Verily, a mere day subsequent to Intel unveiling its Lunar Lake laptop CPUs at IFA 2024, Qualcomm doth strike back with a fresh Snapdragon X Plus chip. This newfound Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, aptly christened, doth pare down the core count seen upon a tidal wave of Snapdragon X Elite laptops, seeking to outmaneuver the competition from Apple. Qualcomm doth proclaim that machines adorned with this novel CPU, potentially earning a spot amongst the best laptops, shall soon be at the buyer’s disposal.
The Snapdragon X Plus is not a novice, yet this iteration of the chip doth mark a divergence. The fundamental disparity lieth within the nomenclature. This CPU doth feature eight cores in lieu of ten, whilst Qualcomm doth persist in employing a 4nm process, boasting that the chip can achieve speeds of up to 3.4GHz with single-core bursts soaring to 4GHz. Crucially, the chip still bears a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), enabling its integration into Copilot+ laptops endowed with 45 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS) of vitality. Laptops harboring this chip art anticipated to bestow commendable battery life, as hath been a recurring motif in Qualcomm laptops like the nascent Dell XPS 13 9345.
Although this fresh chip may perchance lack the vigor of the 10-core Snapdragon X Plus or the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm doth assert that it outmatches the competition with its might. The company touts that the chip doth deliver a 108% superior performance than the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U at 15 watts in multi-core capability, and espouses a single-core advantage of 40% at 6W when compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 8640U. Qualcomm doth delight in employing these efficiency benchmarks, divulging its prowess at varying power levels. As evidenced by novel x86 laptops like the Asus Zenbook S 16, the zenith performance figures art nigher than Qualcomm suggests.
In truth, performance is not the chief allure herein. ‘Tis the price that doth beckon. Qualcomm doth profess that this recent CPU “enables” Copilot+ laptops in the $700 to $900 range. The vernacular utilised here holds import, for Qualcomm doth not expressly declare that these novel laptops shall be priced betwixt $700 and $900 — merely indicating that such a price range is feasible. Two amongst the initial laptops donning this chip which we art privy to, namely the Asus Vivobook S 15 and ProArt PZ13, art slated to be priced at $899 and $1,099, respectively.
Even if only but a sprinkling of laptops manage to descend to $700, ’tis an advantage of considerable magnitude Qualcomm doth garner against Apple’s offerings. For a MacBook Air, one must needs shell out no less than $1,000, and that’s with the aged M2 chip. By proffering Copilot+ laptops below said price, particularly with requisites such as 16GB of RAM, Qualcomm couldst carve out a significant portion of the mainstream market.
Qualcomm doth declare that laptops equipped with the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core shalt be procurable from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, with “select devices” currently available for purchase.