5 ms·

Snapdragon X elite is faster than MacBook Air M2

14 points by akmittal 3y ago

akmittal 3y ago
Apple M2 consumes roughly 20 watt and snapdragon X elite is at 23 watt. They are comparing an active cooled snapdragon with Macbook air which does not have a fan.
- rpmisms 3y ago
  True! It's still close, which is really good news for the non-Mac market. I'm glad Apple's pushing the industry forward.
  - theshrike79 3y ago
    Now all we need is an ARM version of Windows to make business laptops competitive with the Air
    - rpmisms 3y ago
      I'll get one of these and run Linux, but ARM Windows is already available.
    - swozey 3y ago
      I'm on an m1 and have ARM windows for playing ck3 in parallels. Runs way better in that then natively. I couldn't tell you where I got it or what its version is called but it was easy to find IIRC. Official too.
    - goosedragons 3y ago
      That already exists and has for years. Surface Pro X launched in 2019 with Windows 10 on ARM, Windows 11 on ARM is a thing. x86/x64 apps work through a compatibility layer. You can get an ARM Surface Pro 9 today or something like a Thinkpad X13s Snapdragon. Really all that's needed is a fast enough, efficient enough CPU that makes it make sense for the price/performance ratio. I bought a refurb'd Surface Pro X for $400 CAD, for that price it's amazing. For the full MSRP? I don't think so...
    - geraldcombs 3y ago
      Windows 10 and 11 support Arm64, but their Server counterparts don't. Microsoft has also been reaching out to application developers, asking them to add Arm64 support. I think we're going to see a major shift to Arm64 in the Windows world in the near future.
  - wjdp 3y ago
    Spot on, Apple has done some fantastic work with these arm chips but we need the rest of the market to catch up so we have access to similar chips for other devices.
- goosedragons 3y ago
  I mean those numbers still beat the actively cooled M2 Mac Mini or M2 Macbook Pro...
  - akmittal 3y ago
    With M3 already out and snapdragon 6 months away from launch, things can go either way. I actually don't care which one wins. M series chips are revolutionary, snapdragon just catching up at same power draw is good enough
- PlutoIsAPlanet 3y ago
  If I remember correctly the Apple silicon MBAs have some pretty heavy thermal throttling, it would be interesting to see if this was the case with the snapdragon and what temperatures it reaches without.
  - akmittal 3y ago
    That's because Macbook air has no fan, throttling is needed to keep temperature low. Snapdragon laptops has fan so likely won't be throttling
  - aylmao 3y ago
    +1. I'd be curious how it stacks up against an MBP
  - fckgw 3y ago
    The throttling on the MBAs are pretty minimal. After 20min of sustained, 100% CPU and GPU load we're talking about a ~15% performance drop.
Philip-J-Fry 3y ago
I don't care how fast the laptop is to be honest. Most have been fast enough for what I need to do for years. What I care about is battery life. Get me a Windows laptop as small as a MacBook Air with as good of a display that lasts as long or longer on battery. Then I'll be interested. The new Snapdragon processors seem like a step in the right direction though.
- akmittal 3y ago
  x86 chips does not have a good battery life and snapdragons previous windows chips were too slow. Elite might be best of both worlds.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >What I care about is battery life Out of curiosity, what do you do with your laptop that you're away from a charger for so long? Other than people who travel a lot and work in the field like construction sites, oil & gas, I can't think of anyone who actually needs a laptop to last on battery as much as their phone. Me and most people I know, and I know quite a few people, both tech workers and non-tech workers, casual users and professionals, are plugged in at our desks most of the time, and the few times we're not at the desk we're never more than a few hours away from it, but never a whole day. So battery life longer than a workday(8h), is nearly useless to me and everyone else I personally know, but reading HN it seems there's a separate group of users, who's Venn diagram is never intersecting with mine, who are exclusively using their laptop on battery on the go, like how a teenage girl is on her phone, and live in trees or something where power outlets are scarce. So, who is that demographic who's Venn diagram doesn't intersect with mine? Who are you and what do you do?
  - gs17 3y ago
    It's really nice to not have to worry about charging so often. I have a MBA I use as a "work laptop", and it's very freeing being able to leave it in my backpack, charge every few days, and be able to work from wherever I want without even bringing the charger with. I never use it >8hrs unplugged in one sitting.
jitl 3y ago
The headline here on HN is editorialized for clickbait, which is against the rules. The original title is “Snapdragon X Elite vs Intel Core Ultra 7 155H: We ran the benchmarks”. Computers with fans and 23W-80W TDP vs computer with no fans (passively cooled) with ~10W TDP. The headline is frustrating because neither it or the article discuss the difference between dissipation and power draw, or performance per watt on either measure.
- akmittal 3y ago
  M2 TDP is 20 watt as per https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.632312.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Processor-Benchmarks-... I only was interested in comparison of M series with new snapdragon chips. I don't think this is clickbaity, I just stayed facts from Geekbench benchmark. If this is against rules please change title
- wmf 3y ago
  The Snapdragon X Elite is faster than an M3 Pro and almost as fast as M3 Max. As you say, it really doesn't compete with the Air.
  - jitl 3y ago
    Exactly, a comparison to M3 Pro would be more interesting – especially in an article actually trying to compare those two apples, instead of one with a Macbook Air thrown in randomly but mostly about Intel Ultra.
- itsoktocry 3y ago
  >The headline is frustrating because neither it or thearticle discuss the difference between dissipation and power draw, or performance per watt on either measure. You're editorializing. Is it faster than the M2, or not?
jeffbee 3y ago
What kinds of operating systems can we expect to work well on these? Could there be a Chromebook in the works? Would love to see that.
- akmittal 3y ago
  For now Windows and linux
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    I would expect there to be rough edges from random linux distros running on these, not because of the CPU ISA but because of the peripherals like pointing devices, cameras, wifi, and USB.
    - akmittal 3y ago
      Qualcomm started upstreaming changes to debian https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/01/16/debian-12-and-linux-upstreaming-for-the-qualcomm-snapdragon-x-elite-soc/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/01/16/debian-12-and-linux-...
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  > Could there be a Chromebook in the works? It wouldn't be hard; there are already enough Chromebooks running ARM, so unless there's some other problem with it (like terrible driver support, since ChromeOS actually seems to care about running mainline linux) it would make some sense to make one.
r00fus 3y ago
It's quite misleading - there are 2 variations of this processor: The Elite A which is quite a beast (80W TDP) and the Elite B (which is very in-line with the M2 - 23W TDP but actively cooled). I'm surprised the year-old M2 does as well as it does with passive cooling. I'd love to see active benchmarks of the Elite A vs. M2 Max/Ultra. All in all, happy to see some competitive moves in this space.
TillE 3y ago
Windows 11 for ARM64 is quite good (with full x86/x64 emulation for everything but drivers), the adoption of ARM in laptops has been going slower than I'd expected. Hopefully SoCs like this will accelerate that process.
6R1M0R4CL3 3y ago
being faster, on paper, is not enough. i have seen radeon cards with better hardware specs, end up behind cheaper and less power nvidia cards on _every_ _single_ _tested_ _gane_. people using apple hardware are not only interested in pure hardware raw performance. you have an ecosystem, an operating system. sometimes, a single app makes someone buy a mac (musicians, artists...). if that chip is "faster" but requires me to use windows 11 or later, you can shove it up your ass.

