Yesterday, the ASUS Chinese office announced a special event—on February 25—dedicated to launching a next-gen AMD APU-powered premium notebook model: "ROG Magic X (or Illusion X) is the first to be equipped with the Ryzen AI MAX+ three-in-one chip, which can efficiently coordinate multiple modes, provide combat power and computing power on demand, and can handle e-sports, creation and AI with one chip!" The manufacturer's Weibo post has generated plenty of buzz; industry insiders reckon that reviews could be published today (February 18)—HXL/9550pro informed VideoCardz with a not so cryptic message: "STX-Halo NDA: Feb 18th 2025."

Western press outlets point out that the ROG Magic X is a local variant of the familiar ROG Flow Z13 design; a 2025 refresh brings in AMD's much anticipated "Strix Halo" APU design. Team Red-authored marketing material and pre-release evaluation leaks have hinted about impressive integrated graphics solution performance; equalling or even exceeding that of previous-gen dGPUs. Well-known North American hardware review outlets have dropped hints (NDA permitting) about AMD's Ryzen Al Max+ 395 and Max 390 processors. Hardware Canucks could barely contain their excitement regarding the potent Zen 4 and RDNA 3.5 combo package; to the point of wish listing a potential direct successor: "Strix Halo is one of the most exciting things launched into the PC space in the last half decade. Full stop...AMD can't keep this as a one-off. If it's followed up with Zen 6 and RDNA 4 next year...watch out." Naturally, Team Red's cutting-edge mobile CPU technology is arriving in devices with high asking prices. The aforementioned ROG Flow Z13 2025 model—configured with top specs—is priced at $2699. Notebookcheck reckons that ASUS has tacked on an extra $500, since an announcement of initial pricing at CES 2025.

In an exclusive report, Laptop Mag has extracted intriguing disclosures from Intel's Robert Hallock. The company's VP and General Manager of Client AI and Technical Marketing was happy to announce that new-generation processors are lined up for inclusion within next waves of handheld gaming PCs. Industry rumors posited that things would end with Team Blue's Core Ultra "Lunar Lake" generation of APUs; as featured on the recently deployed MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ models. First-generation devices with "Meteor Lake" chips did not disrupt the market, and struggled to keep up with AMD Ryzen Z1 chipset-based rivals. Despite negative conjecture suggesting a withdrawal, Hallock revealed that a certain department is growing in size: "Intel is beefing up its staff to support gaming ISVs who want to do handhelds."

Team Blue's fortified support network is touted to expand the market reach of portable gaming PCs; the Intel executive elaborated on this topic: "we're starting a number of internal programs to give them more assistance in targeting this performance profile because—relative to what they're accustomed to—(handhelds) are still relatively rare in terms of availability." Hallock and colleagues are diving in with a new strategy; game development studios are on the receiving end of pre-release hardware: "a lot of game devs tend to just target what they have on their desks or in their QA labs...so (we're) arming them with more handhelds as prototype devices. Getting them dev kits leading into Panther Lake."

Late last month, an AMD "How to Sell" Ryzen AI MAX series guide appeared online—contents provided an early preview of the Radeon 8060S iGPU's prowess in 1080p gaming environments. Team Red seemed to have some swagger in their step; they claimed that their forthcoming "RDNA 3.5" integrated graphics solution was up to 68% faster than NVIDIA's discrete GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile GPU (subjected to thermal limits). Naturally, first-party/internal documentation should be treated with a degree of skepticism—the PC hardware community often relies on (truly) independent sources to form opinions. A Chinese leaker has procured a pre-release laptop that features a "Zen 5" AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor. By Wednesday evening, the tester presented benchmark results on the Tieba Baidu forums.

