AMD’s Ryzen 7000 laptop CPU lineup is a bewildering patchwork of old and new

A few months ago AMD introduced a new numbering system for its upcoming laptop processor updates. As we wrote at the time, this schema is less confusing and less confusing than one that simply assigns higher numbers to faster products.it makes it possible to know Exactly What’s in the processor you’re using, as long as you have a handy decoder ring that shows you what the numbers mean. It’s also a way to relabel as a thing.

There are 5 different CPU series that make up AMD’s Ryzen 7000 lineup to be announced today. Below is a table provided by AMD showing which parts each series uses and some additional context.

• Ryzen 7045 Series (“Dragon Range”): For high-end gaming and workstation laptops, intended to be paired with a dedicated GPU. Essentially, the Ryzen 7000 desktop processors have been repackaged for laptops such as Intel’s HX series.
• Ryzen 7040 series (“Phoenix”): The only new tip in the lineup. Combining a Zen 4 CPU with an RDNA 3 integrated GPU and built on the 4nm process, this is the flagship of premium thin and light laptops without a dedicated GPU.
• Ryzen 7035 Series (“Rembrandt-R”): Ryzen 6000 whose name has changed.
• Ryzen 7030 Series (“Barcelo-R”): Ryzen 5000 whose name has changed. Barcelo technically launched in his 2022, but for the most part it had the same intent and purpose as his 2021 ‘Cezanne’ processor. These include integrated GPUs based on the aging Vega architecture and are the only CPUs in the lineup to support DDR4 and LPDDR4 instead of DDR5 and LPDDR5.
• Ryzen 7020 Series (“Mendocino”): Already announced and out on the market, these use the older Zen 2 CPU architecture but are otherwise built using modern parts with modern manufacturing processes dedicated to cheap laptops.

The 7045 and 7040 series are the most significant of the new announcements. There are four 7045 CPUs, each corresponding to a different Ryzen 7000 desktop CPU. 7645HX is a refactored 7600X, and 7745HX, 7845HX, and 7945HX roughly map to 7700X, 7900X, and 7950X. Each has the same amount of cache as their desktop counterparts, each supports the same DDR5 memory (specifically not LPDDR5), and supports the same base integrated GPU.

These chips are a big step up for AMD’s high-end laptop processors, which previously topped out at eight CPU cores. According to AMD, laptops with HX series CPUs are expected to start shipping in February.

The 7040 series is an evolution from where high-end Ryzen laptop chips used to be. Likewise, it features the same GPU architecture as the latest Radeon RX 7900 graphics card, in addition to up to 8 CPU cores. For the occasional gamer on the road, or someone who just needs a gaming laptop that doesn’t get too hot and doesn’t look bulky, it’s more than enough to play the latest games on reasonable settings, especially for games that support his FSR 2.0. should have the ability to

Overall, AMD’s lineup seems pretty strong and logical apart from the patchwork of various technologies involved. Both the Mendocino and Barcelo-R chips offer decent budget to mainstream laptop performance. The Rembrandt-R is still a powerful chip, with much better battery life than some of Intel’s 12th (and possibly 13th) laptop CPUs, and enough graphics for light gaming on the go. performance. We’ll definitely have to test the new Zen 4-based CPU, but given Zen 4’s efficiency and AMD’s recent line of solid laptop processors, it looks promising.

Nevertheless, the new numbering scheme is still confusing and at worst misleading. Aside from exposing model numbers and hoping people can figure them out, we’ll see if PC makers come up with a way to let people know they’re getting the “best” of the Ryzen 7000 lineup. .