#Snapdragon X Elite
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Microsoft has finally released Windows 11 24H2 ISO image for ARM PCs. It means that Snapdragon X Elite/Plus laptops can be clean-installed using the ISO.
In a major escalation, Arm has issued a 60-day notice of cancellation to Qualcomm, threatening to cancel its architectural license. The legal dispute is over the Oryon CPU developed by Nuvia inside Qualcomm. The original license given to Nuvia was for developing server CPUs. The trial will start in December 2024.
Qualcomm has abruptly canceled the Snapdragon Dev Kit and says all customers will get a refund. In an email, the chipmaker says it didn't meet the high standards of excellence. The HDMI port is said to have caused major issues in production, causing delays.
Microsoft Goes Back to Intel; Surface Laptop 7 with Lunar Lake is Coming
Arjun Sha
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According to a Reddit leak, Microsoft is planning to launch the Surface Laptop 7 with Intel's latest Lunar Lake chipset. The upcoming Surface Laptop 7 would pack the Intel Core Ultra 7 268V processor. It's a major development as Microsoft had earlier announced that the Surface Laptop 7 would exclusively feature Qualcomm's ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chipset.
Qualcomm is reportedly working on the second generation of Snapdragon X2 Elite chipsets. The model number is "SC8480XP" and the internal codename is "Project Glymur." Besides that, Qualcomm may introduce a new 8-core Snapdragon X Plus SKU, X1P-24-100, into the market.
Intel's new Lunar Lake chipsets look very promising. It delivers exceptional efficiency and matches Snapdragon X Elite's perf/watt figure. In the CPU department, Lunar Lake is slightly behind X Elite's Oryon CPU. However, Lunar Lake's GPU is much more powerful and the NPU has been redesigned to deliver AI performance up to 48 TOPS. Intel says Lunar Lake rivals Snapdragon X Elite in terms of battery life too.
Qualcomm Makes Windows ARM Laptops Affordable with New Snapdragon X Plus Chips
Arjun Sha
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Qualcomm has launched three new Snapdragon X Plus chipsets to bring down the price of Windows ARM laptops. One SKU has 10 Oryon cores and the other two SKUs have 8 CPU cores. While the CPU performance is expected to be good, the GPU performance on the bottom two SKUs has taken a significant hit.
We have thoroughly benchmarked the Snapdragon X Elite processor on a variety of tests including Geekbench, Cinebench, 3DMark, Speedometer, and more. While the performance is top-notch, it draws more power than Apple M-series chipsets. But it's still much better than x86 processors when it comes to delivering performance at lower power. Go through our article to find all the benchmark numbers.
The Snapdragon for India event will be held in Delhi on July 30. The company has also said there will be two "Historic Announcements" during the event. One of them could be the official launch of Copilot+ PCs in India, while the other could be a 5G phone launch in partnership with Jio.
If you want to buy a Snapdragon X Elite laptop in India, well, you can now pre-order HP's Copilot+ PCs. HP Omnibook X and HP EliteBook Ultra G1q are now available in India and you can pre-order the devices right away. Both laptops bring the third SKU (X1E-78-100) of the Snapdragon X series lineup.
Snapdragon X Elite Reviews are Out: Solid Performance and Great Battery Life
Arjun Sha
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The embargo has finally lifted and many outlets have reviewed the Asus Vivobook S15, which is powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor. As Qualcomm claimed, the Snapdragon X Elite chipset delivers great performance, matching the Apple M3 in multi-core tasks, and the battery life rivals the MacBook Air M3. The X Elite-powered PC delivers battery life up to 13 hours while performing everyday tasks.
Microsoft has developed a new Prism layer to run x86 apps on next-gen ARM-based Copilot+ PCs with better compatibility and performance. Microsoft says the new Prism layer offers up to 2x performance jump in single-core tasks. It also translates Windows libraries, game drivers, and x86 binaries for making Windows games playable on Snapdragon X series PCs. In an early report, emulated apps are said to perform even better than native apps running on Intel processors.
Early Report Indicates Snapdragon X Elite is Powerful But Runs Hotter Than Apple M3
Arjun Sha
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In an early report by Signal65, the Surface Laptop 7, powered by Snapdragon X Elite performs better than Apple MacBook Air M3 in multi-threaded tasks. Its battery life is also pretty good and outperforms the MacBook Air M3. However, when the system is fully loaded for an extended period, the Surface Laptop 7 tends to get hot.
A Microsoft-backed third-party website is maintaining a list of Windows games that can be played on ARM-based PCs. You can find games that run perfectly well, some are playable, and some run with glitches. Intensive titles like Fortnite and PUBG currently don't run on Snapdragon X series PCs.
Find the list of all Snapdragon X Elite laptops from OEMs like HP, Samsung, Asus, Acer, Microsoft, Dell, and more. We have added information about which Snapdragon X Elite variant the laptop uses and what kind of performance you can expect.
Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows with X Elite Chip
Abubakar Mohammed
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Qualcomm's X Elite developer kit costs $899 and it comes with a special edition 12-core X Elite processor, 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, 512GB of m.2 NVMe storage, and lots of I/O. The kit will go on sale starting June 18, the same day the first batch X Elite Copilot Plus PCs go on sale.
Microsoft Unveils Copilot+ Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with Snapdragon X Elite
Arjun Sha
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The new era of ARM PCs is here. Microsoft has just announced its Copilot+ PCs including Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. Both Surface devices come with the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chipsets. You get a built-in NPU that can deliver performance up to 45 TOPS. The price starts at $999 for both Surface devices.