The leaker uploaded a screenshot from a 3DMark Time Spy session. No further insights were shared via written text. On-screen diagnostics pointed to a "Radeon 8050S" GPU, and the CPU being an "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001243-50_Y." Wccftech double-checked this information; they believe that the OPN ID corresponds to a: "Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 with the Radeon 8060S, instead of the AMD Radeon 8050S iGPU...The difference between the two is that the Radeon 8060S packs the full 40 Compute Units while the Radeon 8050S is configured with 32 Compute Units. The CPU for each iGPU is also different and the one tested here packs 16 Zen 5 cores instead of the 12 Zen 5 cores featured on the Ryzen AI MAX 390." According to the NDA-busting screenshot, Team Red's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 engineering sample racked up an overall score of 9006 in 3DMark Time Spy. Its graphics score tally came in at 10,106, while its CPU scored 5571 points. The alleged Radeon 8060S iGPU managed to pull in just under NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile dGPU (average) score of 10,614. The plucky RDNA 3.5 40 CU iGPU seems to outperform a somewhat related sibling; the Radeon RX 7600M XT dGPU (with 32 RDNA 3 CUs) scored 8742 points. Radeon 8060S trails the desktop Radeon RX 7600 GPU by 884 points.

AI PC capabilities have evolved rapidly in the two years since AMD introduced the first x86 AI PC CPUs at CES 2023. New neural processing units have debuted, pushing available performance from a peak of 10 AI TOPS at the launch of the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor to peak 50+ TOPS on the latest AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 300 Series processors. A wide range of software and hardware companies have announced various AI development plans or brought AI-infused products to market, while major operating system vendors like Microsoft are actively working to integrate AI into the operating system via its Copilot+ PC capabilities. AMD is on the forefront of those efforts and is working closely with Microsoft to deliver Copilot+ for Ryzen AI and Ryzen AI PRO PCs.

In the report "The Year of the AI PC is 2025," Forrester lays out its argument for why this year is likely to bring significant changes for AI PCs. Forrester defines the term "AI PC" to mean any system "embedded with an AI chip and algorithms specifically designed to improve the experience of AI workloads across the computer processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), and neural processing unit (NPU)." This includes AMD products, as well as competing products made by both x86 and non-x86 CPU manufacturers. 2025 represents a turning point for these efforts, both in terms of hardware and software, and this Forrester report is an excellent deep dive into why AI PCs represent the future for enterprise computing.

The list of potent mini PCs continues to expand, with the Minix NGC-NR6600 being one of the latest additions. The mid-range mini PC should be sufficiently potent for the majority of non-intensive workloads, and should be able to fly through daily workloads without breaking a sweat. The system is already available for purchase on Amazon, starting at $399 for the entry-level variant with 16 GB of memory and a 512 GB SSD. Specs-wise, the Minix mini PC appears to be a well-equipped system that should suffice for most moderately intensive workloads, as long as it is forgiving on the GPU side.

At its core, the Minix mini PC in question is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H APU with 6 Zen 3+ cores and 12 threads, which can be paired with up to 64 GB of DDR5-4800 memory, courtesy of dual SO-DIMM slots. The diminutive 5 x 5.12 x 1.97 inch chassis, unsurprisingly, lacks the physical space for the comfort of discrete graphics, and has to settle for the decently capable Radeon 660M with 6 CUs, although it is by no means sufficient for modern AAA gaming. Some lightweight gaming is not our of the question, though. A 512 GB SSD takes care of storage requirements, while a supplementary M.2 slot allows for expansion down the road, up to a whopping 8 TB. The system packs HDMI 2.1 (TMDS, so basically HDMI 2.0), DisplayPort 1.4, USB4, as well as dual 2.5G LAN ports.

At some point this week, HP's North American online store was updated with new high-end EliteBooks that feature AMD Strix Point APUs. Three models appear to support up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory—these curious entries were highlighted by tech enthusiast Hoang Anh Phu (AnhPhuH). The advertised maximum 8533 MT/s transfer rate exceeds Team Red's official reference figure (7500 MT/s) for the EliteBook X G1a's Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 APU. Looking further up in the Team Red "Strix Point" product stack, we spotted their Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 spec sheet boasting a maximum LPDDR5x transfer speed of 8000 MT/s. Press outlets have expressed doubt when analyzing three of HP's EliteBook X G1a SKUs. Theories point to product pages containing possible placeholder information, or inaccuracies.

