Panther Lake Arc B390 Adds Serious Muscle to Intel’s iGPU, Pressing RTX 4050 in Laptops
Intel's Panther Lake Arc B390 brings a substantial iGPU upgrade, delivering roughly 70% more performance than previous Arc iGPUs and in some tests can approach the RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, especially when using XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation. It scales well across a wide power range (20–45 W), making it attractive for slim laptops and handhelds, though higher‑powered Nvidia GPUs still hold the edge in raw performance. The strongest results come with soldered RAM on Core Ultra X9/X7 configurations; other Panther Lake CPUs with standard memory show weaker iGPUs. Overall, the B390 positions Intel as a strong 2026 Windows laptop competitor, particularly for thin devices, even if Apple’s M5 GPUs still lead in pure performance.
