Published in PC Hardware

Snapdragon's X Elite ready to give AMD and Intel a shock

by on03 April 2024


Qualcomm claims Intel is no match

Qualcomm has stepped into the ring, ready to challenge AMD and Intel in the laptop market. It's introducing its Snapdragon X Elite, a chip that can be likened to David armed with a rocket launcher, ready to take on the Goliaths of the computing world.

What sets this chip apart is its unique features, which Qualcomm is confident will outshine its competitors.

In October, Qualcomm revealed its Arm-based SoC, the Snapdragon X Elite. Meanwhile, Intel was still in the lab, tinkering with its so-called most advanced mobile processor, the Meteor Lake "Core Ultra" series. Fast-forward to now, and Qualcomm is still singing the same tune, claiming its chip is the bee's knees.

When the X Elite first hit the scene, Qualcomm's bragging seemed a bit like yesterday's news, comparing their shiny new chip to Intel's 13th Gen old-timers. It said, "Our chip can go toe-to-toe with the Intel Core i9-13980HX and sip 70 per cent less power.” It was obviously better than Apple’s M2 as it could match its performance with 30 per cent less juice.

Then Intel rolled out Meteor Lake, flaunting its tile-based design and performance-per-watt swagger. But Qualcomm's not sweating it, insisting the X Elite is still the top dog.

Qualcomm techies explained to  PC World why the X Elite is leaving Intel's chips in the dust. They're throwing around numbers like 54 per cent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 7 155H in single-threaded shenanigans or 65 per cent more efficient when they're neck and neck. And for those multi-threaded marathons? The X Elite is 52 per cent quicker on the draw, or 60 per cent more efficient when they're duking it out performance-wise.

And let's not forget the flagship Meteor Lake CPU, the Core Ultra 9 185H. Qualcomm's chip is supposedly 51 per cent speedier in single-threaded tasks, or 65 per cent more efficient when they're going pound for pound. In the multi-threading melee, it's 41 per cent faster, and when they're squaring up, it uses 58 per cent less power.

The Core Ultra 7 155H is like a tech sandwich with six performance cores, eight efficiency cores, and two low-power cores. The Core Ultra 9 185H is the same, but with a bit more oomph in the boost clock. And the Snapdragon X Elite? It's has 12 Oryon CPU cores, all Arm and none of this hybrid malarkey.

Last modified on 03 April 2024
Rate this item
(3 votes)