Working with the belief that the specs are legit, AnhPhuH commented: "this is the first laptop featured with 128 GB LPDDR5x-8533 128-bit memory. That would mean it's using four 256 Gb x32 modules(?!). As far as I know, all three major DRAM manufacturers currently only have 128 Gb x32 modules...the EliteBook X G1a uses Strix Point, not Strix Halo, so it only pairs with four x32 modules (two 64-bit channels)." HP's web shop states that the EliteBook X G1a models are due to launch on March 14. We hope that further clarification and concrete specifications appear online closer to release time. Initial pricing starts at $2749 for the lowliest of the three "128 GB LPDDR5X-8533" equipped models. The agonizingly named flagship "HP EliteBook X G1a 14 inch Notebook Next Gen AI PC Wolf Pro Security Edition" offering comes in at an eye-watering $4299.

The AOKZOE A1 X was recently teased by its maker as a new AMD Strix Point-powered gaming handheld, featuring the commendably potent Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU with the equally admirable RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 890M iGPU. Details were scarce regarding the handheld, but now the company has shed some much-needed light on a few features of the upcoming handheld. We still do not have a clue as to when the handheld will finally see the light of day, or even an expected price bracket. Considering that AOKZOE is not nearly as well known as its competitors in this space, the A1 X can be expected to launch with a price tag that undercuts its rivals. Thanks to a previous teaser, already know that the A1 X will sport an 8-inch 120 Hz display with VRR support.

Addressing the features teased recently, AOKZOE has revealed that the handheld will sport a 72.7 Wh battery with support for bypass charging, allowing it to draw power directly without having to pass it through the battery, thereby increasing the battery's lifespan. Moreover, the A1 X will also sport MicroSD 4.0 support, allowing for transfer speeds of up to 300 MB/s. The handheld will sport dual USB4 ports, along with an OCuLink port which will allow for speedy eGPU connections for gaming sessions that demand more horsepower than the Radeon 890M can provide. Going by the shared images, the A1 X will also sport at least one USB-A port, which will surely come in handy when the need arises for additional peripherals.

There is hardly a scarcity of mini PCs available on the market. These pocket-friendly computers have an ever-expanding fan base, and now it appears that brands are pulling all sorts of tricks to make their offerings stand out from the rest. Chaatrey is a well-known player in the mini PC segment, and has announced the AMD-powered AN3P mini PC. The product does have quite an interesting feature, which we will get to later.

At its core, the AN3P mini PC is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS APU with eight Zen 3+ cores and sixteen threads. Despite having already blown out two birthday candles, the Ryzen 7 7735HS continues to be quite a performant chip in 2025, trading blows with the Intel Core 5 120U in synthetic benchmarks. In terms of memory and storage, the AN3P can be equipped with up to 32 GB of memory, and up to 1 TB of solid-state storage. Both the memory and storage are user-accessible and can be upgraded down the road, which surely is a must-have for many people.

AMD has just published its "How to Sell" Ryzen AI MAX series guide—several news outlets have pored over the "claimed" gaming performance charts contained within this two-page document. Team Red appears to be in a boastful mood—their 1080p benchmark results reveal compelling numbers, as produced by their flagship Zen 5 "Strix Halo" processor (baseline 55 W TDP). According to Team Red's marketing guidelines, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU: "competes with a GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile GPU at similar TDP and form factor." The first-party produced comparison points to their Radeon 8060S integrated graphics solution being up to 68% faster—in modern gaming environments at 1080p settings—than the competing Team Green dedicated laptop-oriented GPU, limited to 65 W TGP due to form factor restrictions. Overall, the AMD test unit does better by 23.2% on average (referring to Wccftech's calculations).

According to the document, AMD's reference system was lined up against an ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2023) gaming laptop specced with an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, and a GeForce RTX 4070 mobile graphics card. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's "massive iGPU" can unleash the full force of forty RDNA 3.5 compute units, paired with up to 96 GB of unified on-board memory (from a total pool of 128 GB). Non-gaming benchmarks place the flagship Team Red processor above Intel Core Ultra 9 288V and Apple M4 Pro (12-core) CPUs—as always, it is best to wait for verification from independent evaluators. Saying that, the "Strix Halo" APU family has generated a lot of excitement—even going back to early leaks—and the latest marketed performance could drum up further interest.

The Beelink SER9 Pro made headlines a few months ago as one of the first mini PCs with AMD's Strix Point APUs. Powered by the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU with the powerful Radeon 890M iGPU, the SER9 Pro promised impressive performance and efficiency in a commendably compact form factor. Now, the brand has unveiled a new variant of the SER9 Pro, powered by the slightly less-powerful Ryzen AI 9 365 APU. This variant will likely be more affordable than its higher-tier sibling, which currently starts from $999 in the US.

