3.6 GHz boost. Memory support runs to 32 GB of DDR4 across two channels at 37 GB/s, with Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated. Geekbench results were not captured for this chip; the public record here is a PassMark overall score of 6,095.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip meets the recommended CPU tier for exactly 1 of 69 cataloged games — Civilization 6. The minimum tier is broad, though: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dying Light 2, Dead Space Remake, Escape from Tarkov, Flight Simulator 2020, Doom Eternal, Anno 1800, Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto V and the staples — Minecraft, Dota 2, Valorant, League of Legends, Sims 4 — all list the chip above their minimum but below their recommended CPU requirement. The heavy end — Starfield, Helldivers 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, Baldur's Gate 3 — stays below the minimum bar. These verdicts are CPU-only — whether a game actually plays well depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM, and this fleet leans on the integrated UHD 620 for rendering.

Laptops that carry it

The 22-model roster is the classic 2017 through 2019 business refresh: ThinkPad T480 at $256 and T480s at $468, Latitude 7390 at $270, 7490 at $232, 5490 at $212, 5590 at $241 and 5290 at $177, EliteBook 840 G5 at $217, ProBook 850 G5 at $373 and the ZBook 14 G5 workstation at $279, with a Latitude 5424 Rugged at $604 for field work as the roster's price ceiling. Roster medians describe the fleet honestly: office comfort at 50, a performance index of 28.4, mobility 59 and portability 71.3 — proper working ultrabooks — while a gaming index of 20 and a median GPU score of 0 mark this as an integrated-graphics fleet through and through.

Bottom line

The Core i5-8350U is the sweet spot of the cheap business segment: four cores for multitasking and heavier office loads, excellent efficiency, and mainstream listings from $177 to $270 in sturdy chassis. Gaming remains out of scope beyond Civilization 6 at the recommended tier and a long minimum-tier list at reduced settings — set expectations accordingly. For a used work laptop that still feels quick, the ThinkPad T480 and Latitude 7490 class with this chip is where the value concentrates.