When shopping for a brand new Home windows laptop computer, one in every of your first choices will likely be which processor you’d choose.
You would possibly consider this as a straight battle between Intel and AMD, however there’s a 3rd major choice that’s price contemplating.
Qualcomm, an organization identified for its smartphone chips, has been making laptop computer equivalents since 2019. These ARM-based chipsets embody each CPU and GPU parts, and have already been included in units from the likes of Microsoft, Samsung and Lenovo.
A fourth model of the flagship Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform isn’t possible for some time but, however we have already got a reasonably good concept what to anticipate. Right here’s all the things it’s worthwhile to know.
When will Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 laptops be launched?
Qualcomm normally launches new flagship laptop computer chips in direction of the top of the yr, however there’s typically greater than 12 months between releases. Right here’s once they’ve been introduced up to now:
With no signal of it final yr, it’s possible we’ll see the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 earlier than 2023 is out. Other than the pandemic-affected 2020, Qualcomm normally launches new merchandise at an occasion in November or December.
A late 2023 announcement would subsequently appear possible, however that’s solely guesswork at this stage. Leaker Kuba Wojciechowski mentioned in a November 2022 tweet that an upcoming ‘Hamoa’ chip would arrive in 2024 – that’s considered the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4.
Both manner, the primary Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 laptops will in all probability not arrive till 2024.
Which laptops will use the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4?
It’s tough to say at this stage, nevertheless it’s possible we’ll see up to date fashions of the 4 units which use the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. These are:
- Lenovo ThinkPad X13s
- Huawei MateBook E Go (Wi-Fi mannequin solely)
- Samsung Galaxy Guide 2 Professional 360
- Microsoft Floor Professional 9 (customized ‘SQ3’ model)
The Home windows Dev Package 2023 additionally makes use of the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, nevertheless it’s designed for a desktop setup and never aimed toward shoppers.
It’s attainable that a number of the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 units may even make a reapperance:
- Acer Spin 7
- HP Elite Folio
- Samsung Galaxy Guide Go 5G
- Microsoft Floor Professional X (customized ‘SQ2’ model)
Alongside the manufacturers talked about above, Asus is the one different firm to have hinted at a Microsoft partnership up to now. Hopefully the upgrades are compelling sufficient to get extra producers on board.
What’s going to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 specs be?
There’s just one major supply of knowledge to this point, nevertheless it reveals lots. Leaker Kuba Wojciechowski claims to have obtained numerous key particulars in regards to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4, and there’s actually lots to unpack from his January 2023 Twitter thread:
Key takeaways embody essentially the most highly effective chip being outfitted with eight efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores. Throughout inner testing, Qualcomm is seemingly getting 3.5GHz (efficiency) and a pair of.5GHz (effectivity) clock speeds – however its most is more likely to be considerably greater.
These 12 CPU cores are supposedly cut up into blocks of 4, with every having 12MB of L2 cache and 8MB of L3 cache. The overall system cache apparently stands at 12MB, whereas there’s an extra 4Mb for graphical output.
Wojciechowski says there’ll be assist for as much as 64GB of built-in DDR5 RAM. However there’ll supposedly be no improve to the built-in GPU – Adreno 740, the identical one used within the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2. Nevertheless, the high-end 12-core model may even assist discrete GPUs.
Qualcomm
When it comes to connectivity, the 8cx Gen 4 will supposedly be up to date to the brand new Wi-Fi 7 commonplace. It’s anticipated to be out there sooner or later in 2023, forward of the preliminary early 2024 schedule.
Simply keep in mind, that is the one supply of knowledge we have now to this point. Wojciechowski has an honest monitor document for leaks, however that doesn’t imply all the things talked about will make its manner into the ultimate product.
The one factor we might be just about sure of is 5G assist, however an improve to the 8cx Gen 3’s Bluetooth 5.1 would make sense. Bluetooth 5.4 is anticipated sooner or later in 2023, however Qualcomm could go for the present 5.3 as a substitute.
We’ll replace this text as soon as extra is revealed in regards to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4. For information on Qualcomm’s subsequent cell chipset, see our information to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.