Intel Processor N250 vs Intel Processor N150 vs Intel Core 3 N355

Intel Processor N250

The Intel Processor N250 is a mobile processor of the Twin Lake family which is mostly identical to Alder Lake-N, an architecture that will turn 4 in H2 2025. The chip is meant for entry-level laptops, tablets and mini PCs with no fans; it offers 4 Efficient (Gracemont) cores that run at up to 3.8 GHz, but no Performance cores. Compared to the N350, the N250 has a half as many CPU cores, resulting in a very significant (over 30%) performance loss. The iGPU is slightly slower here, too.

Gracemont E-cores do not support Hyper-Threading. No extra threads here.

Performance

Its multi-thread performance should be a few percentage points higher than older dual-core CPUs like the Core i3-10110U. Exact figures depend on the cooling solution and TDP settings of the system. Either way, this is a pretty slow chip that is only just fast enough for basic tasks.

Graphics

The SoC comes equipped with a Xe-architecture graphics unit with 32 EUs (Execution Units) running at up to 1.25 GHz. The iGPU can drive up to 3 UHD 2160p monitors and hardware-decodes AV1 among other popular video codecs. Due to the low number of Xe cores and the single-channel RAM restriction, gaming performance is only good enough for older games and fairly low resolutions. GTA V should be playable at 720p on Medium.

Architecture and Features

The integrated memory controller supports single-channel DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800 and LPDDR5-4800 RAM. PCIe NVMe SSD speeds are capped at 3.9 GB/s, corresponding to the PCIe 3 spec. There is no Thunderbolt / USB 4 support here, however, the latest Intel CNVi Wi-Fi 7 wireless networking modules are supported.

Its L3 cache is relatively small at 6 MB, and it has no proper NPU (and thus no Copilot+ branding).

Power consumption

The N250 is supposed to consume 6 watts when under longer loads. This is the Intel-recommended PL1 for the chip. No data on PL2 has been provided but values higher than 15 W are unlikely.

The SoC is manufactured using the second-generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 meaning power efficiency isn't great here compared to the latest 3 nm silicon from the likes of Apple.

Intel Processor N150

The Intel Processor N150 is the slowest mobile processor of the Twin Lake family. Twin Lake is mostly identical to Alder Lake-N, an architecture that will turn 4 in H2 2025. The N150 is meant for entry-level laptops, tablets and mini PCs with no fans; it offers 4 Efficient (Gracemont) cores that run at up to 3.6 GHz, but no Performance cores. Compared to the N250, the N150 has a significantly slower iGPU and slightly lower CPU clock speeds.

Gracemont E-cores do not support Hyper-Threading. No extra threads here.

Performance

Its multi-thread performance should be about as good as older dual-core CPUs like the Core i3-10110U. Exact figures depend on the cooling solution and TDP settings of the system. Either way, this is a pretty slow chip that is only just fast enough for basic tasks.

Graphics

The SoC comes equipped with a Xe-architecture graphics unit with 24 EUs (Execution Units) running at up to 1.0 GHz. The iGPU can drive up to 3 UHD 2160p monitors and hardware-decodes AV1 among other popular video codecs. Due to the low number of Xe cores and the single-channel RAM restriction, gaming performance is only good enough for very old games and low resolutions such as XGA 1024 x 768.

Architecture and Features

The integrated memory controller supports single-channel DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800 and LPDDR5-4800 RAM. PCIe NVMe SSD speeds are capped at 3.9 GB/s, corresponding to the PCIe 3 spec. There is no Thunderbolt / USB 4 support here, however, the latest Intel CNVi Wi-Fi 7 wireless networking modules are supported.

Its L3 cache is relatively small at 6 MB, and it has no proper NPU (and thus no Copilot+ branding).

Power consumption

The N150 is supposed to consume 6 watts when under longer loads. This is the Intel-recommended PL1 for the chip. No data on PL2 has been provided but values higher than 15 W are unlikely.

The SoC is manufactured using the second-generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 meaning power efficiency isn't great here compared to the latest 3 nm silicon from the likes of Apple.

Intel Core 3 N355

The Intel Core 3 N355 (sometimes referred to as the Intel Processor N355) is a mobile processor of the Twin Lake family which is mostly identical to Alder Lake-N, an architecture that will turn 4 in H2 2025. The chip is meant for entry-level laptops, tablets and mini PCs; it offers 8 Efficient (Gracemont) cores that run at up to 3.9 GHz but no Performance cores.

The E-cores do not support Hyper-Threading. No extra threads here.

Performance

The performance of the Core 3 CPU depends heavily on the cooling solution and TDP settings of the system. Provided both are good enough, it will deliver multi-thread benchmark cores on par with older quad-core CPUs like the Ryzen 3 5300U and Core i7-1165G7, which should be enough to run most day-to-day tasks in 2025. Its single-core performance is much less impressive due to the lack of P-cores.

The Alder Lake-N Core i3-N305 (8 cores, up to 3.8 GHz) that was introduced in early 2023 should be just a few percentage points slower than the N355.

Graphics

The SoC comes equipped with a Xe-architecture graphics unit with 32 EUs (Execution Units) running at up to 1.35 GHz. The iGPU can drive up to 3 UHD 2160p monitors and hardware-decodes AV1 among other popular video codecs. Due to the low number of Xe cores and the single-channel RAM restriction, gaming performance is only good enough for older games and fairly low resolutions. GTA V is perfectly playable at 768p on Medium.

Architecture and Features

The integrated memory controller supports single-channel DDR4-3200, DDR5-4800 and LPDDR5-4800 RAM. PCIe NVMe SSD speeds are capped at 3.9 GB/s, corresponding to the PCIe 3 spec. There is no Thunderbolt / USB 4 support here, however, the latest Intel CNVi Wi-Fi 7 wireless networking modules are supported.

Its L3 cache is relatively small at 6 MB, and it has no proper NPU (and thus no Copilot+ branding).

Power consumption

The Intel Core 3 N355 is supposed to consume 15 watts when under longer loads. This is the Intel-recommended PL1 for the chip. While no data on PL2 has been provided, we do know that Asus has given the Core 3 a power limit of 35 watts (PL2) in the NUC 14 Essential.

The SoC is manufactured using the second-generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 meaning power efficiency isn't great here compared to the latest 3 nm silicon from the likes of Apple.