New Snapdragon X Plus Chip Takes ARM to Sub-$1000 Laptops
In the first half of 2024, Qualcomm unleashed a tsunami of laptops powered by its Snapdragon X chips, from companies such as Lenovo, HP, Dell, Samsung, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, and more. There was, however, one important detail: They all cost more than $1000. To reach a lower price point, the company is announcing a cheaper model in the Snapdragon X Plus line-up. Keep reading to learn about the changes.
Despite being announced in October 2023, the first “Qualcomm inside” notebooks using the new chips only started to reach store shelves in the middle of 2024. The initial Snapdragon X line-up consisted of four configurations (SKUs), split between the “Elite” and “Plus” branding, with a higher-end Elite model launching a few weeks later.
New model
The three new SKUs are part of the Plus range but feature a significantly different configuration compared to the original Plus model (retroactively suffixed "10-core").
Snapdragon X family chips
| Family | Model | Oryon cores | Cache | Max dual-core boost | GPU TFLOPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite | X1E-00-1DE | 12 @ 3.8 GHz | 42 MB | 4.3 GHz | 4.6 |
| X1E-84-100 | 12 @ 3.8 GHz | 42 MB | 4.2 GHz | 4.6 | |
| X1E-80-100 | 12 @ 3.4 GHz | 42 MB | 4.0 GHz | 3.8 | |
| X1E-78-100 | 12 @ 3.4 GHz | 42 MB | n/a | 3.8 | |
| Plus | X1P-66-100 (new) |
10 @ 3.4 GHz 4.0 GHz single-core boost |
42 MB | n/a | 3.8 |
| X1P-64-100 | 10 @ 3.4 GHz | 42 MB | n/a | 3.8 | |
| X1P-46-100 (new) |
8 @ 3.4GHz 4.0 GHz single-core boost |
30 MB | n/a | 2.1 | |
| X1P-42-100 (new) |
8 @ 3.2 GHz 3.4 GHz single-core boost |
30 MB | n/a | 1.7 |
While the original Snapdragon X Plus chip only had two Oryon CPU cores disabled compared to the base Elite chip (10 cores instead of 12), the new Snapdragon X Plus options feature both 10 and 8-core layouts at a multithread maximum frequency of either 3.4 or 3.2 GHz.
Other significant changes for the 8-core configuration are the reduction in total cache capacity: 30 MB instead of 42 MB, and an Adreno 741 GPU with less than half of the computing power, at 2.1 or 1.7 TFLOPS (versus 3.8 for the Plus 10-core SoC).
Other specifications were inherited from the more expensive chips, including the full 45 TOPS of AI processing required by Microsoft for its “Copilot+” branding, support for LPDDR5x-8448 RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
Different from what we originally expected, the new 8-core model is not a simple "die harvest" of partially functional 12-core chips that didn't reach the original specifications. In a brief press demo, an Asus representative displayed both chips side by side, highlighting the smaller die on the new 8-core CPUs.
The radical GPU downgrade may initially seem like a significant sacrifice. However, given that gaming is already a major weakness of Windows on ARM laptops, we believe that the few games currently compatible with the Snapdragon X won’t suddenly become unplayable.
Different from the trickled release of the original chips, Qualcomm announced that laptops powered by the new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chip should be launching globally today, from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung. First in line is expected to be the Vivobook S 15 from Asus.
Have you tried the new Snapdragon laptops with Windows? What are your impressions so far? We expect to have some hands-on experience with a few models in the coming weeks, so sign up for our weekly newsletter and our browser notifications.
