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Everything there is to know about Ryzen 8000 series laptop CPUs, including the best models currently available
Updated: Feb 20, 2024 5:32 pm
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This guide is dedicated to helping you find the best Best AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptop for your needs and budget, as well as explaining what changes this new generation of mobile CPU tech brings.
There haven’t been a great deal of Ryzen 8000 series laptops released at this time, with many brands opting for Intel 14th Gen laptop CPUs (be they Raptor Lake Refresh models for the more powerful gaming devices or Intel Ultra Core for the more energy efficient, slimline productivity machines). For the more affordable gaming laptops that have gone with Ryzen CPUs, they’ve tended to opt for Ryzen 7000 series processors instead to keep costs down, given that the difference in actual gaming power between the generations is relatively small.
Hawk point vs Strix point
Back in December AMD held a presentation entitled AMD Presents: Advancing AI, where they unveiled the upcoming Ryzen 8040 series aka the ‘Hawk Point’ range, with a particular focus on the AI abilities of these new chips, cantered around their NPUs. These processors are designed primarily for creative and productivity uses, though they can also be used for gaming, with the focus of the presentation on their iGPU (aka internal graphics) performance, rather than in conjunction with a separate graphics card. You will still find laptops with these chips in with a dedicated graphics card as well however, such as the simultaneously announced Acer Nitro V 16, which comes with up to a Ryzen 7 8845HS along with an Nvidia RTX 4060 mobile GPU.
For those looking for more high-end Ryzen 8000 series gaming laptops, it looks like you’ll have too wait a bit longer for the ‘Strix Point’ series to release, which we assume will be designated as the 8050 series, but given AMD’s recent track record with naming their products, who knows at this point? Details are thin on the ground but a few rumors are circulating. Read below for further details.
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Best Ryzen 8000 series laptops 2024
Whilst the below list of laptops is a bit short at the moment, as new products hit the shelves we’ll be updating it accordingly.
A terrific 14-inch gaming laptop & productivity laptop for creatives
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 / 4070
Pros
- 120Hz 3K OLED display with great response time & contrast
- Good peak brightness
- Great color replication & accuracy
- Great battery life
- Good keyboard & trackpad
- The best laptop speakers in the game
- Looks great with solid build quality
Cons
- Gaming performance the same as the previous gen
- Soldered RAM means no upgrades after purchase
- No Wi-Fi 7
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is frequently our top pick for best 14-inch gaming laptop year on year. The previous variants we’ve reviewed have all been great performers, and each year ASUS improves on the formula. The 2024 variant sees a complete redesign of the laptop – it’s now more slimline, looks like a sleeker productivity machine rather than a gaming device, and comes with a welcome improvement to the keyboard (which was always the weakest aspect of the previous entries).
Crucially, ASUS have chosen to cap the maximum graphics card SKU at the RTX 4070, rather than having RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 options as with the previous generation. The calculation from the company is that A – these more powerful models did not sell enough, and B – part of the reason for this is the power limits and temperature issues imposed by the smaller chassis on GPUs of this power limited their utility. Most people looking for an RTX 4090 laptop would opt for a larger size model with the necessary cooling and Wattage to make the most out of it, consequently ASUS have decided to instead lean into improving what a 14-inch laptop can do better. Fortunately, the end result is a near-perfect balance between a portable gaming laptop and a creative productivity machine.
In terms of actual gaming performance it’s about on par with the previous gen RTX 4070 G14, but the attraction lies in the other features. The 120Hz OLED screen is fantastic display, with the unbeatable response time that OLED panels provide; the 100% DCI-P3 coverage and sub-1 ΔE color variance also make it perfect for color accurate work. The screen’s peak brightness reaches 420 nits in SDR mode and 500 nits in HDR mode, meaning it’s suitable for outdoor use with the latter enabled. When set to battery saver mode you can expect 10 or more hours of battery duration out off this machine, which is very impressive. The slightly cheap feeling keyboard of the older variants has been replaced with a newer version which is a much more satisfying typing experience – with a somewhat tactile feel and a nice depth to each keypress.