The differences between the Ryzen AI HX 370 and the Ryzen AI 365 are actually more substantial than one might think. Both the APUs sport four Zen 5 cores, while the AI 365 gets only six Zen 5c cores compared to the HX 370's eight. The AI 365 also gets a 100 MHz lower boost clock, and a notably slower Radeon 880M iGPU with fewer shaders. Beelink had equipped the HX 370 variant with a 65 watt TDP, but has not disclosed the TDP value for the AI 365 variant yet. That said, going by synthetic benchmark scores, the Ryzen AI 9 365 variant will likely be roughly 20% and 10% slower in CPU and GPU performance respectively than the Ryzen AI HX 370 variant.

The list of mini PCs available on the market has grown quite a bit in the past few weeks, with a bunch of such systems getting unveiled at CES 2025. Now, Gigabyte clearly does not wish to be left out of the party either, and has unveiled its Brix Extreme mini PC powered by a last-gen, but decently powerful AMD "Hawk Point" APU and a plethora of connectivity options in a compact package.

The system, as mentioned, boasts the 28-watt Ryzen 7 8840U PRO APU, which sports 8 Zen 4 cores and 16 threads. Performance should be identical to its non-PRO counterpart, which should put it roughly in the same class as the Intel Core Ultra 256V "Lunar Lake" CPU. The APU is paired with up to 64 GB of DDR5-5600 memory. Dual M.2 2280 slots take care of storage requirements, both of which are user-accessible.

GMKTec is a relatively well-known brand of mini PCs that ships internationally from its official online store. The brand's latest offering, the K11, is an RGB-fied mini PC that sports adequately powerful internals for almost any task. At its core, the K11 is powered by the Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point" APU with eight Zen 4 cores and 16 threads. The system comes pre-installed with up to 32 GB of memory and a 2 TB SSD, both of which can be upgraded down the line.

The memory can be upgraded to a whopping 96 GB, whereas the storage can be upgraded to 8 TB via the dual M.2 slots. The integrated Radeon 780M GPU is decently powerful for most non-intensive workloads, but pushing it any further might be futile. For such cases, the OCuLink port will definitely come in handy, offering speedy eGPU connections that far outshine USB-based solutions. The cooling solution appears to be sufficient on paper, allowing the system to draw up to 70 watts.

AMD fans are undoubtedly on their toes to witness the performance improvements that Strix Halo is ready to bring forth. Unlike Strix Point, which utilizes a combination of Zen 5c and full-fat Zen 5 cores, Strix Halo will do away with the small cores for a Zen 5 "only" setup, allowing for substantially better multicore performance. Moreover, it is also widely expected that Strix Halo will boast chunky iGPUs that will bring the heat to entry-level and even some mid-range mobile GPUs, allowing Strix Halo systems to not require discrete graphics at all, with a prime example being the upcoming ROG Flow Z13 tablet.

As per recent reports, the upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395 APU will sport an RDNA 3.5-based iGPU with a whopping 40 CUs, and will likely be branded as the Radeon 8060S. In a leaked Geekbench Vulkan benchmark, the Radeon 8060S managed to outpace the RTX 4060 Laptop dGPU in performance. However, according to yet another leaked benchmark, Passmark, the Radeon 8060S and the 32-CU 8050S scored 16,454 and 16,663 respectively - and no, that is not a typo. The 8060S with 40 CUs is marginally slower than the 8050S with 32 CUs, clearly indicating that the numbers are far from final. That said, performance in this range puts the Strix Halo APUs well below the RTX 4070 laptop GPU, and roughly the same as the RTX 3080 Laptop. Not bad for an iGPU, although it is almost certain that actual performance of the retail units will be higher, judging by the abnormally small delta between the 8050S and the 8060S.

AMD's recently announced Strix Point APU lineup has received favorable reviews from critics and consumers alike. Especially for SFF/Mini PC enthusiasts, Strix Point brings commendable efficiency and performance to the table - both of which are absolutely essential for a high-end mini PC. The GMK EVO-X1 is surely among those, and the system is now available for purchase from GMKTec's official online store.

