Ryzen 8000 vs. Lunar Lake-M: Laptop CPU Showdown

The Strix Point, Hawk Point, Arrow Lake, and Lunar Lake next-generation AMD and Intel laptop CPU families have been described in depth.

With next-generation CPUs like Strix Point, Arrow Lake, and Hawk Point, Intel and AMD will be engaged in a heated competition in the laptop market from 2024 to 2025.

The most recent data comes from Bilibili’s Golden Pig Upgrade, which largely contains information that has been known for some time with a few fresh additions. The laptop lineups mentioned here span the 2023–2025 period and feature next-generation models from both AMD and Ryzen. Beginning with the AMD family, AMD will release two new product families in addition to its Phoenix Ryzen 7040 APUs: the Hawk Point “Ryzen 8040” and Strix Point “Ryzen 8050” series.

AMD Hawk Point APUs: Phoenix Refresh With Zen 4 Cores & RDNA 3 iGPU, Q1 2024 Launch

The data indicates that the Hawk Point family will debut in the first few months of 2019 and replace the current Phoenix “Ryzen 7040” APUs. These APUs can have up to 8 cores and 16 threads and will once again use the Zen 4 architecture. The chips will support DDR5/LPDDR5x memory and be compatible with the FP7/r2 and FP8 platforms. The leaker claims that Hawk Point APUs would use the RDNA 3 architecture, in contrast to prior speculations that claimed Hawk Point would use the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture.

• Zen 4 (4nm) Monolithic Design
• Up To 8 Cores
• 12 RDNA 3+ Compute Units
• XDNA Engine Integrated
• Q1 Launch (Expected)

AMD Strix Point APUs: Ryzen 8050 Zen 5 & Zen 5C Hybrid Cores, RDNA 3.5 iGPUs, 2H 2024 Launch

Strix Point and Strix Point Halo, both of which will be included in the Ryzen 8050 APU family, will actually replace the AMD Ryzen 7040 “Phoenix” APUs. Since the Strix Point chips will provide a monolithic design with a combination of Zen 5C and Zen 5D cores, and the more expensive Strix Halo chips will have a chiplet design with the Zen 5C cores alone, these laptop chips will be divided into two halves.

AMD Ryzen 8050 Strix Point Mono Expected Features:

• Zen 5 (4nm) Monolithic Design
• Up To 12 Cores In Hybrid Config (Zen 5 + Zen 5C)
• 32 MB of Shared L3 cache
• 35% Faster CPU Versus Phoenix at 50W
• 16 RDNA 3+ Compute Units
• On Par With RTX 3050 Max-Q
• 128-bit LPDDR5X Memory Controller
• XDNA Engine Integrated
• 20 TOPS AI Engine
• Q2-Q3 Launch (Expected)

AMD Ryzen 8050 Strix Point Halo Expected Features:

• Zen 5 Chiplet Design
• Up To 16 Cores
• 64 MB of Shared L3 cache
• 25% Faster CPU Versus 16-Core Dragon Range at 90W
• 40 RDNA 3+ Compute Units
• On Par With RTX 4070 Max-Q (90W)
• 256-bit LPDDR5X Memory Controler
• XDNA Engine Integrated
• 40 TOPS AI Engine
• 2H 2024 Launch (Expected)

RDNA 3.5 iGPUs will be included in the AMD Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs, which will also support the FP8 and FP11 platforms, respectively. While the mainstream processors only support LPDDR5x, the higher-end chips will support both DDR5 and LPDDR5x DRAM. We may anticipate the Strix Point APUs to hit the shelves by the middle of 2024, which should practically fall in 2H 2024, as the announcement is anticipated at CES 2024. In 2023, AMD took about the same amount of time to launch Phoenix in the retail market.

AMD Ryzen Mobility CPUs:

Intel Meteor Lake “1st Gen” Core Ultra: H/U-Series Target Early 2024 Shipments

Moving over to the Intel side, we start with Intel’s first-generation Core Ultra range, codenamed Meteor Lake, which is technically slated to ship on December 14 but which, according to sources, won’t be widely accessible until early 2024. While some Meteor Lake-H chips will begin selling at the end of 2023, customers will have to wait until early 2024 to get their hands on the more expensive and performance-focused designs, according to the roadmap for Intel Meteor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs.

The higher-end HX series will also be missing from Meteor Lake, which is why a 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh-HX lineup is anticipated for 2024. The entry-level market, which includes Core i3, etc., won’t be served by Meteor Lake CPUs, therefore the Raptor Lake Refresh-U series will aim for pricing that are far less expensive than Meteor Lake alternatives in that market. Even a Raptor Lake Refresh-H series is being planned for release in late 2024.

The primary characteristics of the 1st Gen Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” family include the following:

• Triple-Hybrid CPU Architecture (P/E/LP-E Cores)
• Brand New Redwood Cove (P-Cores)
• Brand New Crestmont (E-Cores)
• Up To 14 Cores (6+8) For H/P Series & Up To 12 Cores (4+8) For U Series CPUs
• Intel 4 Process Node For CPU, TSMC For tGPU
• Intel ‘Xe-MTL’ GPU With Up To 128 EUs
• Up To LPDDR5X-7467 & DDR5-5200 Support
• Up To 96 GB DDR5 & 64 GB LPDDR5X Capacities
• Intel VPU For AI Inferencing With Atom Cores
• x8 Gen 5 Lanes For Discrete GPU (Only H-Series)
• Triple x4 M.2 Gen 4 SSD Support
• Four Thunderbolt 4 Ports

The three Meteor Lake CPU models Meteor Lake-H, Meteor Lake-U15, and Meteor Lake-U9 will be offered separately.

Late 2024 for Arrow Lake-H, 2025 for Arrow Lake-HX for Intel’s Arrow Lake “2nd Gen” Core Ultra

The H-series laptop SKUs will be the first to get Intel’s 2nd Gen Core Ultra family, code-named Arrow Lake, in 2024. Once more, it’s anticipated that the supply of these chips would be restricted at first, before becoming normal around 2025. As the actual successor of Raptor Lake-HX processors, the Arrow Lake family will also contain HX-series CPUs for enthusiast laptops that would pair well with next-generation discrete GPUs. These processors will compete with AMD’s Fire Range-HX components, which will serve as laptops’ desktop substitutes.

In 2025, Intel Lunar Lake-M Will Be Available For Low-Power Mobility Platforms

• 2nd Gen Core Ultra Family
• Targets High-End H/HX Series
• Intel 20A Compute Tile
• Lion Cove P-Cores
• Skymont E-Cores
• Alchemist+ Graphics Tile
• TSMC 3nm Node For iGPU Tile
• Up To 192 EUs
• Similar VPU/NPU Capabilities as Meteor Lake
• 2H 2024 Launch

The Meteor Lake-U series CPUs will be replaced by Intel’s Lunar Lake-M, which is aimed at low-power laptops and other devices. In 2025, this range is anticipated to coexist with the Arrow Lake-H and Arrow Lake-HX chips. What is known about Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs is as follows:

• Targets Low Power Laptops
• Architecture Built From The Ground Up
• Increased Performance Per Watt
• Lion Cove P-Cores
• Skymont E-Cores
• Battlemage iGPU
• Possibly Uses Intel 20A Process Node
• 4+4 Core Configurations (Current ES Samples)

Intel Mobility CPU Lineup:

It appears that there will be a lot of activity in the laptop market between 2023 and 2025, with a number of releases, brand-new product families, designs that offer significant increases in performance and efficiency, and some really next-generation laptop options for consumers across the world.

Intel & AMD Laptop CPU Families (Expected):

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