14 points by akmittal 3y ago

Apple M2 consumes roughly 20 watt and snapdragon X elite is at 23 watt. They are comparing an active cooled snapdragon with Macbook air which does not have a fan.

rpmisms 3y ago
True! It's still close, which is really good news for the non-Mac market. I'm glad Apple's pushing the industry forward.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  Now all we need is an ARM version of Windows to make business laptops competitive with the Air
  - rpmisms 3y ago
    I'll get one of these and run Linux, but ARM Windows is already available.
  - swozey 3y ago
    I'm on an m1 and have ARM windows for playing ck3 in parallels. Runs way better in that then natively. I couldn't tell you where I got it or what its version is called but it was easy to find IIRC. Official too.
  - goosedragons 3y ago
    That already exists and has for years. Surface Pro X launched in 2019 with Windows 10 on ARM, Windows 11 on ARM is a thing. x86/x64 apps work through a compatibility layer. You can get an ARM Surface Pro 9 today or something like a Thinkpad X13s Snapdragon. Really all that's needed is a fast enough, efficient enough CPU that makes it make sense for the price/performance ratio. I bought a refurb'd Surface Pro X for $400 CAD, for that price it's amazing. For the full MSRP? I don't think so...
  - geraldcombs 3y ago
    Windows 10 and 11 support Arm64, but their Server counterparts don't. Microsoft has also been reaching out to application developers, asking them to add Arm64 support. I think we're going to see a major shift to Arm64 in the Windows world in the near future.
- wjdp 3y ago
  Spot on, Apple has done some fantastic work with these arm chips but we need the rest of the market to catch up so we have access to similar chips for other devices.
goosedragons 3y ago
I mean those numbers still beat the actively cooled M2 Mac Mini or M2 Macbook Pro...
- akmittal 3y ago
  With M3 already out and snapdragon 6 months away from launch, things can go either way. I actually don't care which one wins. M series chips are revolutionary, snapdragon just catching up at same power draw is good enough
PlutoIsAPlanet 3y ago
If I remember correctly the Apple silicon MBAs have some pretty heavy thermal throttling, it would be interesting to see if this was the case with the snapdragon and what temperatures it reaches without.
- akmittal 3y ago
  That's because Macbook air has no fan, throttling is needed to keep temperature low. Snapdragon laptops has fan so likely won't be throttling
- aylmao 3y ago
  +1. I'd be curious how it stacks up against an MBP
- fckgw 3y ago
  The throttling on the MBAs are pretty minimal. After 20min of sustained, 100% CPU and GPU load we're talking about a ~15% performance drop.

