Somehow, Redditor u/sozuoka got what he describes as a “Claw 8 prototype” based on the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V processors, a lesser-known option that includes 32GB of RAM but faster speeds. lower clocks and a third less L3 cache than the Core Ultra 7 258V. Additionally, while the Core Ultra 5 228V and Core Ultra 7 258V share the same CPU cores, the former comes with a nominally weaker 130V Arc iGPU than the latter.
It appears that the Core Ultra 5 228V would outperform the Core Ultra 7 155H by around 20%, even in a prototype. The prototype also appears to work perfectly, which raises the question of why it wasn’t retailed as a cheaper option. It is possible that the difference in performance was too small between the Core Ultra 7 155H and the Core Ultra 7 155H between the Arc 130V and the Arc 140V to justify two versions. The high price of the Claw 8 AI+ AV2M in the UK and US has certainly left the door open for a cheaper variant.
