XMG NEO 15: High-end laptop gets upgrade to Intel Core i9-12900H

The high-end gaming laptop XMG NEO 15 (E22) started pre-sales in January 2022 together with the external notebook water cooling XMG OASIS. However, the CPU was limited to an Intel Core i7-12700H. Now the manufacturer equips the notebook with an upgrade, where the Intel Core i9-12900H can optionally be chosen.

XMG NEO 15 now also with Core i9-12900H

There is now more performance for the XMG NEO 15 (E22), which can now also be configured with an Intel Core i9-12900H. In contrast to the Intel Core i7-12700H, the i9-12900H achieves a 300 MHz higher base and boost clock of 3.8 and 5.0 GHz, respectively. The PL1 and PL2 values of the Core i9 can be increased to up to 140 watts in the XMG Control Center, whereas it was still 120 watts in the Core i7.

In combination with the optionally available external laptop water cooling, XMG OASIS, the processor, which is connected to its three heat pipes via liquid metal, maintains just under 106 watts even under permanent load.

XMG lists the performance increase with concrete benchmark results, in which the i9 installed in the XMG NEO 15 is said to be clearly ahead. The new CPU achieves 20,742 points (single-core) and 7,355 points (multi-core) in Cinebench R, as well as a CPU score of 14,645 points in 3D Mark Time Spy. A plus of around 200 points in CB R20 Multi-Core or 877 points in Time Spy CPU score compared to the i7-12700H.

Graphics performance, display and fast memory

The rest of the XMG NEO 15’s features, however, do not change. Accordingly, the laptop can still be equipped with a maximum of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, as well as an RTX 3070 Ti or RTX 3060 with the respective stated maximum performance. The upgrade to the Core i9-12900H requires at least the 3070 Ti, though.

The rest of the features include a 240 Hz WQHD IPS display with 350 cd/m² and at least 95% sRGB color space coverage, up to two M.2 SSDs with PCIe 4.0 connectivity and a maximum of 64 GB DDR5-4800 in the plugged SO-DIMM format.

The NEO 15 measures 360.2 x 243.5 x 26.6 millimeters and is partly made of aluminum, which makes it weigh 2.2 kg. Inside, a 93 Wh battery ensures good runtimes. In addition, there is an optomechanical RGB keyboard with tactile silent switches and N-key rollover.

In terms of connectivity, there’s Thunderbolt 4 with two 4K-capable DisplayPort streams and connectivity to the Intel Xe iGPU, HDMI 2.1 with connectivity to the Nvidia dGPU, 2.5-gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, three USB A 3.2 ports, a full-size SD card reader, and separate 3.5mm audio ports for microphone and headphones.

Prices and Availability

The XMG NEO (E22) is already available in the shop on bestware.com, where the gaming laptop is freely configurable. In the basic features with Intel Core i7-12700H, GeForce RTX 3060, 16 GB DDR5-4800 and a 500 GB Samsung 980 SSD, the starting price is 1,999 euros. An upgrade to the Intel Core i9-12900H costs 145 Euros, but requires at least the configuration of a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti for another 485 Euros. Thus, we end up with at least 2,629.00 Euros.