Intel's and AMD's weak point exploited: Why Qualcomm shines in the budget laptop sector

[Redaktion]

Old technology in new laptops: Many cheaper mobile PCs contain x86 processors from AMD and Intel that are no longer state of the art. Qualcomm is filling this gap with the Snapdragon X, as the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 15Q8X10 shows.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-s-and-AMD-s-weak-point-exploited-Why-Qualcomm-shines-in-the-budget-laptop-sector.1095964.0.html

[Maz]

This is all good, but there is more to a SoC than raw cpu performance. One area of concern - ongoing GPU driver support.  Another - software compatibility. These cores seem to lack for example AVX/AVX2 instructions and currently software that depends on it won't work. Microsoft/Qualcomm will eventually emulate it in software, but that will remove any performance benefit.

[indyp]

Don't bother. Notebookcheck gives a "pass" to ARM laptops when it comes to software compatibility or functionality.

It doesn't work well on Windows or Linux, but the hardware is amazing!

Of course it's cheap. It runs an imperfect emulation layer that may not work AT ALL for your needs.

It puts into question all Notebookcheck reviews, as there is a bias that seems highly questionable.

[will blake]

There isn't much innovation happening in laptops in general. (Still stuck on 8gb vram for dgpus on very expensive laptops, the cooling is often obstructed or limited just by due to the nature of the vent design, still have a bunch of unnecessary apps & bloat opening upon start-up in win 11, etc)

For the above reasons I think handhelds have pretty much replaced the budget laptop. They often launch with modern CPUs (e.g. zen 5) that aren't outdated. Typically can get them < $1000, often under $700 if you go open box / refurb route. Have substantially better thermals and cooling as they use their entire surface area of their back as one big airflow cooling vent. Most of the software optimization is happening in this space too because they really need to focus on low power.

Yeah, they don't have a keyboards but using a laptop one isn't exactly great for your back and neck anyway. Far better off, just docking handheld and hooking external keyboard+mouse+monitor. It's getting hard to justify laptops with current pricing trends.

I do think arm is the future but unfortunately it's not quite there yet. Especially with Nvidia delaying their n1x for laptops it might take awhile. Even when they first arrive it'll probably be for high margin markets like business first. So don't expect mainstream market availability until 2027-2028. If you need something now and stable, this isn't a real option.