Intel Core i9-9900K vs Intel Core i9-9880H – desktop vs laptop processor

There are no many people capable or willing of buying a laptop with one of these. However, they are the latest and greatest in laptop computing. In fact, one of them – the Core i9-9900K is not actually a laptop processor. We consider it as such, just because a certain manufacturer thought “Hey, why don’t we put a desktop CPU in a laptop”. Yep, Alienware is poised to change the laptop industry, but before they do so, let’s see if it’s even worth to go for a full-blown desktop CPU rather than the far more practical laptop Core i9-9880H.

Visit our Top Laptop CPU Ranking to check these two and many more CPUs.

Specs overview

Since the Core i9-9900K is a desktop CPU it uses the monstrous 95W of power, whereas the Core i9-9880H is rated at the modest 45W. Despite the huge difference in the power, they both are built on a 14nm manufacturing process and have eight cores and sixteen threads, which will torture anything that is trying to cool them. There is a significant difference in the clock speeds, however – the Core i9-9900K has a Base frequency of 3.60 GHz, while the Core i9-9880H has 2.30 GHz one. The margin is significantly lower when the maximum Turbo speeds are considered – 5.00 GHz vs 4.80 GHz in favor of the Core i9-9900K.

Otherwise, both CPUs are very similar to one another – they both have 16MB of cache and support up to 128GB of DDR4 memory at 2666 MHz. Additionally, they are using the Intel UHD Graphics 620. On the other side, the Core i9-9900K fits in FCLGA1511 socket and has package size of 37.5 x 37.5mm, where the Core i9-9880H is soldered to its FCBGA1440 and has a longer but narrower footprint – 42 x 28 mm.

You can check out the full specs of the Intel Core i9-9900K and the Intel Core i9-9880H.

Benchmarks

Synthetic benchmarks show an 18.8% advantage to the desktop CPU.

Results are from the Cinebench 20 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)


Conclusion

Well, the benchmark results are clear – the Intel Core i9-9880H sits quite behind its desktop brother – the Core i9-9900K. Despite that, however, the laptop CPU has its dignity and is a far better option if you are sticking it, well… inside of a laptop. It is going to be a lot easier to cool (while not easy by any means) and is going to provide some battery life. However, if you are getting the device for a CPU intensive work and you are not really planning to go on cafes with your laptop, the Core i9-9900K equipped laptops are for you.

All laptops equipped with the Intel Core i9-9900K

All laptops equipped with the Intel Core i9-9880H

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