Snapdragon X Elite notebooks outperform MacBook Air

At the beginning of the week the Microsoft revealed big news in its Surface line: the new generation of notebooks comes equipped with the processor Snapdragon X Elite from Qualcomm.

This chip is a based on ARM architecture which promises greater energy efficiency and performance, positioning itself as a formidable competitor not only to the traditional giants AMD e Intelbut also the acclaimed devices of Appleknown worldwide for its integrated ecosystem and optimized hardware.

New Microsoft notebooks are 50% better than MacBooks

During the Microsoft Build event, held last Monday (20), the Redmond Giant did not hesitate to make direct comparisons between its latest products and those of the Cupertino giant.

During the demonstration, they emphasized that notebooks powered by the Snapdragon X Elite offer a up to 50% better performance compared to MacBook Air, which uses the M3 processor, especially when subjected to heavy and prolonged tasks. Additionally, they mentioned significantly longer battery life — an always critical aspect of the mobile user experience.

It is pertinent to highlight the internal architecture of these chips: while the Apple M3 has 4 high-performance cores intertwined with 4 cores aimed at energy efficiency, the robust Snapdragon X Plus elevates this configuration by introducing 6 high-performance cores, and the Snapdragon X Elite will beyond, featuring 8 powerful cores.

Talking a little about the thermal design, we note that the MacBook Air stands out for completely giving up fans, opting for a passive dissipation system to manage its operating temperatures. This choice provides noise-free operation, which contrasts with the more conventional approach of many popular notebooks on the market, which still rely on fans to help keep the CPU cool and ensure consistent performance over extended periods.

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Battery also has greater autonomy

Speculation from sources closely linked to the industry has previously suggested that Microsoft has great faith in future of Windows on Arm architecture. The intention to bring direct competition to Apple’s domain may now be taking a realistic shape, as the company places its bet on new notebooks powered by advanced Qualcomm processors.

To clearly illustrate the magnitude of the innovations, Microsoft also released a detailed comparative table, in which it highlights that the model Surface Copilot PC It boasts battery longevity that is double that of previous models that were equipped with Intel processors, even surpassing the MacBook Air with M3. Here are the numbers presented:

• Surface Laptop 5 com Intel
  • Web browsing: 8 hours and 38 minutes
  • Video: 12 hours and 30 minutes
• MacBook Air com M3
  • Web browsing: 15 hours and 25 minutes
  • Video: 17 hours and 45 minutes
• Surface Laptop com Snapdragon X
  • Web browsing: 16 hours and 56 minutes
  • Video: exceeding 8 pm

While these results are truly promising, it is prudent to remember that the aforementioned tests were conducted under simulated conditions controlled by Microsoft itself, and do not necessarily reflect everyday use. This imposes the need to await independent evaluations that can confirm these statements in real day-to-day usage scenarios.

The eager public can expect the innovative Snapdragon X Elite to arrive on the market in June 2024. In addition to Microsoft, manufacturers such as ASUS, Acer, Dell, Lenovo e Samsung are already preparing the ground to integrate this cutting-edge chip into their notebooks, thus expanding the diversity of options with this technical advancement for consumers around the world.

Source: The Verge