Back in 1995, if someone told me that AMD could potentially rescue the laptop market from Apple with their chips in 2023, I would have questioned their sobriety. During that time, Intel dominated the PC industry, especially in desktops, while laptops were still emerging. Intel’s control over its own foundries allowed them to release processors at an impressive pace and keep competitors like AMD at bay. Having worked at Compaq and being involved in qualifying and promoting AMD processors for our Presario consumer PCs as a countermeasure to Intel’s unassailable pricing strategy, I can attest that AMD had a reputation for being cooperative but plagued by poor execution, sometimes reaching disastrous levels.
However, everything changed rapidly with the arrival of CEO Lisa Su at AMD in 2012.
Apple Silicon could face competition from newly released AMD chips
In late 2020, Apple made waves in the PC world by introducing its own chips known as Apple Silicon. Tech publications and industry experts were immediately impressed by the impressive performance and battery life of these chips, particularly when compared to AMD and Intel’s x86 designs.
Due to Apple’s control over both hardware and software, they were able to optimize macOS for enhanced performance, resulting in high demand for Mac desktops and laptops. While Windows PCs still dominate the market with approximately 58% market share compared to macOS’s 30%, Apple’s sales have been steadily increasing in recent years.
Now is the moment for AMD to rise to the occasion
The latest addition to AMD’s Ryzen 7 lineup, the 7840U, has caught the attention of the entire PC industry.
It becomes immediately evident that this chip is a much more formidable competitor compared to Intel’s 13980HX. Unlike Intel’s misleading portrayal as a “notebook” chip, the 7840U is specifically designed for thin-and-light laptops. Consequently, it is expected to generate less heat and operate more efficiently, among other advantages.
Although AMD introduced this new chip only at the end of April, there haven’t been any production machines utilizing it for real-world testing yet, which is an important point to consider. However, AMD recently released a set of vague benchmarks claiming superior performance compared to Apple’s basic M2 processor, used in various devices including the Mac mini, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and two versions of the iPad Pro.
It is premature to declare AMD’s 7784u as the undisputed champion that surpasses Apple’s achievement with its M2 chip.
Considering the reputation at stake, AMD understands the significance of this competition. It can be assumed that AMD measured the metrics for their comparison table under the most favorable conditions for the laptop, such as being connected to AC power, without taking into account factors like heat generation and battery consumption. From my perspective, this approach appears to be reasonable and logical.
