Core i7-1255U: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core i7-1255U carried the 12th-generation Alder Lake formula into mainstream thin-and-lights — ten hybrid cores in a 15 W envelope, launched in 2022. The catalog matches it to 65 models, and it meets the recommended CPU requirement in 17 of the 69 games the site tracks. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs, what it brings to a portable, and which laptops carry it.

Where the Core i7-1255U sits in 2026

A catalog score of 46.3 places the chip 289th of 672 scored laptop CPUs — the middle of a table that spans two decades of silicon. The neighborhood is revealing: the Core i7-4900MQ (46.9), Core i5-6402P (46.7) and Core i5-1334U (46.6) just above, the Core i5-10210U (46.2), Core i5-1245U (46.2) and Core 3 100U (46) just below. Sitting a step behind a much older i7-4900MQ and level with its own i5 siblings is the honest read — in this tier the i7 badge buys a little boost clock, not a whole performance class.

What the chip brings

Alder Lake-U is a 10-core, 12-thread hybrid design on a 7 nm-class process, rated at 15 W in its U-class configuration: a 1.7 GHz base and up to 4.7 GHz boost. Memory support is broad — dual-channel DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200 or LPDDR4x-4267, up to 64 GB — and the integrated Iris Xe graphics carries 96 execution units. In public benchmarks the chip posts a PassMark overall score of 12,895.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip clears the recommended CPU tier for 17 of 69 cataloged games — mostly older or well-optimized titles such as Control, Forza Horizon 4, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Hitman 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, Batman: Arkham Knight and Civilization 6. Another 37 sit at the minimum tier: Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwarts Legacy, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Metro Exodus, Diablo 4, Flight Simulator 2020 and Alan Wake 2 all list the chip above their minimum but below their recommended CPU requirement. Fifteen games fall below even that, including Starfield, Helldivers 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Fortnite, Apex Legends and Counter-Strike 2. These verdicts are CPU-only — whether a game actually plays well depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM, and most 1255U machines rely on integrated Iris Xe graphics.

Laptops that carry it

The 65-model roster spans 2022–2024 and leans business-and-mainstream: Latitude 7430 2-in-1 at $1,007, HP Spectre x360 14 at $921, ENVY 17 (2023) at $954 and Envy 17-da0047nr at $774 on the premium side, with the ASUS Vivobook 14, 15 and 16 ($553–$650) and Acer Aspire 5 (A517-58) at $553 covering the budget end. Dell's Latitude 5530 at $475 and the Precision 3570 workstation at $536 anchor the corporate tier. Roster medians describe the fleet honestly: office comfort at a perfect 100, energy efficiency 86.65, mobility 65.5 and portability 52 — while a gaming index of 28 and a performance index of 49.1 confirm these are everyday machines, not gaming rigs.

Bottom line

The Core i7-1255U suits a buyer who wants a capable, modern office and study laptop at used-market prices: perfect median office comfort across the fleet, broad memory support, and a 65-model selection running from a $475 Latitude to $1,000-class convertibles. As a gaming processor it is mid-table and honest about it — 17 of 69 games at the recommended tier, with the heavier modern titles asking for more CPU than it offers. Judge any specific listing by its GPU and RAM before counting on the big-name releases.