Core i7-5600U: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core i7-5600U is a 2015 Broadwell dual-core that carried the premium business ultrabooks of the mid-2010s, and 12 matched models in the catalog still feature it. As a processor it meets the recommended CPU tier in just 1 of the 69 games the site tracks. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs in 2026, what it brings, and which laptops run it.

Where the Core i7-5600U sits in 2026

A catalog score of 29.4 places it 385th of 741 scored laptop CPUs — the budget tier of the table. The neighborhood: the Core i7-3610QM (29.5) and Core i5-4288U (29.5) just above, the Core i5-6360U (29.4) alongside, and the Core i5-5350U (29.2) and Pentium Gold G6405 (29) just below. An i7 badge from 2015 ranking beside i5s and Pentiums of neighboring eras is the plain truth of it — dual-core ultrabook silicon could only carry the badge so far.

What the chip brings

Broadwell-U here is a 2-core, 4-thread design on the 14 nm process, rated at 15 W: a 2.6 GHz base clock with Turbo Boost to 3.2 GHz. Graphics come from the integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000, one of the better integrated solutions of its year — which still means basic by modern standards. Public benchmark data shows a Geekbench single-core score of 927 with 1,767 multi-core and a PassMark overall score of 2,992.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip clears the recommended CPU tier for 1 of 69 cataloged games — Civilization 6 is the only recommended-tier match. A modest band sits at the minimum tier: Minecraft, Valorant, Dota 2, League of Legends, Sims 4, Diablo 4, Doom Eternal, God of War and GTA V among them. Heavier titles — The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, PUBG, Control — all fall below minimum. These verdicts are CPU-only: actual playability depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM, and this roster is business hardware with entry-level graphics at best.

Laptops that carry it

The 12-model roster is entirely 2015 corporate hardware: Dell Latitudes in the E5450, E5550 and E7450, HP's EliteBook 840 G2, 850 G2 and Folio 1040 G2 plus ProBook 820 G2 and the workstation-badged ZBook 14 G2, and Lenovo's ThinkPad T450s, T550, X250 and X1 Carbon third generation. Prices run from $120 for the Latitude E7450 to $245 for the E5550. Laptops built around it typically show a median portability index of 62, office comfort score of 50 and energy efficiency of 56.6 — light, quiet machines for their day, modest performers now.

Bottom line

The i7-5600U is a chip for the $120–$245 used-business-laptop buyer who values a quality chassis — X1 Carbon, EliteBook, T450s — over any pretense of performance. Office work and browsing are its ceiling; the 1-of-69 recommended-tier game score closes the gaming question. Its i7 badge promised more than two cores could deliver even in 2015, and in 2026 the honest pitch is a well-built, very affordable typing machine and nothing more.