Intel processors have historically dominated the laptop market, overshadowing AMD counterparts. Having said that, AMD's Ryzen family of mobile CPUs has made significant strides in gaining popularity. Consequently, an increasing number of exceptional laptops now boast AMD processors, challenging Intel's supremacy.
AMD-powered laptops are prevalent today across various segments of the market, offering respectable performance in gaming, premium, and productivity-oriented devices. Whether you're seeking a powerful gaming rig, a sleek premium laptop, or a reliable workhorse, AMD processors stand at the core of many cutting-edge devices. In this guide, we've listed some of the finest AMD laptops currently available that should suit your needs depending on your preferences.
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024)
Best overall
- MacBook-like thinness and weight
- Gorgeous OLED display
- Redesigned charger and USB-C power delivery
- Great productivity performance
- Much cheaper than the competition
- A little behind in games
- Soldered memory
The latest iteration of the ROG Zephyrus G14 from Asus stands out as a remarkable compact gaming laptop, offering a blend of portability and power that few others can match. With its sleek aluminum chassis and MacBook-like thinness, it defies expectations, setting itself apart from conventional gaming laptops.
Despite its compact form factor, the Zephyrus G14 doesn't compromise on performance, thanks to its AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor. The inclusion of an OLED display adds to its allure, providing stunning visuals and vibrant colors that elevate the gaming experience to new heights.
While the laptop excels in productivity tasks, it falls slightly behind in gaming performance compared to bulkier counterparts. Nevertheless, Asus has made smart compromises to achieve a balance between portability and power, offering a unique gaming experience at a competitive price point. Overall, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 stands as a testament to innovation in gaming laptops, challenging conventions and redefining what's possible in portable gaming.
HP Pavilion Plus 14
Best AMD laptop for students
- Excellent OLED panel
- Thin and light design
- Great battery life
- No card slot
- Average touchpad
Considering its current sale price of $550, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is an excellent thin and light notebook, especially if you are a student or someone who needs a reliable AM- powered laptop at an affordable cost. Available in silver, blue, and pink color options, the Pavilion Plus 14 is powered by AMD's Ryzen 5 7540U six-core processor with 16GB of LPDDR5X memory with a 512GB SSD.
The laptop features a 16:10 full-HD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS display but there is also the option of going for sharper 2560 x 1600 resolution or even an OLED panel, if you are willing to increase your budget. Other notable features include Windows Hello face recognition, up to 10 hours of battery life and support for fast charging (50% in 30 minutes) using the bundled 65W USB Type-C charger.
Acer Swift Edge 16
Best AMD laptop for creators
- Strong productivity performance
- Superior OLED display
- Thin and light
- Comfortable keyboard and touchpad
- Attractive price
- Chassis and lid a bit flexible
- Poor battery life
- Only one configuration available
The Acer Swift Edge 16 is a compelling option in the realm of thin-and-light 16-inch laptops, offering a balance of performance, design, and affordability. The notebook offers an OLED display with a WQXGA+ resolution of 3200 x 2000 and a refresh rate of 120Hz, delivering vibrant colors and sharp visuals.
Its sleek profile, weighing just 2.73 pounds and measuring 0.60 inches thick, caters to users seeking a large display without the bulk of traditional larger laptops. Equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, the Swift Edge 16 ensures robust productivity performance.
Other compelling features include a crisp keyboard, precise touchpad, and extensive connectivity options, including USB-A and USB-C ports, HDMI, and a microSD card reader. Moreover, the laptop's standout OLED display, boasting wide color gamut coverage and excellent brightness, positions it as an attractive choice for creative professionals and productivity-oriented users alike, especially considering its competitive pricing and occasional discounted offers.
Dell G15 Gaming
Best budget gaming laptop
- Affordable price point
- Unique colorways
- Effective cooling system
- Bulky
- Plastic finish
The Dell G15 is usually on sale and available for about $800, making it appealing to budget-conscious gamers. While the design, featuring bold color schemes reminiscent of the '90s vaporwave aesthetic, adds flair to the entry-level gaming laptop market, it is quite bulky. Having said that, the notebook offers solid performance for everyday multitasking and moderate media tasks, thanks to its AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor.
There are multiple configuration options with minor price jumps between tiers. While the base model with an RTX 3050 is suitable for casual gamers, upgrading to a more powerful GPU like the RTX 4060 only increases the price by $100.
The laptop comes with a 15.6-inch full-HD screen along with a 120Hz refresh rate as standard, but you can also opt for a more superior option which offers a faster 165Hz refresh rate, 100% sRGB coverage and support for Nvidia G-Sync. There’s also a dedicated macro key so you can tune the fan speed as needed while the Alienware-inspired advanced thermal system helps in keeping the internals cool.
Alienware m16 R1
Powerful AMD-powered gaming laptop
- Great gaming performance
- Premium build quality
- Optional mechanical keyboard
- Good set of I/O
- Bulky
- Expensive
The Alienware m16 is a great choice for anyone looking for powerful AMD-powered gaming laptop. The laptop stands as a potent and slightly bulkier alternative to its slimmer counterpart, the x16, catering more to desktop replacement needs than portability. Sporting Alienware's signature design with customizable RGB lighting, the m16 exudes a sleek and modern aesthetic.
While the m16 may be heavier and thicker compared to some alternatives, its 16-inch display options, including a sharp QHD+ panel with a 240Hz refresh rate, provide ample screen real estate for gaming and content creation tasks. Furthermore, its comprehensive selection of ports and a sharp 1080p webcam ensure versatile connectivity and high-quality video calls.
Powered by high-end components like the Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU and an RTX 4080 GPU, the Alienware m16 delivers impressive performance across various productivity and gaming benchmarks. While battery life may not be exceptional, it aligns with expectations for high-performance laptops in this category. With flexible configuration options to suit different budgets and needs, the m16 stands out as one of the best-built and best-performing 16-inch gaming laptops available, although its top-end configurations can be pricey.
It should be noted that the newer m16 R2 recently launched, but an AMD configuration is no longer being offered. It's been redesigned, but offers fairly similar performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whether AMD laptops are better than Intel laptops depends on various factors, including individual preferences, specific use cases, and the intended tasks. In recent years, AMD has made significant strides in its processor technology, offering competitive performance, efficiency, and value compared to Intel counterparts. AMD processors often provide better multi-core performance, making them well-suited for tasks like video editing, 3D rendering, and multitasking. Typically, AMD powered laptops offer better battery life, and are often less expensive compared to their Intel counterpart.
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