Acer just leaked Intel's laptop refresh plans before the blue team even officially acknowledged them. A Predator Helios 18 Neo appeared in benchmark databases running the unreleased Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor. This sighting confirms Arrow Lake-HX Refresh chips exist despite Intel ignoring them completely during their recent CES 2026 presentation. Representatives merely hinted that details regarding these missing components would arrive later.
Specs indicate this flagship mobile silicon carries twenty-four cores and threads identical to the older 285HX model. Clock speeds seemingly get a slight bump over the previous 5.5 GHz limit while base frequency hovers around 3.10 GHz. Cache configuration stays static at thirty-six megabytes L3 paired with twelve megabytes L2.
Performance scores looked abysmal because the prototype ran under one gigahertz during testing. That log entry listed an incorrect desktop socket instead of the proper mobile package. Expect these high-end laptop processors to hit markets very soon once engineers finalize the tuning.
Specs indicate this flagship mobile silicon carries twenty-four cores and threads identical to the older 285HX model. Clock speeds seemingly get a slight bump over the previous 5.5 GHz limit while base frequency hovers around 3.10 GHz. Cache configuration stays static at thirty-six megabytes L3 paired with twelve megabytes L2.
Performance scores looked abysmal because the prototype ran under one gigahertz during testing. That log entry listed an incorrect desktop socket instead of the proper mobile package. Expect these high-end laptop processors to hit markets very soon once engineers finalize the tuning.
