Benchmarks: CPU
Both the Lenovo ThinkPad T490s and T495s are outfitted with a quad-core, octo-thread processor, yet there's a noticeable difference between the two configurations.
The T490s, with the Intel Core i7-8565U, dominates the PiFast chart courtesy of a 4.6GHz boost frequency, and feels particularly fast and responsive during everyday use. Mundane tasks such as Windows Updates are carried out quicker on the Intel machine, however the tables are turned during demanding workloads.
Stressing all the cores with Cinebench or HandBrake revealed that the Intel configuration would be hasty to throttle frequency, favouring low fan noise at the expense of performance. The T495s, with an AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U, would maintain higher speeds for longer.
It is eye-opening to see how different two mobile quad-core processors can be depending on implementation. The Intel is almost 40 per cent quicker in single-thread, or light-load workloads, while the AMD solution is over 20 per cent faster in multi-threaded Cinebench. Which you favour will depend heavily on the sort of work you'll be doing on a laptop.
