Following years of stagnation, the CPU market has finally been revived.

It started with the launch of Apple Silicon for Mac in 2020, highlighting the potential of ARM for general-purpose computing. The performance, power management and thermal efficiency delivered by the Apple M1 System on a Chip (SoC) destroyed the competition, highlighting what was possible if ARM was taken seriously outside the mobile market.

Earlier this year, Qualcomm attempted the same manoeuvre targeting the PC laptop market (Windows and Linux), delivering the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite/Plus SoC.

Although not quite as impactful as Apple Silicon, Qualcomm achieved their goal, demonstrating that it can disrupt the established duopoly of Intel/AMD.

Unsurprisingly, the success of this release, alongside strong, visible support from Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers, has forced Intel and AMD to rethink their strategies and increase their rate of innovation.

This led to the launch of AMD Strix Point in July and Intel Lunar Lake, announced last week.

I have tested AMD Strix Point and can confirm that AMD has successfully delivered performance, power management and thermal efficiency that rivals Qualcomm. Looking at the details shared by Intel, I expect them to achieve similar results with Lunar Lake (something I plan to verify personally).

Therefore, we now have three viable players delivering silicon for the PC laptop market, attempting to “one up” each other to solidify their position as the market leaders.

This level of aggressive competition is fun to watch, but more importantly great for consumers and businesses, helping to deliver notable innovation alongside competitive pricing.

With that said, the current market turbulence has also created confusion. Therefore, this article shares my perspective on the things to consider when purchasing a new PC laptop, covering x86-64 vs. ARM and Intel vs. AMD.

x86-64 (Intel and AMD)

  • 100% compatible with existing software.
  • 100% compatible with existing hardware, including printers, capture cards, eGPU docks, etc.
  • Support for discrete graphics cards from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
  • Excellent gaming compatibility and performance.

ARM (Qualcomm)

  • Compatible with mainstream software, covering web browsing, productivity, collaboration, etc.
  • Excellent thermal efficiency, resulting in low temperatures and fan noise.
  • Excellent idle efficiency, providing long standby times.
  • Excellent webcam quality.

In my opinion, the primary differentiator between x86-64 and ARM is software compatibility and support for discrete graphics cards.

Therefore, if you are a gamer or require specialist applications for your workloads (e.g., graphics, video), I recommend x86-64 (Intel and AMD).

If your workloads are primarily focused on web browsing, productivity and collaboration, leveraging mainstream applications (e.g., Office 365), I recommend exploring ARM (Qualcomm). This is especially true if you are a frequent traveller, recognising the thermal efficiency and long standby times offered by the ARM architecture.

Although I am pleased to see ARM finally become relevant for the PC laptop market, it is fair to state that x86-64 is still the best option for most people, helping to avoid any confusion regarding software/hardware compatibility.

Hopefully, over the next year, this distinction will become less relevant, with native ARM software and hardware drivers being made available alongside x86-64. In addition, the operating system (Windows or Linux) should be smart enough to automatically select the correct (native) architecture, without any user intervention (something that is not consistently managed today).

Assuming the intent is to purchase an x86-64 PC laptop, the decision is between Intel and AMD. Knowing that Intel Lunar Lake is not yet available, it is difficult to speak with confidence regarding the best option.

However, I would certainly not recommend purchasing an Intel-based PC laptop that pre-dates Lunar Lake, recognising that Intel is in the process of making a significant architecture transition.

I can speak with confidence that AMD Strix Point PC laptops, based on the Zen 5 architecture, are excellent. In my testing, AMD Strix Point delivers solid performance, power management and thermal efficiency.

AMD is commonly considered the underdog and does not have the same market presence as Intel. However, I would argue they are ahead regarding the quality and consistency of their architecture (e.g., Zen series). Unfortunately, AMD has been known to have issues regarding firmware and driver support, which can undermine their architecture advantage, especially within businesses, that require a solid firmware foundation for management, security, compliance, etc.

This is where Intel and their historical dominance of the PC laptop market has a clear advantage, supported by its tight working relationship with Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers. With that said, there is evidence that these critical relationships are not as robust as they once were, opening the door to greater competition from AMD and Qualcomm.

Therefore, as it stands today, I would happily recommend AMD Strix Point for general consumers, which will also have great Linux support as the relevant drivers get mainstreamed into the kernel. When Intel Lunar Lake becomes available, I expect it to rival AMD Strix Point but is unlikely to offer significant advantages. However, the wider support from hardware manufacturers will likely make Lunar Lake the preference for businesses.

hardware amd ryzen ryzen_ai_300 radeon radeon_890 strix_point rdna rdna_3.5 intel lunar_lake x86 x86-64 qualcomm snapdragon snapdragon_x_elite arm microsoft copilot+_pc neural_processing_unit npu artificial_intelligence ai