Skip to main content

AMD crams desktop performance into ultra-thin laptops with its new Ryzen APUs

Ryzen APUs
Image used with permission by copyright holder
On Thursday, October 26, AMD revealed its eighth-generation APU lineup along with the first three laptops that will rely on these chips. Short for accelerated processing unit, the latest APUs are all-in-one chips camming AMD’s new Ryzen processor cores and its new Vega graphics cores together into one solution. Right now, there are only two processors in the new eighth-generation family slated to arrive before the end of 2017.

Here are the specifications of the new Ryzen APUs:

Recommended Videos
Ryzen 7 2700U Ryzen 5 2500U
Ryzen cores: 4 4
Ryzen threads: 8 8
Base speed: 2.2GHz 2.0GHz
Boost speed: 3.8GHz 3.6GHz
Vega stream processors: 640 (10 compute units) 512 (8 compute units)
Vega boost speed: Up to 1,300MHz Up to 1,100MHz
Power usage (in watts): 12W to 25W configurable
15W nominal
12W to 25W configurable
15W nominal
L1 cache (per core): 64K instruction cache
32K data cache
64K instruction cache
32K data cache
L2 cache (per core): 512K 512K
L3 cache (shared): 4MB 4MB
Supported memory: Dual-channel DDR4
at 2,400MHz
Dual-channel DDR4
at 2,400MHz
Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

AMD’s new APUs follow the company’s seventh-generation “Bristol Ridge” chips released in the middle of 2016. The new APUs promise up to 200 percent more CPU performance than the Bristol Ridge generation, up to 128 percent more graphics performance, and up to 58 percent less power consumption. The Ryzen cores are based on AMD’s new “Zen” CPU core design that was built from scratch to generate higher performance on a lower power draw, and a lower price tag.

If you’re looking for gaming on the go, laptops with these two new APUs can provide decent framerates without a secondary discrete GPU. AMD says the Vega cores can generate an average rate of 43 frames per second in Quake Champions using a 1,280 x 720 resolution and high graphics settings. The chips can also manage an average of 66 frames per second in Overwatch (1,280 x 720 / low), and 59 frames per second in League of Legends (1,920 x 1,080 / medium).

The two new APUs include AMD’s new SenseMi technology suite that adjusts the APU’s power consumption per workload so it’s not constantly draining your battery. This suite also includes an updated, second-generation Precision Boost component that will adjust the clock speed when needed in 25MHz increments using a new algorithm. This component provides the highest possible speed to achieve the maximum performance in games and other heavy workloads.

According to AMD, the new APUs are capable of boosting their performance beyond their out-of-the-box boost speed with the proper cooling system installed (aka Mobile XFR). That means you may see “overclocked” chips served up in certain laptops. Artificial intelligence is baked into each Ryzen core for mapping power and consumption for better application behavior.

Finally, in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, AMD shows that its Ryzen 7 2700U APU outperforms the GeForce GTX 950M discrete graphics chip and Intel’s Core i7-7500U processor for laptops. Ultimately, the bottom line is that AMD is targeting desktop performance for ultra-thin laptops using a thin, all-in-one processor solution that shouldn’t break your wallet in the end.

Here are the first three laptops sporting AMD’s new APUs:

HP Envy X360 Lenovo Ideapad 720S Acer Swift 3
Screen size: 15.6 inches with Touch 13.3 inches 15.6 inches
Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 1,920 x 1,080 1,920 x 1,080
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U AMD Ryzen 5 2500U
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
AMD Ryzen 5 2500U
AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
Memory: Up to 8GB DDR4
at 2,400MHz
(dual channel)
DDR4 (unknown amount)
at 2,133MHz
(single channel)
Up to 8GB DDR4
at 2,400MHz
(dual channel)
Storage: Up to 512GB SSD or
Up to 1TB HDD
Up to 512GB SSD Up to 256GB SSD
Battery: 55.8Wh 48Wh 48Wh
Dimensions (inches): 14.17 x 9.80 x 0.76 12.04 x 8.38 x 0.53 15.27 x 10.03 x 0.70
Weight: ~4.73 pounds ~2.51 pounds ~3.96 pounds
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
You could buy a gaming laptop for the price of this AMD handheld
The OneXFly F1 Pro console.

The first gaming handheld to feature one of AMD's best processors is finally here, but it's going to be a tough sell. The OneXFly F1 Pro comes with a host of impressive features, from an OLED screen to the powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU. It could undoubtedly beat the Steam Deck and various other rivals. The downside? You might as well just buy a gaming laptop, and a good one, too -- because this one's pretty expensive.

The OneXFly F1 Pro (first spotted by VideoCardz) is a brand-new gaming handheld made by OneXPlayer, a Chinese company. The mini PC comes with all the bells and whistles you could wish for in a new handheld. There's a 7-inch 1080p OLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate; LPDDR5X RAM with speeds of up to 7,500MHz; and up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive storage.

Read more
AMD Ryzen AI claimed to offer ‘up to 75% faster gaming’ than Intel
A render of the new Ryzen AI 300 chip on a gradient background.

AMD has just unveiled some internal benchmarks of its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor. Although it's been a few months since the release of the Ryzen AI 300 series, AMD now compares its CPU to Intel's Lunar Lake, and the benchmarks are highly favorable for AMD's best processor for thin-and-light laptops. Let's check them out.

For starters, AMD compared the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 to the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. The AMD CPU comes with 12 cores (four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5c cores) and 24 threads, as well as 36MB of combined cache. The maximum clock speed tops out at 5.1GHz, and the CPU offers a configurable thermal design power (TDP) ranging from 15 watts to 54W. Meanwhile, the Intel chip sports eight cores (four performance cores and four efficiency cores), eight threads, a max frequency of 4.8GHz, 12MB of cache, and a TDP ranging from 17W to 37W. Both come with a neural processing unit (NPU), and AMD scores a win here too, as its NPU provides 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS), while Intel's sits at 47 TOPS. It's a small difference, though.

Read more
AMD’s next-gen laptop GPU may rival Nvidia’s RTX 5090
Two Zephyrus G16 laptops sitting next to each other.

AMD hasn't had much of a presence lately in any of the best gaming laptops -- at least not in the graphics department. However, according to a new leak from Golden Pig Upgrade Pack on Bilibili, AMD isn't giving up on its laptop GPUs, and is in fact readying four discrete graphics cards made for laptops. The top configuration may actually rival one of Nvidia's next-gen top GPUs, but that doesn't mean it'll be equally as good.

The leaker shared a slide detailing the four laptop GPUs that AMD is said to be planning to release in its upcoming RDNA 4 lineup. Although it doesn't reveal the actual names of the graphics cards, it does show the chip names, as well as power consumption ranges and memory configurations.

Read more