Qualcomm claims its X Elite PC parts can go toe-to-toe with Apple, Intel

Qualcomm is claiming its latest PC processors are ready to go toe-to-toe with Intel, AMD, and Apple on performance and efficiency. At the opening keynote its Snapdragon Summit on Tuesday, the San Diego-based chipmaker revealed the Snapdragon X Elite, which it claims is its most powerful system on chip (SoC) to date. Much like …

[Kevin McMurtrie]

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[Andrew Hodgkinson]

Well that's lovely...

...and I really want competitor hardware to Apple Silicon. I want to get get off this hyper-expensive but rotting platform with its insane and ever-escalating bug count, onto something that's also very buggy but at least is also cheap!

However - I don't understand why all these years after the debut of the M1 systems, I'm meant to be impressed by a "flagship" CPU+GPU combination which just about matches an M2 Pro. That's not Apple's flagship at all; that would be the M2 Max (the M2 Ultra could be considered too, tho is a bit of a kludge with some curious performance issues arising here and there). What's more, all of this happens at the end of the M2 cycle, with M3 expected colloquially "any minute now".

Not surprised Microsoft are itching to work with ARM-based competitors just as soon as their IMHO rather silly exclusivity tie-up with Qualcomm ends.

[aerogems]

Re: Well that's lovely...

Does it really matter if it's actually faster? What if it's 95% of the performance of the M2? Wouldn't that be good enough? I have absolutely no idea what the specs on this thing are, but if it's pretty comparable, supported by Windows and Linux better than the Mx series are, and available mass market, how is that not a good thing?

[Kristian Walsh]

Re: Well that's lovely...

The performance claims are made power-for-power. The M2 Max chip might score higher in desktops, but when fitted in Apple’s laptops it hits about 15,000 on Geekbench, which is in line with Qualcomm’s claim to be “50% faster than the M2 in Macbooks” (which scores 10,000 or so).

This is also in line with the claim of 2x performance over Intel’s i7-1355U, watt for watt. Laptops running 1355U hit about 8,500 on Geekbench. If Qualcomm actually can double that, you’re at a performance level above any of Apple’s M2 laptop configurations, albeit at 40~50% higher power draw. De-rate that result to fall in line Apple’s typical power consumption envelope, and you’re back around 15,000 again - level with M2 Max.

I’d expect something that in top specification comes very close to the current M2 Max, but priced at a level that will allow laptop makers to significantly undercut Apple. That’s not a bad place to be, especially if Qualcomm includes a cellular modem on some configurations, as they have done in the past...

So, not a bad start, especially with nVidia joining the battle with another ARM-based laptop chip soon.

[Gordon 10]

Re: Well that's lovely...

But at least 6-9 months behind the curve now the M3 is out, more realistically 2 years.

Qualcomm also have a mountain to climb in terms of volume and brand recognition.

[Tim13]

Re: Well that's lovely...

And soon (2025) Qualcomm is no longer the only supported choice for Windows (sorry, no Windows license on Mac) - we may have dual boot support?

https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/23/nvidia_pc_cpu/

apparently part of a broader effort by Microsoft to expand the operating system onto more Arm-based systems once its exclusivity agreement with Qualcomm apparently lapses next year.