Two years after its debut, Intel's Meteor Lake processors are delivering just 93% of their original performance on Linux, according to recent benchmarks. This unexpected decline contrasts with improvements seen in other modern laptop chips. The assessment used the same hardware but updated software stacks to compare results.
Intel launched its Meteor Lake processors in December 2023, promising significant advancements over the previous Alder Lake generation. To evaluate Linux compatibility from the start, testers purchased an Acer Swift Go 14 laptop equipped with the Core Ultra 7 155H processor. Initial benchmarks ran on Ubuntu 23.10, featuring the Linux 6.7 kernel, Mesa 24.0-devel graphics drivers, and contemporary components.
Fast-forward to the end of 2025, and the same laptop was tested with an Ubuntu 26.04 development snapshot. This included the Linux 6.18 kernel, GCC 15.2 compiler, Mesa 25.2 graphics drivers, and other updates like Python 3.13. Over 200 benchmarks that were compatible across both setups were executed, spanning various workloads.
The results revealed a geometric mean performance of 93% compared to the launch-day figures. This regression is unusual, as Linux support for Intel and AMD laptops typically enhances over time. For context, AMD's Krackan Point saw an 8% improvement in the past six months, Lunar Lake achieved about 6% better performance this year, and Strix Point gained around 5% since its October launch. Intel's desktop Arrow Lake also showed superior performance and efficiency in 2025 benchmarks.
In addition to speed, the tests examined CPU SoC power consumption under the newer Linux releases. These findings come amid anticipation for Intel's next-generation Panther Lake laptops, set to appear at CES next week, highlighting ongoing evolution in mobile computing on open-source platforms.
