Intel's soon-to-be-released Core Ultra 9 mobile processor has flexed its muscles in fresh benchmark tests, outpacing the majority of desktop processors. The crown jewel of this lineup, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, boasts single-thread performance that's nearly on par with its desktop counterpart, the Core Ultra 9 285K. While Intel remained tight-lipped about the Arrow Lake Refresh series at CES 2026, this series has made its presence known on Geekbench. It encompasses both the desktop Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the mobile Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus. Notably, the 290HX Plus is designed with 24 cores and 24 threads, delivering a stellar maximum single-core score of 5009 points and an impressive multi-core score of up to 66203 points. This performance is tantalizingly close to that of desktop-grade processors, thereby setting a new bar for performance in the high-end notebook market.