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| The HP ZBook 7 G2a 14 |
2025 gave us the epic clash of Intel Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake versus AMD Krackan Point and Strix Point. Fast forward to 2026, and the battlefield has shifted to Intel Panther Lake versus AMD Gorgon Point. On the CPU front, AMD continues to deliver impressive performance, even though Gorgon Point is largely a refresh of its predecessors, retaining the same Zen5 CPU cores.
However, there’s a glaring weak spot in AMD’s armor: integrated graphics. Intel has dramatically stepped up its iGPU game with the Panther Lake Core Ultra X7 and X9 chips, featuring the powerful ARC B390 iGPU. Meanwhile, AMD is stuck in a holding pattern, with RDNA 3+ still hanging on without a major upgrade.
For budget and entry-level laptops, this isn’t a crisis. AMD’s Radeon 860M can still hold its own against Intel’s basic Panther Lake iGPUs. And at the very top, Intel has no answer for AMD’s monstrous Strix Halo—Panther Lake can't touch that level of GPU performance. But the real trouble lies in the mid-range segment, the sweet spot once owned by Strix Point.
A perfect example of this struggle is the HP ZBook 8 G2a 14, an entry-level workstation we recently reviewed. This laptop packs the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 470, a CPU that competes admirably with Intel Panther Lake. However, it’s paired with the aging AMD Radeon 890M—an iGPU that launched back in 2024 and now shows its age. In our benchmarks, Intel’s ARC B390 absolutely demolishes it, delivering around 65% better performance. To make matters worse, you can find that ARC GPU in competing laptops, including HP’s own Intel-based ZBook 8 G2i 14.
To put it in perspective: in 3DMark testing, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9406CAA (with Arc B390) scored 100 points, while the HP ZBook 8 G2a 14 (with Radeon 890M) managed just 60.6 points—a staggering 39% deficit.
Don’t get us wrong—AMD still has powerhouse products, and Strix Halo is nothing short of amazing. But availability is extremely limited, and for the rest of the lineup, better iGPU solutions are urgently needed. Unless AMD addresses this gap soon, Intel could carve out a dominant position in the critical mid-range workstation and premium ultraportable markets.
