HardwareGaming LaptopsLeaked Dell docs suggest Qualcomm’s new laptop chips could deliver nearly twice the battery life of the latest Intel CPUsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareGaming LaptopsLeaked Dell docs suggest Qualcomm’s new laptop chips could deliver nearly twice the battery life of the latest Intel CPUsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
Dell has been testing various configurations of its laptops, comparing the energy consumption of Arm-basedSnapdragon Xchips to Intel’s Alder Lake and Meteor Lake CPUs. On platforms sporting Qualcomm processors, local video playback (i.e. running a movie from the SSD) requires half the amount of power as an equivalent Alder Lake chip—a little over 21 hours of playback compared to just 11 hours on the Intel laptop.
It’s a similar story for movie streaming and Qualcomm’s chip was at least 68% better, in terms of battery life, compared to the best Alder Lake laptop. These figures tally with Qualcomm’sclaims of its chips being more energy efficientthan Meteor Lake, with battery life being 40 to more than 100% longer than aCore Ultra 7platform, depending on the application.
Processors based on the Arm architecture are well known for being very energy efficient, as they’re often used in situations where low power consumption is an absolute necessity, such as in smartphones, embedded systems, and wearable devices. Qualcomm has years of experience in these sectors so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that its Snapdragon X chips are just as light on power.
What might surprise some is that despite being a brand-new design, Qualcomm is substantially under-cutting Intel on price. Dell estimated it will need to pay $145 for a 10-coreSnapdragon X Pluschip, compared to $296 for a 12-corei7 1360Pchip.
Even if Intel’s processor is notably faster than Qualcomm’s offering, that price is clearly going to be very enticing to Dell. Budget and mainstream laptops typically have small profit margins, so anything that can be used to slice $100 to 150 off the BOM (bill of materials) is going to be snapped up.
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Not that the end consumer will see significantly lower prices, though. The lengthy document also points out that a Snapdragon-powered XPS 13 laptop will still cost a little under $1,289 for materials, software, warranties, etc—roughly $100 lower than an equivalent Intel build—so they probably won’t be sold for much less than that, if at all.
Dell’s presentation clearly shows Apple as being its chief competitor, noting that the M2 Macbook Air retails at $1,199 for an 8GB RAM, 256GB SDD model. The target customer for the Snapdragon X laptops (“young metropolitan”) is probably not going to worry about a price difference of a few hundred dollars and instead will want something that either looks the part or has a great battery life, especially when consuming media.
Your next machine(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Your next machine
(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
(Image credit: Future)
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Traditionally, that’s always meant getting a Macbook but Dell obviously believes it has the right product to challenge that mindset.
Early viewings of Snapdragon X all point to the chips beingperfectly capableof handling Windows-based applications and games just as well as the competition, and whileQualcomm’s performance claimshave yet to be independently tested, the low power consumption and competitive price should mean we’ll see some really good laptops appearing this year.
If they sell well enough, a fourth competitor in the notebook chip market should help drive prices lower, as each vendor attempts to pull customers away from the usual crowd.
While I’m ambivalent about 2024 being the year of the AI PC, I’m becoming increasingly sold on it being the year of the Arm PC. WithMediaTek and Nvidiarumoured to be joining the party, it’s clear that I’m not the only one.
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Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
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