In terms of the drawbacks the slimmer design means soldered RAM that you cannot upgrade after purchase, and it would have been nice to see WiFi 7 support to maximise its future-proofing, however besides this it’s a great machine.
Another 14” Ryzen 8000 series gaming laptop with 240Hz display
Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
Pros
- Slightly cheaper than the previous gen
- 240Hz QHD+ display
- Great peak brightness
- Great color replication & accuracy
- Good keyboard & trackpad
- Good battery life
- Looks great
- Excellent build quality
Cons
- Expensive
- Gaming performance the same as the previous gen
Like ASUS, Razer have decided to cap the graphics card SKUs of their latest 14-inch gaming laptop at RTX 4070 (although the previous gen versions with RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs are still available). Once again in gaming terms the Ryzen 8945HS performs about the same as the previous 7940HS CPU option, though with the benefit of enhanced AI performance, in fact it’s almost identical to the previous gen model in every other respect: it has a great 240Hz 1600p IPS display with 100% DCI-P3 color replication and good accuracy, plus 500nits peak brightness (suitable for outdoor use); the build quality is excellent, as are the aesthetics, and the keyboard and trackpad are solid.
You’ll get 8-10 hours max of battery life on battery saver mode when doing general productivity and web browsing, which is a good result. This is helped by the setting you can enable to turn the screen automatically to 60Hz on battery, to save power.
This iteration of the Razer Blade 14 actually has a slight price decrease relative to the previous generation, making it one of the less pricey options in the Razer catalogue relative to the competition, however it’s still $200 more in MSRP terms than the latest ASUS G14, which has had a price increase, therefore we’d still class it as expensive (just not very expensive). Still, if you’re after a quality portable gaming laptop with a high refresh rate, then this could be the device for you.
AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptop release date window
The official AMD press release states that the Ryzen 8040 range ‘are expected to be broadly available from leading OEMs including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Razer, beginning in Q1 2024’. We’ve already seen the first models arrive in January, though we expect significantly more to release into March. Acer confirmed that their new Nitro V 16 gaming laptop will be coming out in March 2024.
The more powerful Strix Point range are supposed to be shipping in 2024 as you can see in the image below, although beyond this AMD have not confirmed a tighter time window. That being said, people such as WCCFTech are claiming that a mid-year release is on the cards, which would fit with the pattern of the more powerful Ryzen 7045 series laptops that came out in 2024, which started to appear in the summer. As we get more confirmed info, we’ll be updating this page accordingly.
AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptop specs & features
Ryzen 8040 series specs
So far we’ve only seen specifications for the ‘Hawk Point’ 8040 series released by AMD, though they have unveiled the full SKU list (as detailed below). These APUs (basically CPUs with strong integrated graphics) represent an update to the existing Ryzen 7040 ‘Phoenix’ family – they will retain the Zen 4 core architecture and maintain compatibility with the FP7/r2 and FP8 platforms, supporting DDR5/LPDDR5x memory. They will also be limited to the RDNA 3 graphics architecture.
Clock speeds, core count, and TDP remain very similar to the Ryzen 7000 series Phoenix line, and in fact the cache is actually lower than that of the previous gen when comparing the same SKUs. This most likely points to a relatively insignificant update in terms of processor performance on its own, including scenarios like gaming where it would be paired with a separate dedicated graphics card, however the improved NPUs should bring greater performance enhancements to those productivity applications that can take advantage of AI technology, plus enhanced integrated graphics performance. More on this below.
What about Ryzen 8040HX laptop processors?
It’s unclear if there will be any 8040HX CPUs, instead AMD may be focusing on the Strix Point series CPUs (which we think will be designated as 8050) to fill out their high-performance offerings.
