Are AMD Ryzen Laptop Good

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When it comes to laptops, up until a year or two ago Intel dominated the laptop scene, and models with AMD CPUs were nowhere to be found. Well, maybe you’d find one or two entry-level models but they had old processors that weren’t any good.

However, fast forward to today, and AMD now has a rather strong presence in the laptop market. This is especially true in the past couple of months, ever since AMD released their 4000 series CPUs for laptops. With that in mind, are AMD Ryzen laptops good? Should you be spending your money on one if you’re looking to get yourself a new laptop?

Yes, AMD Laptops are very good especially with the release of the Ryzen 4000 mobile processors. AMD Laptops containing Ryzen 4000 processors have much higher core/thread count allowing for fantastic performance in computationally demanding tasks such as content creation, gaming, and much more. They also have a low TDP which results in excellent battery life in addition to lower prices when compared to their Intel-based laptops.

The Performance is Great

In the past, one area where AMD laptops suffered quite a bit was performance. That was because they usually came with low core counts and not that impressive frequencies, and to add to this, they were made on old architectures that couldn’t keep up with modern CPUs from competitive brands like Intel.

Well, as we mentioned, that’s all changed. While the Ryzen 2000 laptops weren’t all that impressive, with Ryzen 3000, and especially Ryzen 4000, AMD has been slowly, but certainly taking a large piece of the market share, and it seems like Intel’s dominance has come to an end.

This is immediately obvious when you take a look at big brand laptops that used to come exclusively with Intel processors, such as ASUS’s ROG Zephyrus models, or the Lenovo Legion ones, Dell G5 or ASUS TUF. They’re all great selling models, and they’re switching to AMD. The main reasons? Performance and price.

Processors and TDP

The processors in AMD’s 4th gen laptops come with high core counts, excellent frequencies, and more than reasonable TDP (thermal design power) numbers that keep temperatures and power consumption to a minimum. For example, The Ryzen 7 4700U, which is an extremely popular model in today’s laptops, comes with 8 cores and 8 threads and can boost up to 4.1GHz when necessary. Step up to the Ryzen 7 4800U, and you also get multithreading, which means 8 cores and 16 threads. And you know what’s even more impressive for both of them? They have a TDP of 15W, which is less than Intel’s power-saving-oriented U series CPUs in many scenarios.

There are also the H series processors, which are even more powerful but come at a slightly higher TDP, between 35 and 45W, depending on the specific model. But they also come with 6 (R5 4600H) or 8 (R7 4800H and above) cores, and twice as many threads, which has Intel beat in pretty much any scenario. Some of them, like the Ryzen 9 4900H can even boost up to 4.4GHz.

All this does speak volumes about performance. Whether you’re getting a laptop for gaming, or one you would be using for day-to-day tasks and even some work every once in a while, you really can’t go wrong with any of these CPUs. Of course, higher-end models that are slightly pricier will result in better performance, especially with multithreaded workloads, but there’s something for everyone in AMD’s lineup.

Pricing is Pretty Great, Too

Another area where AMD excels nowadays is its price-to-performance ratio. This is most apparent in the midrange and higher-end laptops, and in the core counts. If you were to compare them to Intel processors, you will see that you usually get more cores, and almost always more threads compared to an Intel counterpart that’s priced the same. To add to this, AMD CPUs usually come with a slightly higher boost clock, too.

Now, you might be wondering why this matters, and the answer is simple. Even though a couple of years ago something like four cores and four threads was enough, nowadays we’re noticing a significant shift in terms of how software and games utilize those cores and threads. We’re seeing more games, for example, that specifically claim that they need at least a quad-core processor to even run on your system. And when you look at the recommended specs, you’ll see that a six-core or an eight-core is recommended. That’s because modern games and quite a lot of modern software applications have learned to take advantage of those multiple cores. The experience on a quad-core processor will be significantly worse than that on an octa-core, for example, and that’s something you will notice in games and more intense workloads.

When you sum these things up, you will see that getting more cores, more threads and higher frequencies for the same price is something you will benefit from, quite significantly. And it’s another big reason why AMD laptops are the way to go.

AMD Laptops Have Excellent Battery Life

When you take a look at the AMD 4000 series laptop processors, you will instantly notice two “series” of CPUs. One of them has a U after the model number, while the other one has an H or HS. The U models are limited to a 15W TDP, while the H and HS models can go up to 54W in some scenarios.

TDP is how much heat a CPU can generate when they’re running real-life applications. While a virus could push these numbers to go a bit higher, in normal scenarios, this is the maximum you’ll see. And it also translates directly into power consumption, which is especially important for laptops. A lower TDP means that the CPU will consume less power, and you’ll get longer battery life as a consequence.

What’s interesting is that even AMD’s H series processors, which are meant to be the high performing models that are great for gaming and heavier workloads, have rather moderate TDP numbers – except for the Ryzen 9 4900H, they all sit at 35W or 45W. This is still great for laptops, and can usually mean a couple of hours of battery life if you don’t push the laptop too hard.

Fortunately, this also applies to some extent for the previous, 3000 series CPUs, which can be found today for excellent prices thanks to the fact that they aren’t the latest generation anymore. They’re a great way to save a few bucks, while still giving you decent battery life out of your laptop.  

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, if you feel like you still need an answer to whether or not AMD Ryzen laptops are good, that answer is a resounding ‘Yes’. They check all the boxes in terms of performance, pricing, and battery life, which are the three most important things when you’re looking to get a new laptop.

In fact, you can compare the performance benchmarks on PC World between AMD’s Mobile Ryzen 4000 Series Processors and Intel’s latest mobile offering top see that AMD is currently the better choice when it comes to laptops.

The only thing you should maybe be worried about is availability – they’ve been selling out rather rapidly, so if you’re looking into getting a new laptop, make sure you’re quick with your decision making. This is, however, another testament to how good of a job AMD has done with them, especially when it comes to the latest, mobile 4000 series CPUs.

At the end of the day, all you have to do is set a budget, see whether you need a high performance or a power-saving-oriented model, and pull the trigger. You’ll love your new AMD laptop, trust us.  

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