Apple's M4 chipset is clocked at a mighty 4.4GHz frequency and it delivers unrivaled performance and efficiency. In comparison to the Snapdragon X Elite's top variant, the M4 has a 23% lead in single-core CPU performance while drawing much less power. And the 10-core M4 GPU outperforms Snapdragon's 6-core Adreno GPU handily. That said, Qualcomm makes a comeback in NPU performance, outranking Apple's 16-core Neural Engine.
We have extensively compared the Snapdragon X Elite and Apple M3 chipsets. In terms of CPU performance, both processors are on par, however, Apple achieves identical performance at a lower frequency. On the GPU front, the Adreno GPU on X Elite can't beat the Apple M3 GPU. But it does rival the older M2 GPU. Finally, on the NPU front, Qualcomm takes the lead with the powerful Hexagon NPU.
Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus: What’s the Difference, SKUs, and Benchmarks
Arjun Sha
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Qualcomm is all set to redefine the PC ecosystem with its Snapdragon X series lineup. There are a total of four chipsets: three are from the Snapdragon X Elite platform and one is from the Snapdragon X Plus platform. The top-tier Elite variant, X1E-84-100, offers a dual-core boost up to 4.2GHz. The Plus variant offers multithreaded frequency up to 3.4GHz. The Adreno GPU can perform up to 4.6 TFLOPs on the top-end variant, but the rest of the lineup offers performance up to 3.8 TFLOPs. That said, the Hexagon NPU is the same across all chipsets, which delivers performance up to 45 TOPS.
Just before the Snapdragon X series launch, a Geekbench listing appeared running the Snapdragon X Plus chipset. It's the toned-down version of Snapdragon X Elite and comes with 10 CPU cores. The base frequency is reported to be 3.42GHz and packs 16GB of RAM. The device named "OEMMN OEMMN" is said to be the upcoming Surface Pro 10.
Qualcomm is officially going to debut the Snapdragon X series chipset for PCs on April 24th. Apart from the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite, there is another variant called Snapdragon X Plus with 8 CPU cores and 5G connectivity. Reportedly, there are as many as eight different SKUs of the chipset in different power profiles, from 23W to 80W. Lenovo is also reported to launch its first AI PC in China on April 20th with the Snapdragon X series processor.
The much-hyped AI Explorer feature which is said to come with the 24H2 update on Windows 11, might be exclusive to Snapdragon X Elite PCs only. A code snippet found in the latest insider build shows the system requirements for the AI Explorer feature to work. The PC must be powered by an ARM64 CPU and Snapdragon X Elite NPU and must have 16GB of RAM, and 225GB of storage.
First Look of Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Laptop with Snapdragon X Elite Revealed
Arjun Sha
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Here is a sneak peek of the first Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptop. Courtesy of an X user, the leaked images show the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 laptop with the Snapdragon X Elite processor in full glory. It also comes with a dedicated Copilot key. The specifications are not known as of now.
In the build-up to the launch of Snapdragon X Elite, we take a look at the x86 architecture, and how different is the ARM architecture. Can the Snapdragon X Elite fix poor battery life and thermal performance, mostly seen on Windows laptops? We tackle all these questions and try to understand the future of ARM-based PCs.
Apart from Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm is also working on a new Snapdragon X Plus variant for Windows PCs. It may come with 10 Oryon CPU cores, instead of 12, and may pack a Snapdragon 5G modem as well. Qualcomm is testing two variants of the chipset internally.
Google Chrome Arrives for Windows on ARM Before Snapdragon X Elite Debut
Arjun Sha
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After a long hiatus, Google has launched a native ARM version of Chrome for the Windows on ARM platform. The new stable Chrome for WoA brings all the latest features and it's fully optimized for running on the upcoming Snapdragon X Elite processor. Google says, in the coming months, Chrome's performance will get an even bigger boost running on Qualcomm's chipset.
At the Game Developers Conference 2024, a Qualcomm Engineer presented a session on how PC games would run on the Snapdragon X Elite platform. Qualcomm is quite confident that PC games would work even when they are not ported to ARM64 architecture. The company is testing top Steam games on the new ARM platform. Besides that, Qualcomm has prepared Adreno GPU drivers for DirectX 11, 12, Vulkan, and OpenCL.
Microsoft has confirmed an event for May where it will likely unveil the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. The event is all about Surface devices and Windows 11. The next update for Windows 11 is said to bring many AI features including AI Explorer, AI Super Resolution, on-device live captioning, and more.
The Snapdragon X Elite chipset visits Geekbench yet again, and this time, running on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop. The benchmark score is impressive but does not outperform Apple M3. That said, Snapdragon X Elite performs better than Apple M2 and M1. A new leak also suggests that a "Snapdragon X Plus" variant exists and comes with a total of eight SKUs.
Snapdragon X Elite Benchmark Shows It’s All Set to Take on Apple M-series Chips
Arjun Sha
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Fresh listings of Snapdragon X Elite have appeared on Geekbench, and the scores suggest that it's quite close to the Apple M2 Pro chipset having 12 CPU cores. The results indicate that OEMs are testing the 23W version of Snapdragon X Elite on a preview build of Windows 11 with 32GB of RAM. While the results are promising, we will have to wait and see whether commercial laptops launched with the upcoming Snapdragon X Elite SoC deliver similar performance.
Qualcomm has finally released its AI Hub and AI Stack to run AI models locally on Snapdragon platforms, be it your smartphone or PC. The chipmaker has optimized over 75 AI models to run locally on your device. You can generate texts and images, enhance low-light images, perform image segmentation, and do much more locally. Qualcomm's AI Engine delivers 3x-4x better performance than Intel's latest Core Ultra processors.