AMD Ryzen 8050 series specification speculation
Although we have very little information on the Ryzen Strix Point series, including whether it will definitely be called the Ryzen 8050 range (Ryzen 9050 is a less likely, though still plausible alternative), we do know that it will feature enhanced XDNA 2 AI architecture, meaning its NPU cores should be substantially more powerful (more than 3x according to AMD). Although this has not yet been confirmed, we also hope that these chips will be built on Zen 5 CPU architecture, bringing enhanced processor power, though there’s no actual data to go on for this, so don’t hold your breath.
AMD Ryzen 9 8940H vs Intel Core i9 13900H performance
Below you can see the Ryzen 8040 laptop CPU performance data, courtesy of the latest AMD press release, however there are a few important facts to be aware of when taking a look at it. First of all, as revealed in the text of the press release, a 0.8x gain for the Gaming category actually means ‘77% faster gaming than our competitors’ – this is perfectly legitimate rounding up to one decimal place but just something to bear in mind.
Secondly, and most crucially, the Endnotes of the presentation reveal that these results are specifically for the Ryzen 9 8940H, which we assume will likely show the best uplift of the bunch (or else AMD wouldn’t pick it for their presentation graph), plus it represents comparative Gaming performance at 1080p resolution, on low settings, and using iGPU performance only on the following titles: Borderlands 3, F1 2022, Far Cry 6, Grand Theft Auto 5, Hitman 3, League of Legends, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tiny Tinas Wonderland, WoTenCore (we assume the average was taken). This means these results are only relevant for those who have an interest in buying a laptop without a dedicated graphics card, relying entirely upon the iGPU, which excludes most serious gamers.
The Multi-thread results aren’t exactly hugely impressive in terms of uplift, though the content creation performance improvement (if accurate) does look quite nice.
Additional points to note
DDR5 RAM support
All of the Ryzen 8000 series will have Dual-Channel LPDDR5x RAM support (basically laptop DDR5 Memory). This includes both the Ryzen 8040 series and the Strix Point range.
Zen 4 architecture = 4nm process node?
The previous generation of Zen 4 CPUs were based on a mix of different generational architecture, ranging between 5nm to the smallest 4nm for the Phoenix range. We assume the latest Hawk Point 8000 series range will also use the 4nm process node.
In terms of what the Strix Point architecture will be, this is uncertain, but there’s a good chance if it’s based on a new Zen 5 architecture that it could be a 3nm process node. We’ll have to wait and see over the coming months.
Ryzen 8000 series laptop price
Laptops featuring the Ryzen 8000 series CPUs will span various budgets and price categories, determined by the particular CPU model. It’s unlikely you’ll encounter many in our very budget-focused guides (such as the best gaming laptops under $500), as laptops in this price range typically incorporate older technology. We do know however that the new Acer Nitro V16 will start at $999.99 / €1,199, though this will only be for the most low-specced model. Still, we expect to see models appearing in our best gaming laptop under $1,000, under $1,500, and under $2,000 guides, as well as even higher.
Ryzen 8000 series laptop FAQs
When will AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptops be released?
As discussed above, it seems that AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptops will be coming out in two stages. The Ryzen 8040 series have been confirmed as coming out in Q1 2024 by AMD themselves, although we don’t know a more precise timeframe than this. The rumored Ryzen 8050 series are thought to be arriving at some point in the summer of 2024, though this is just based on leaks and speculation at this stage.
When did we first see Ryzen 8000 series laptops?
The first Ryzen 8000 laptops were shown off at CES 2024, which fitted the historical release pattern that AMD tend to stick to – the conference is after all the biggest event in the year for new laptop tech.
This annual tech conference, based in Las Vegas Nevada, took place between the 9th – 12th of Jan this year, and we saw a few new models that we liked the look of.
Final Word
We’ll be filling this page with the best AMD Ryzen 8000 series laptop models on the market as they release, covering the full range of price points and use-cases, so make sure you keep checking back around the time of the launch. Do be sure to also check the dropdown menu for our myriad other laptop guides, including our primary best gaming laptop page.
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