AMD CEO Lisa Su recently jumped on Twitter to show herself standing in front of Best Buy holding one of the first laptops to sport a Ryzen-branded APU. This is an all-in-one chip consisting of AMD’s Ryzen processor cores based on its new “Zen” design, and its Radeon graphics cores based on its new “Vega” design. The company announced two APUs at the end of October and now laptops are starting to appear packing these new chips.
The Ryzen-based device now available at Best Buy is the HP Envy x360 15z convertible 2-in-1 based on AMD’s Ryzen 5 2500U chip. Here are the specifications for AMD’s new APU:
| Ryzen CPU cores: | 4 |
| Ryzen CPU threads: | 8 |
| Base speed: | 2.0GHz |
| Boost speed: | 3.6GHz |
| Vega 8 GPU cores: | 512 (8 compute units) |
| Vega boost speed: | Up to 1,100MHz |
| L1 cache (per core): | 64K instruction cache 32K data cache |
| L2 cache (per core): | 512K |
| L3 cache (shared): | 4MB |
| Power usage: | 12W to 25W configurable 15W nominal |
The chip is a big deal for AMD, as the company nearly started from scratch when it designed its Zen CPU architecture. AMD set out to maximize performance per watt for a lower price tag and achieved just that as seen in the desktop processor space. For example, the fastest Ryzen processor currently on the market, a 16-core chip for enthusiasts, costs $730 less than a similar processor with near-identical performance sold by Intel.
Adding to the Zen aspect is AMD’s latest Vega graphics chip architecture that officially hit the market just months ago in the Radeon RX Vega 64 ($499) and Vega 56 ($399) add-in cards for desktops. They target Nvidia’s high-end GeForce GTX 1080 ($549) and GTX 1070 ($399) cards to provide better performance for the same price. Of course, AMD’s add-in cards pack insanely more GPU cores than what you see in the company’s APU products, but AMD is pushing the same ideal on laptops without a discrete, stand-alone graphics chip.
As for the new HP Envy x360 15z convertible 2-in-1 laptop with AMD’s new Ryzen 5 APU, here are the specifications and price shown on Best Buy:
| Screen size: | 15.6 inches |
| Screen type: | In-Plane Switching with Touch |
| Screen resolution: | 1,920 x 1,080 |
| Processor: | AMD Ryzen 5 2500U |
| Graphics: | Integrated |
| Memory: | 8GB DDR4 at 2,400MHz |
| Storage: | 1TB hard drive (7,200RPM) |
| Audio: | 2x speakers |
| Camera: | HP Wide Vision FHD IR camera |
| Connectivity: | Wireless AC (867Mbps) Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Ports: | 1x HDMI 2.0a 2x USB Type-A (3.1 Gen1) 1x USB Type-C (3.1 Gen1) 1x SD card reader 1x Headphone/microphone combo |
| Battery: | 3-cell Lithium-ion 55.8 WHr (up to 9 hours) |
| Dimensions: | 14.16 (W) x 9.8 (D) x 0.77 (H) inches |
| Weight: | 4.75 pounds |
| Price: | $750 |
You can also purchase the new Envy x360 with AMD’s APU directly from HP with a starting price of $800. The company doesn’t serve up a model with 8GB of system memory, but instead starts you at 12GB (1x 4GB and 1x 8GB). Other options you can configure include M.2 NVMe SSDs with capacities ranging from 256GB to 1TB, and a choice between Windows 10 Home and Pro.
For HP customers not willing to jump on Team AMD’s bandwagon, the company serves up the “15t” version packing eighth-generation Intel Core processors too.
