Qualcomm has revealed the Snapdragon X, bringing its speedy ARM-based hardware to mid-range Windows laptops and desktops. Even though it’s the least-powerful chip in the Snapdragon X family, it still seems like a great option for productivity tasks.

The first Snapdragon X Elite chip, which started showing up in laptops in 2024, was a big step forward in making Windows laptops with better power efficiency than traditional x86-based Intel and AMD laptops. Unlike Qualcomm’s previous attempts at ARM chips for laptops, it still had the performance you’d expect from a mainstream PC laptop, and Qualcomm and Microsoft have pushed many applications to offer ARM-native versions for the best possible experience.

The new Snapdragon X chip serves as the low-end option, below the Snapdragon X Plus that was revealed in September, which in turn is below the Snapdragon X Elite. Qualcomm expects this hardware will power PCs “in the $600 range.” Dell, Lenovo, and other OEMs are working on PCs that will use the Snapdragon X. Qualcomm cut back on CPU and GPU performance for the Snapdragon X, while leaving most of the other features in place from the higher-end chips.

The Snapdragon X has an 8-core Oryon CPU clocked at up to 3.0 GHz, as opposed to the 8 or 10-core Oryon CPUs in the Snapdragon X Plus series, and the 12-core CPU in the Snapdragon X Elite. The CPU cache has also been slightly reduced to 30 MB, down from 42 MB in the X Plus and X Elite.

The Adreno GPU in the Snapdragon X can only hit 1.7 TFLOPS of performance, compared to the 3.8 TFLOPS in the X Plus and 3.8-4.6 TFLOPS in the X Elite. Many modern PC games are already rough on the Snapdragon X Plus and Elite, or don’t work at all due to issues with x86 emulation, so the Snapdragon X will probably be limited to basic video editing and less-demanding games. There’s a lot less graphics power, and x86 emulation performance will take a hit with the worse CPU.

The Snapdragon X should still be great for typical productivity work. It has the same 45 TOPS NPU as the other models, powering on-device Windows AI features like live translation, camera and microphone effects, generative fill and erase in the Photos app, and (eventually) Recall. Most people would probably benefit more from a faster CPU and GPU, but the AI features in Windows require at least 40 TOPS, and Microsoft probably wants as many new PCs as possible to meet that standard.

The chip will support NVMe SSDs and up to 64 GB RAM, USB 4.0 40 Gbps, WI-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. Qualcomm says it can power a built-in 4K 120Hz screen, with three 1080p 60Hz or two 5K 60Hz/1080p 120Hz external screens. MacBook laptops with the base M4 chip are still limited to one external screen, so Qualcomm is definitely still winning in that regard.

Hopefully, ARM-powered Windows PCs can continue picking up steam and pushing software developers to create ARM-native versions. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips are the closest the PC ecosystem has come to replicating the fantastic performance and power efficiency in Apple Silicon, and they are pushing Intel and AMD to continue revamping the x86 architecture.

Source: Qualcomm