Thursday, January 10th 2019
AMD Showcases Ryzen and Radeon Powered Laptops at CES 2019
While AMD has enjoyed tremendous success in regards to their Ryzen, Threadripper, and EPYC processors penetration into the mobile market has been a bit slow. However, judging by the number of systems on display at CES 2019 that is about to change. Models from Honor, Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, Dell, ASUS, and HP. The one that immediately caught our eye was the Acer Nitro 5 which packs an AMD Ryzen 5 2500U CPU and an AMD Radeon RX 560X GPU. It also comes configured with 8 GB of memory, 256 GB SSD, IPS display and a backlit keyboard. Overall it looks to be a reliable entry level gaming system.
Next up was Dell's two offerings which were the Inspiron 5000 15 and 5000 14 2-in-1. The Inspiron 5000 15 was equipped with a 4c/8t Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega 8 graphics (512 shaders). It was also fully kitted out with 32 GB of DDR4 memory, 512 GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD making it an excellent option for productivity and heavy multitasking. Meanwhile, the 2-in-1 was equipped with a Ryzen 7 3700U which is a 4c/8t processor with Vega 10 graphics (640 shaders). It also came loaded with 16 GB of DDR4, 2 TB HDD and a 256 GB SSD giving it plenty of memory and storage space considering its more compact size.Taking a closer look at the Lenovo Yoga 530 14-inch, we can see its an entry-level offering that is equipped with a Ryzen 3 2200U processor which features Vega 3 graphics (192 shaders). Its equipped with 4 GB of DDR4 and a 128 GB SSD. While we were impressed to see an SSD by default over slower mechanical drives the fact remains this system will only offer entry level performance however it will likely offer decent battery life due to the Ryzen 3 2200U having a configurable TDP of 12 - 25-watts. Moving on to the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DY we find another entry level gaming system that's been configured with an AMD Ryzen 5 3550H which is a 4c/8t offering with a 35-watt TDP. ASUS also configured the unit with a Radeon RX 560X, 16 GB of DDR4, and a 512 GB SSD. Making a solid all-rounder for most tasks and more than capable of playing most AAA titles at 1080p.Rounding out the rest of the systems were the Samsung Book 7, Honor MagicBook, and two Chromebooks from HP. All of these laptops are entry-level systems with the Samsung Book 7 being equipped with a Ryzen 5 2200U 2c/4t processor with Vega 3 graphics (192 shaders), 8 GB DDR4, and a 128 GB SSD. The Honor MagicBook uses a Ryzen 5 2500U processor with 4c/8t and Vega 8 graphics (512 shaders). It was also equipped with 8 GB of DDR4 and a 256 GB NVMe SSD. In all honesty, the MagicBook looks to be a solid offering with enough performance on hand for day to day tasks. While the Vega 8 graphics it comes with are not quite enough for any serious gaming, they are still adequate for casual or older titles.
Rounding out the demo units were HP's two Chromebooks which were uninspiring regarding general PC specifications as they come with either AMD's A6 9220C APU with Radeon 5 graphics or the A4 9120C with Radeon 4 graphics. The only difference between the too options are clock speeds. The 9220C maxes at 2.7 GHz while the 9120C maxes at 2.6 GHz. Meanwhile both the Radeon 4 and 5 integrated graphics options use the same 192 shader GPU with the R4 being clocked 200 MHz slower. While both are more than powerful enough to handle web surfing and general tasks the fact remains these APUs are based on AMD's now ancient Excavator architecture with only 2 cores. That said it should still prove a match for Intel's entry-level Pentium series in ChromeOS.
Next up was Dell's two offerings which were the Inspiron 5000 15 and 5000 14 2-in-1. The Inspiron 5000 15 was equipped with a 4c/8t Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega 8 graphics (512 shaders). It was also fully kitted out with 32 GB of DDR4 memory, 512 GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD making it an excellent option for productivity and heavy multitasking. Meanwhile, the 2-in-1 was equipped with a Ryzen 7 3700U which is a 4c/8t processor with Vega 10 graphics (640 shaders). It also came loaded with 16 GB of DDR4, 2 TB HDD and a 256 GB SSD giving it plenty of memory and storage space considering its more compact size.Taking a closer look at the Lenovo Yoga 530 14-inch, we can see its an entry-level offering that is equipped with a Ryzen 3 2200U processor which features Vega 3 graphics (192 shaders). Its equipped with 4 GB of DDR4 and a 128 GB SSD. While we were impressed to see an SSD by default over slower mechanical drives the fact remains this system will only offer entry level performance however it will likely offer decent battery life due to the Ryzen 3 2200U having a configurable TDP of 12 - 25-watts. Moving on to the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DY we find another entry level gaming system that's been configured with an AMD Ryzen 5 3550H which is a 4c/8t offering with a 35-watt TDP. ASUS also configured the unit with a Radeon RX 560X, 16 GB of DDR4, and a 512 GB SSD. Making a solid all-rounder for most tasks and more than capable of playing most AAA titles at 1080p.Rounding out the rest of the systems were the Samsung Book 7, Honor MagicBook, and two Chromebooks from HP. All of these laptops are entry-level systems with the Samsung Book 7 being equipped with a Ryzen 5 2200U 2c/4t processor with Vega 3 graphics (192 shaders), 8 GB DDR4, and a 128 GB SSD. The Honor MagicBook uses a Ryzen 5 2500U processor with 4c/8t and Vega 8 graphics (512 shaders). It was also equipped with 8 GB of DDR4 and a 256 GB NVMe SSD. In all honesty, the MagicBook looks to be a solid offering with enough performance on hand for day to day tasks. While the Vega 8 graphics it comes with are not quite enough for any serious gaming, they are still adequate for casual or older titles.
Rounding out the demo units were HP's two Chromebooks which were uninspiring regarding general PC specifications as they come with either AMD's A6 9220C APU with Radeon 5 graphics or the A4 9120C with Radeon 4 graphics. The only difference between the too options are clock speeds. The 9220C maxes at 2.7 GHz while the 9120C maxes at 2.6 GHz. Meanwhile both the Radeon 4 and 5 integrated graphics options use the same 192 shader GPU with the R4 being clocked 200 MHz slower. While both are more than powerful enough to handle web surfing and general tasks the fact remains these APUs are based on AMD's now ancient Excavator architecture with only 2 cores. That said it should still prove a match for Intel's entry-level Pentium series in ChromeOS.
10 Comments on AMD Showcases Ryzen and Radeon Powered Laptops at CES 2019
My work laptop has a 15,6" 1080p screen, with DPI scaling stil not beeing perfect i would hate it to be 4K to be honest.