Qualcomm is among the largest under-the-hood names in cellular gadgets, producing the favored Snapdragon chips that energy lots of the greatest Android telephones. Early makes an attempt to deliver its Snapdragon chips to laptops have been hindered by efficiency and compatibility points. However, its renewed try to interrupt into the PC market with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chips is proving extra profitable. Although they are not fully with out compatibility points, these chips provide notable efficiency, effectivity and AI acceleration, together with excellent battery life. With the current announcement of a brand new era of Snapdragon X2 chips, it is a good time to assessment what the preliminary run of chips promised, how they delivered in computer systems that included them, and what the subsequent era will provide.Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based evaluations. Add CNET as a most popular Google supply. What are the Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips?The Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite are a household of systems-on-chip that mix lots of the elements a pc wants right into a single bundle. This is a standard strategy. Many Intel, AMD and Apple chips additionally characteristic graphics processors, reminiscence controllers and extra, all built-in into the identical chip because the CPU. Recently, they’ve additionally integrated neural processing models (NPUs) onto the chip. What makes the Snapdragon chips totally different is their Arm-based structure, versus the near-universal x86 structure that is been utilized in PCs for many years. That is, till Apple launched its personal Arm-based M-series chips. One downside with earlier Arm-based laptops is that many widespread applications aren’t designed for Arm, however as a substitute are coded for x86. This requires both totally different low-level code or a translation layer, like Apple’s Rosetta, to run on Arm. This precipitated issues on earlier Qualcomm-powered methods, such because the Microsoft Surface Pro X, the place some apps merely did not work, whereas others carried out poorly. This time round, Microsoft put in some effort to make sure higher compatibility and quicker efficiency for a whole lot of widespread apps with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X chips. They’re additionally utilizing a particular emulator known as Prism to run non-native apps.Here’s a breakdown of the present Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus variants:Snapdragon X specs Oryon CPU coresCPU whole cacheCPU max multithread frequencyCPU dual-core increase frequencyAdreno GPU (TFLOPS)Hexagon NPU (TOPS)Memory Type Snapdragon X Elite X1E-00-1DE 1242MB3.8GHz4.3GHz4.645LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 1242MB3.8GHz4.2GHz4.645LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 1242MB3.4GHz4.0GHz3.845LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 1242MB3.4GHzNone3.845LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Plus X1P-66-100 1042MB3.4GHz4.0GHz (single-core )3.845LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 1042MB3.4GHzNone3.845LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Plus X1P-46-100 830 MB3.4 GHz4.0 GHz (Single-core)2.145LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 830 MB3.2 GHz3.4 GHz (Single-core)1.745LPDDR5x-8448Snapdragon X1-26-100 830 MB2.956 GHz2.976 GHz (single-core)1.745LPDDR5x-8448 Beyond the Arm distinction, the Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips have lots in frequent with different fashionable laptop computer chips. They characteristic between 8 and 12 high-performance CPU cores (the present era is Oryon). They assist quick, low-power LPDDR5x reminiscence and embody an built-in GPU — at the moment Adreno. The aforementioned NPU, a characteristic of most up-to-date chips from opponents as properly, handles fundamental AI-driven duties utilizing much less energy than the CPU and GPU would use working the identical duties.Qualcomm has made a variety of noise in regards to the efficiency of its elements. It says the Hexagon NPU is the “world’s fastest NPU for laptops” at a rated 45 tera-operations per second, or TOPS. It’s value noting that discrete graphics processors accessible in laptops can provide increased TOPS, however at a a lot increased energy draw. Using a low-power NPU for AI duties ends in higher battery life and total efficiency. In laptops, we have examined working on Qualcomm chips, such because the Acer Swift 14 AI (SF14-11T-X3RZ) and Dell Inspiron 14 Plus 7441, the Hexagon NPU delivers very stable efficiency that might prime Intel Arc built-in GPUs and even a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 cellular GPU. James Martin/CNETThe firm additionally touted the efficiency of its Oryon CPU, which it stated may outpace Apple’s M3 chip in a MacBook Pro in multithreaded CPU efficiency by 28%. Our testing did not assist this rivalry, however Qualcomm did come out forward in Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R24 multithreaded efficiency. Better than Intel and AMD?At launch, Qualcomm additionally stated its chips might be quicker in single-threaded and multithreaded efficiency than AMD’s Ryzen 9 7940HS and Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H when working on the identical wattages; our testing did see Qualcomm’s silicon web some wins once more right here. Since then, Apple, Intel and AMD have all moved on to much more potent chips.Perhaps an important factor supplied by Snapdragon X chips is effectivity. When the chips landed in new laptops just like the aforementioned fashions from Dell and Acer, they shortly grew to become a few of the longest-running laptops we would examined, even topping Apple’s MacBooks. Battery life that may stretch past 20 hours is an enormous achievement for Windows laptops, and the truth that you may have this with out making large sacrifices to efficiency and respectable software program compatibility is a notable win for the Qualcomm {hardware}. What else is coming with Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips? Acer, HP, Lenovo/CNETIn addition high quality efficiency, these chipsets additionally deliver different applied sciences to enhance your laptop computer expertise. The Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus provide assist for quicker UFS 4.0 and PCIe 4.0 storage in addition to SD 3.0 media. They assist multi-monitor setups with resolutions as much as 4K at 60Hz for as much as three shows concurrently. They additionally assist 4K HDR encode and decode and embody a picture sign processor to assist digital camera recording as much as 4K video, in addition to twin 36-megapixel sensors or a single 64-megapixel sensor. They additionally embody {hardware} for high-speed connectivity: as much as three USB4 ports, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 and 10Gbps 5G mobile through the Snapdragon X65 modem. The variety of these options your laptop computer could have in the end depends upon the machine producers and their {hardware} selections, which brings us to the subsequent large query. What type of computer systems have Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips? Lori Grunin/CNETBy concentrating on excessive efficiency at low wattages, Qualcomm’s chips are geared for machines meant for cellular productiveness. We’ve largely seen them in laptops for tackling modestly heavy workloads whereas nonetheless working away from the facility outlet for the entire workday. In basic, they have been thin-and-light laptops and two-in-ones. The AI capabilities of those chips are additionally a key a part of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus push.Laptop producers have integrated these chips into their varied mid-tier and premium fashions: Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition, Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, Dell XPS 13 (9345), Asus Vivobook S 15 (S5507), Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, HP OmniBook X and HP EliteBook Ultra G1q all characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus chips. These laptops are all made for mobility (no cumbersome 17-inchers right here) and have extra premium designs and options. While some extra reasonably priced laptops with Snapdragon chips have cropped up, just like the HP OmniBook 5, most price upwards of $1,000.What’s subsequent? QualcommQualcomm already unveiled some particulars for what’s coming subsequent. At the Snapdragon Summit 2025, it introduced a number of new Snapdragon X2 Elite chips that promise higher-performing CPUs, GPUs and NPUs whereas providing even decrease energy draw. This is probably going aided by the shift to a 3nm course of node (primarily advertising converse for generationally smaller, quicker, extra power-efficient chips) and the introduction of a hybrid CPU structure that mixes totally different Oryon Prime and Performance cores. This ought to make for an attention-grabbing matchup between the Snapdragon X and X2 chips. QualcommThis new era of Snapdragon X processors is about to reach in merchandise within the first half of 2026, and so they cannot come quickly sufficient for Qualcomm since Intel and AMD have not precisely been resting for the reason that first Snapdragon X chips hit the market. The identical is true of Apple, which lately launched a 14-inch MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro with its M5 silicon.
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