The EVO X1 sports a 110.19 x 107.3 x 63.2 mm chassis, which is decently compact for its class. As mentioned previously, the system is powered by the 12-core (4x Zen 5 + 8x Zen 5c) Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU with the shockingly potent RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 CUs. For most CPU-centric workloads, the EVO X1 should easily suffice. The iGPU, as mentioned, is potent enough to handle most graphically demanding tasks, including some lightweight gaming, but expecting anything more from it would be futile. Thankfully, an OCuLink port is present, which should allow for extremely fast eGPU connections courtesy of its 64 Gbps bandwidth.

AMD's interim RDNA 3.5 architecture will power the Radeon RX 8000 series integrated graphics in "Strix Halo" mobile processors, while the more advanced RDNA 4 architecture is reserved for the higher-tier Radeon RX 9000 series of discrete graphics, according to @9550pro on X. We previously believed that AMD's Ryzen AI MAX 300 Strix Halo processors would carry an iGPU with Radeon 8000S branding. However, at the same time, we expected the Radeon RX 8000 series of desktop GPUs to have a similar branding while being powered by RDNA 4. The new Radeon naming scheme is now transparent, thanks to the latest leaks of the naming schemes and early glimpses of reference design.

The RDNA 4-based RX 9000 series will be powered by the Radeon RX 9070 XT, built on the Navi 48 silicon. This GPU represents AMD's new focus on the high-volume midrange performance segment rather than competing in the ultra-enthusiast high-end space. The architecture promises enhanced SIMD IPC performance and a specialized ray tracing solution that significantly reduces performance overhead compared to current offerings. According to All The Watts, the RX 9000 lineup is expected to include various SKUs across different performance tiers, including the RX 9060, 9050, and 9040 series. Meanwhile, the RDNA 3.5-powered RX 8000 series will serve as a refined iteration of the current RDNA 3 generation. Still, they will be exclusive to AMD's mobile segment in the form of iGPU, integrated inside Strix Halo APU. Both RDNA 4 GPUs and RDNA 3.5-based APUs are scheduled for the CES 2025 event unveiling in January.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI Kraken Point APUs appear to be affordable APUs for next-generation thin-and-light laptops and potentially even some gaming handhelds. Murmurings of these new APUs have been going around for quite some time, but a PassMark benchmark was just posted, giving us a pretty comprehensive look at the hardware configuration for the upcoming Ryzen AI 7 350. While the CPU configuration in the PassMark result confirms the 4+4 configuration we reported on previously, it seems as though the iGPU portion of the new Ryzen AI 7 is getting something of a downgrade compared to previous generations.

While all previous mobile Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 APUs have featured the Radeon -80M or -90M series iGPUs, the Ryzen AI 7 350 steps down to the AMD Radeon 860M. Although not much is known about the new iGPU, it uses the same nomenclature as the Radeon iGPUs found in previous Ryzen 5 APUs, suggesting it is the less performant of the new 800 series iGPUs. This would be the first time, at least since the introduction of the Ryzen branding, that a Ryzen 7 CPU will use a cut-down iGPU. This, along with the 4+4 (Zen 5 and Zen 5c) heterogenous architecture, suggests that this Ryzen 7 APU will prioritize battery life and thermal performance, likely in response to Qualcomm's recent offerings. Comparing the 760M to the single 860M benchmark on PassMark reveals similar performance, with the 860M actually falling behind the average 760M by an average of 9.1%. Take this with a grain of salt, though, since there is only one benchmark result on PassMark for the 860M.

AMD's recently launched Strix Point lineup of high-end APUs boast truly impressive performance, even when configured with lower TDPs. As time goes on, more and more hardware brands are hitting the market with Strix Point-powered devices, and unsurprisingly, Aoostar does not wish to sit on the sidelines either.

The company has teased a yet-to-be announced mini PC, with Strix Point at its heart. Powered by the powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU, the system will likely offer excellent performance, considering that Aoostar refuses to skimp on its cooling system. Thankfully, that does seem to be case, since Aoostar claims the upcoming mini PC will boast a vapor chamber cooling setup allowing the HX 370 to run at its maximum of 54 watts. For those out of the loop, here is a rundown of the HX 370's specifications: 12-core setup with 8 Zen 5c cores and 4 Zen 5 cores, Radeon 890M iGPU based on RDNA 3+, and a 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU to justify the "AI" branding.