Philip-J-Fry 3y ago

I don't care how fast the laptop is to be honest. Most have been fast enough for what I need to do for years. What I care about is battery life. Get me a Windows laptop as small as a MacBook Air with as good of a display that lasts as long or longer on battery. Then I'll be interested. The new Snapdragon processors seem like a step in the right direction though.

akmittal 3y ago
x86 chips does not have a good battery life and snapdragons previous windows chips were too slow. Elite might be best of both worlds.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>What I care about is battery life Out of curiosity, what do you do with your laptop that you're away from a charger for so long? Other than people who travel a lot and work in the field like construction sites, oil & gas, I can't think of anyone who actually needs a laptop to last on battery as much as their phone. Me and most people I know, and I know quite a few people, both tech workers and non-tech workers, casual users and professionals, are plugged in at our desks most of the time, and the few times we're not at the desk we're never more than a few hours away from it, but never a whole day. So battery life longer than a workday(8h), is nearly useless to me and everyone else I personally know, but reading HN it seems there's a separate group of users, who's Venn diagram is never intersecting with mine, who are exclusively using their laptop on battery on the go, like how a teenage girl is on her phone, and live in trees or something where power outlets are scarce. So, who is that demographic who's Venn diagram doesn't intersect with mine? Who are you and what do you do?
- gs17 3y ago
  It's really nice to not have to worry about charging so often. I have a MBA I use as a "work laptop", and it's very freeing being able to leave it in my backpack, charge every few days, and be able to work from wherever I want without even bringing the charger with. I never use it >8hrs unplugged in one sitting.

jitl 3y ago

The headline here on HN is editorialized for clickbait, which is against the rules. The original title is “Snapdragon X Elite vs Intel Core Ultra 7 155H: We ran the benchmarks”. Computers with fans and 23W-80W TDP vs computer with no fans (passively cooled) with ~10W TDP. The headline is frustrating because neither it or the article discuss the difference between dissipation and power draw, or performance per watt on either measure.

akmittal 3y ago
M2 TDP is 20 watt as per https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.632312.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Processor-Benchmarks-... I only was interested in comparison of M series with new snapdragon chips. I don't think this is clickbaity, I just stayed facts from Geekbench benchmark. If this is against rules please change title
wmf 3y ago
The Snapdragon X Elite is faster than an M3 Pro and almost as fast as M3 Max. As you say, it really doesn't compete with the Air.
- jitl 3y ago
  Exactly, a comparison to M3 Pro would be more interesting – especially in an article actually trying to compare those two apples, instead of one with a Macbook Air thrown in randomly but mostly about Intel Ultra.
itsoktocry 3y ago
>The headline is frustrating because neither it or thearticle discuss the difference between dissipation and power draw, or performance per watt on either measure. You're editorializing. Is it faster than the M2, or not?

jeffbee 3y ago

What kinds of operating systems can we expect to work well on these? Could there be a Chromebook in the works? Would love to see that.

akmittal 3y ago
For now Windows and linux
- jeffbee 3y ago
  I would expect there to be rough edges from random linux distros running on these, not because of the CPU ISA but because of the peripherals like pointing devices, cameras, wifi, and USB.
  - akmittal 3y ago
    Qualcomm started upstreaming changes to debian https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/01/16/debian-12-and-linux-upstreaming-for-the-qualcomm-snapdragon-x-elite-soc/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/01/16/debian-12-and-linux-...
yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
> Could there be a Chromebook in the works? It wouldn't be hard; there are already enough Chromebooks running ARM, so unless there's some other problem with it (like terrible driver support, since ChromeOS actually seems to care about running mainline linux) it would make some sense to make one.

r00fus 3y ago

It's quite misleading - there are 2 variations of this processor: The Elite A which is quite a beast (80W TDP) and the Elite B (which is very in-line with the M2 - 23W TDP but actively cooled). I'm surprised the year-old M2 does as well as it does with passive cooling. I'd love to see active benchmarks of the Elite A vs. M2 Max/Ultra. All in all, happy to see some competitive moves in this space.

TillE 3y ago

Windows 11 for ARM64 is quite good (with full x86/x64 emulation for everything but drivers), the adoption of ARM in laptops has been going slower than I'd expected. Hopefully SoCs like this will accelerate that process.

6R1M0R4CL3 3y ago

being faster, on paper, is not enough. i have seen radeon cards with better hardware specs, end up behind cheaper and less power nvidia cards on _every_ _single_ _tested_ _gane_. people using apple hardware are not only interested in pure hardware raw performance. you have an ecosystem, an operating system. sometimes, a single app makes someone buy a mac (musicians, artists...). if that chip is "faster" but requires me to use windows 11 or later, you can shove it up your ass.