AMD reveals a heap of Ryzen 7000 laptop CPUs and it’s kind of confusing

What you need to know

• AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series of laptop CPUS for 2023 machines has been revealed at CES 2023. 
• The range covers everything from entry level notebooks to the most powerful gaming laptops. 
• Ryzen AI is the first dedicated AI engine ever included on an X86 CPU. 

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AMD has joined Intel and NVIDIA in announcing its latest and greatest CPUs and mobile graphics at CES 2023 and, well, there’s a lot. Not just in a sense of there being physically a large number of CPUs being debuted. 

AMD’s Ryzen 7000 range is going to be a little confusing to navigate for the average consumer, and perhaps even enthusiasts. There’s a mix of architectures going back to Zen 2 and naturally a numbering scheme that tries to help you navigate things and get what you’re looking for. 

But there’s also some real innovation in the form of Ryzen AI, as well as a new range of blisteringly fast (or thus far promised at least) options for gamers and content creators. Here’s the brief version of what AMD Ryzen 7000 laptops will be looking like in 2023. 

A Ryzen (and Athlon) for everyone

AMD has always been good at providing affordable performance for entry and mid-level laptops, and none of that is going away. Athlon returns for another round at the entry-level, while the Ryzen 7000 U-series will be what’s found mostly in the mid-range. 

But even here there are different architectures that will cover the U-series, with different spec integrated graphics. Confused yet? 

• Ryzen 7020 series: Based on Zen 2, with a maximum of 4-cores and 8-threads. Integrated graphics based on RDNA 2. Supports LPDDR5 memory.
• Ryzen 7030 series: Based on Zen 3, with a maximum of 8-cores and 16-threads. Integrated graphics based on Vega, and supports DDR4 and LPDDR4 memory. 
• Ryzen 7035 series: Based on Zen 3+, with a maximum of 8-cores and 16-threads. Integrated graphics based on RDNA 2, and supports DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory. 
• Ryzen 7040 series: Based on Zen 4, with a maximum of 8-cores and 16-threads. Integrated graphics based on RDNA 3, and supports DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory. 

The slide gallery above breaks down the differences between the chips and the type of devices you’ll expect to see them in. The latter pair will also have higher-performing HS series variants, too. 

At the top of the pile, you’ll find the new Ryzen 7045 HX series CPUs, targeted at gamers, creators, and those with high CPU workloads. Here you’ll find up to 16-cores and 32-threads based on Zen 4 and supporting DDR5 memory. 

There’s naturally some crossover, and it makes more sense on AMD’s slides than anywhere else. Simply put, there’s something for everyone, and there are a lot of numbers involved. 

AMD Ryzen AI

Perhaps the highlight of the show is the XDNA Adaptive AI architecture that AMD will be including on its Ryzen 7040 series. 

This will deliver up to four concurrent dedicated AI streams, designed for efficiency and up to 35% more responsive experiences compared to running a single stream. It’s also the first time an AI engine has been integrated into an x86 CPU. 

A dedicated engine makes not only AI possible, but AI multitasking, and Ryzen AI has been optimized to ensure that battery life doesn’t completely fall apart under intensive workloads. AMD claims that it’ll also outperform a regular processor in the same situations, which you’d certainly hope to be the case. 

AI is one of the next big things in tech and AMD is making a commitment to developing both hardware and software in the coming years. The first Ryzen 7040 laptops with Ryzen AI onboard will begin shipping from March this year. 

Between Intel and AMD there’s suddenly a huge quantity of new laptop CPUs. Both brands have some big claims, so it’s going to be a lot of fun putting all of these through their paces throughout the year.