CES 2025 is less than a month away and leaks about AMD Strix Halo APUs are starting to emerge. Today we have confirmation via a leaked Geekbench Vulcan test that AMD will launch the Ryzen AI MAX+ PRO 395 w/ Radeon 8060S "Strix Halo" APU. Information reveals that this APU is equipped with 16 Zen 5 cores with 32 threads, a 3 GHz base frequency (4.4 GHz max), and a boost up to 5.1 GHz. It sports a 32 MB L3 cache per CCD for a total of 64 MB since it uses a dual CCD chip design. The TDP should be between 55-130 W. Moreover, the "PRO" in the product naming suggests that AMD could release non-PRO models at a later date.

The integrated Radeon 8060S iGPU adopts the RDNA 3.5 architecture with 40 computing units and was tested using an AMD reference board design codenamed AMD MAPLE-STXH and 64 GB of memory scoring 67,004 points in the Geekbench Vulkan test. This initial result is lower than AMD Radeon RX 7600 RDNA 3 discrete entry-level products (despite having more cores 40CU vs 32CU), and higher than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. However, since the benchmark was run on an evaluation platform without optimized drivers and more likely using an early test sample product, we can expect the actual performance of the Radeon 8060S iGPU to be higher.

It looks like Sony is joining Xbox in the development of a standalone handheld gaming console to compete with the likes of the Nintendo Switch and Valve Steam Deck. According to a Bloomberg's insider sources, a Sony gaming handheld is already in development, and would be designed with Sony PlayStation 5 games in mind. Unlike the PlayStation Portal, the future gaming console wouldn't be dependent on game streaming and would, instead, run games locally, meaning it would likely need significantly more powerful hardware than the Portal has. This would be Sony's first true foray into the portable gaming console market since the likes of the PS Vita, which is largely considered to be a commercial disappointment.

Sony isn't the first of the console giants looking into creating its own gaming handheld after Nintendo's Switch. Obviously, Valve, traditionally more of a software company, already has the immensely popular Steam Deck, but we also recently reported that Microsoft is in the early stages of developing its own handheld gaming console. Details on the future Sony gaming handheld are scant, and there has been no official word from Sony about the console. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see it equipped with an AMD APU, similar to the likes of the Steam Deck and the PS5, since Sony already has history and a commercial relationship with AMD hardware.

HWiNFO has been updated to version v8.16, which brings several new improvements and fixes, as well as adds enhanced support for next-generation AMD CPUs and APUs, as well as next-generation Intel GPUs. While it does not specify any models, it is clear that it gets support for AMD's upcoming Kraken Point and Strix Halo APUs, as well as Intel's upcoming Battlemage GPUs.

In addition, the new HWiNFO v8.16 also improves support for Intel Lunar Lake, adds reporting of number of NPU tiles, adds support for Cybenetics Powenetics PMD (Power Measurements Device), enhances sensor monitoring on MSI's Z890, B860, and H810 series motherboards, enhances reporting of CUDIMM CKD parameters, NGU clock, and drive letter, and improves reporting of V/F curve settings, among other things. You can check out the full release notes below.

AYANEO has officially revealed its latest handheld gaming console, dubbed the AYANEO 3. The company has teased the handheld multiple times in the past, while refraining from sharing any specifications regarding the same. Now, however, the company has detailed the internals for its new flagship handheld along with a few extra details.

The AYANEO 3 appears to be powered exclusively by AMD APUs, with Intel's Lunar Lake options nowhere to be found. Interested buyers will get to choose between either the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU, or the Ryzen 7 8840U "Hawk Point" APU. The "Strix Point" option happens to be AMD's latest and greatest, packing 4 Zen 5 and 8 Zen 5c cores, while the "Hawk Point" option sports 8 Zen 4 cores only.

AMD's answer to Intel's "Lunar Lake" is here. According to Olrak29, who discovered a strange entry on the OpenBenchmark benchmarking suite made by Phoronix, we have preliminary information on AMD's "Krackan / Kraken Point" APU. Spotted in the benchmark trials is the "100-000000713" model, which corresponds to an eight-core, sixteen-threaded CPU with four regular Zen 5 and four smaller (but not less potent) Zen 5c cores clocked at 3.95 GHz. Do note that this is just an engineering sample in the wild, so final clock speeds will depend mainly on AMD and its OEMs, given by TDP they plan to support with Kraken Point.

