AMD unveils new Ryzen chips, 'world's fastest' CPUs for ultrathin notebooks

AMD has unveiled new Ryzen chips for premium 2-in-1s, convertibles and ultrathin notebook computers which it claims are the world's fastest CPUs for these devices.

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Details on two chips have been unveiled:

Ryzen 7 2700U with Radeon Vega Graphics:

• 4 cores/8 threads
• 3.8 GHz max clock
• 10 Graphics Compute Units
• 1300 MHz GPU
• 6MB L2/L3 cache
• 15W nominal TDP (ranging between 12W and 25W)

Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Graphics:

• 4 cores/8 threads
• 3.6 GHz max clock
• 8 Graphics Compute Units
• 1100 MHz GPU
• 6MB L2/L3 cache
• 15W nominal TDP (ranging between 12W and 25W)

AMD unveils world's fastest CPUs for ultrathin notebooks

Overall, according to AMD these Ryzen mobile processors provide superior performance compared to the previous AMD mobile processor generation, including:

• Up to three times the CPU performance
• Up to 2.3X the GPU performance
• Up to 58 percent less power consumption

On the power front, AMD claim that Ryzen mobile processors can offer up to twice the battery life compared to its earlier FX-9800P mobile chip, and when the system is at the Windows desktop the CPU can be powered down for as much as 99 percent of the time, with the GPU capable of being powered down 95 percent of the time when not in use.

As far as graphics are concerned, both the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U support 10-bit H.265/HEVC decoding for 4K video and VP9.

Ryzen mobile processors also introduce for the first time:

• New Precision Boost 2 technology, which accelerates processor performance in workloads using from one to many CPU cores, which means that core speeds can be adjusted independently and on the fly according to power availability ad thermal constraints
• Mobile Extended Frequency Range (mXFR), which boosts performance on systems with enhanced cooling solutions on systems certified for "Ultimate XFR Performance"

At this stage we don't know how these chips compare to Intel's Kaby Lake chips, but based on the information supplied, these chips look like they could give Intel a run for its money.

These chips will appear in systems by Acer, HP, and Lenovo in the coming weeks (the three systems that use the chips will be a 15-inch HP Envy x360, a 13-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 720S, and a 15-inch Acer Swift 3), with further platform updates expected from Dell, Asus, and other OEMs in early 2018.

See also:

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• iOS 11.0.1 update causes havoc for some iPhone and iPad users
• How to test chargers and power banks to make sure they don't blow up your expensive smartphone

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