Qualcomm embraces budget laptops with launch of lighter Snapdragon X

Qualcomm embraces budget laptops with launch of lighter Snapdragon X

Qualcomm is introducing a lighter version of its ARM processor for Windows: the Snapdragon X, which should power cheaper laptops.

No Elite, no Plus, just Snapdragon X: Qualcomm is showing the entry-level version of its ARM-CPU lineup for Windows at CES in Las Vegas. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X completes the range with a slightly less powerful chip based on the same architecture than its bigger brothers. There is certainly margin for that: the first Snapdragon X Elite and Plus processors are at the very top end of the performance spectrum.

Oryon

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X carries the same Oryon cores than the Elite and Plus, but only gets eight. Compare that to Snapdagon X Elite with 12 compute cores, and Snapdragon X Plus with (mostly) 10 compute cores. The latter, however, is also available in an 8-core variant.

The Snapdragon X1-26-100, as the beast is fully named, has a lower clock speed than the other chips in the range, stranding at 3 GHz, with no boost capability. Qualcomm gives the processor 30 MB of cache, in contrast to 42 MB for previous models with 10 and 12 cores.

The difference from the two existing Snapdragon X Plus chips with eight cores is not that great. The clock speed of this regular X is a bit lower and the boost is missing, but otherwise the CPUs are identical. The NPU chip is the same across the Snapdragon X line, but the GPU is a bit slower.

Competitive

On paper, you can expect very decent performance from this Qualcomm processor, similar to the Core Ultra 5 or Ryzen 5 segment from Intel and AMD. Qualcomm wants to integrate these processors into Windows computers with a price tag of around 600 euros. Such devices promise to be exciting value for money. Qualcomm expects to have laptops with the new chips on shelves from major manufacturers by the beginning of this year.