Accompanying the 8C/16T CPU configuration is the 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory from SK Hynix. According to the benchmark reading, four 8 GB modules were present, so we expect it to be on the system board, unlike on-chip like Intel does with Lunar Lake. The memory is running at 8000 MT/s, which is a 500 MT/s improvement over Strix Point and slower than its competitor, Lunar Lake, which has LPDDR5X running at 8533 MT/s. Lastly, the Krackan / Kraken Point APU has been spotted with eight RDNA 3.5 Compute Units. Where this exactly lands in AMD's product stack is still unclear. We expect to hear more about it as we enter 2025, so by then, remain patient until the next leak.

Nintendo's next-generation Switch 2 handheld gaming console is nearing its release. As leaks intensify about its future specifications, we get information about its planning stages. According to Moore's Law is Dead YouTube video, we learn that Nintendo didn't choose AMD APU to be the powerhouse behind Switch 2 due to poor battery life. In a bid to secure the best chip at a mere five watts of power, the Japanese company had two choices: NVIDIA Tegra or AMD APU. With some preliminary testing and evaluation, AMD APU wasn't reportedly power-efficient at 5 Watt TDP, while the NVIDIA Tegra chip was maintaining sufficient battery life and performance at target specifications.

Allegedly the AMD APU was good for 15 W design, but Nintendo didn't want to place a bigger battery so that the device remains lighter and cheaper. The final design will likely carry a battery with a 20 Wh capacity, which will be the main power source behind the NVIDIA Tegra T239 SoC. As a reminder, the Tegra T239 SoC features eight-core Arm A78C cluster with modified NVIDIA Ampere cores in combination with DLSS, featuring some of the latest encoding/decoding elements from Ada Lovelace, like AV1. There are likely 1536 CUDA cores paired with 128-bit LPDDR5 memory running at 102 GB/s bandwidth. For final specifications, we have to wait for the official launch, but with rumors starting to intensify, we can expect to see it relatively soon.

The upcoming Strix Point Halo processors from AMD now have a new name - Ryzen AI Max - and come with big promises of impressive power. This rumor, first reported by VideoCardz and originating from Weibo leaker Golden Pig Upgrade, reveals key details about the first three processors in this lineup, along with their specifications.

The leaker claims AMD might roll out a new naming system for these processors branding them as part of the Ryzen AI Max series. These chips will run on the anticipated Strix Halo APU. This series includes three models, with the top-end version boasting up to 16 Zen 5 cores and 40 Compute Units (CUs) for graphics. This setup is expected for the best model contrary to earlier rumors that AMD would drop such a variant. In fact, word has it that at least two of the models in this lineup will come with 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units. The leaker also hints that Strix Halo will handle up to 96 GB of video memory suggesting AMD aims to make this processor work with its ROCm (Open Compute Platform) system.

A few days ago, we reported on AMD's newest expansion plans for Serbia. The company opened two new engineering design centers with offices in Belgrade and Nis. We were invited to join the opening ceremony and got an exclusive interview with one of AMD's top executives, Andrej Zdravkovic, who is the senior vice president and Chief Software Officer. Previously, we reported on AMD's transition to become a software company. The company has recently tripled its software engineering workforce and is moving some of its best people to support these teams. AMD's plan is spread over a three to five-year timeframe to improve its software ecosystem, accelerating hardware development to launch new products more frequently and to react to changes in software demand. AMD found that to help these expansion efforts, opening new design centers in Serbia would be very advantageous.

We sat down with Andrej Zdravkovic to discuss the purpose of AMD's establishment in Serbia and the future of some products. Zdravkovic is actually an engineer from Serbia, where he completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in electrical engineering from Belgrade University. In 1998, Zdravkovic joined ATI and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior director. During his decade-long tenure, Zdravkovic witnessed a significant industry shift as AMD acquired ATI in 2006. After a brief stint at another company, Zdravkovic returned to AMD in 2015, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on the evolution of the graphics and computing industry.Here is the full interview: