Lenovo's First Snapdragon X Elite Laptops
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Date: 2024-05-23
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Comments and reviews: 20
mysterychemical
$700 for 16GB 512GB X-Elite processor as a base model. Sell it or don't sell it. Why
1. First thing their battery claim is totally based on ARM apps and it will take at least 2 years to get significant ARM apps adoption. So, let's check out that battery bs for now.
2. They are just desperate to claim Apple level pricing just because they have battery level claim.
3. AI is just new feature to Windows and a new feature to Chips that's it. User shouldn't be asked extra and called it to be premium in any way.
M3 Macbook Air which has 8GB RAM 256GB SSD costs $1100. The thing here is with M4 16GB RAM and 512GB will be base model and it will be priced the same. Apple can claim $1100 as their hardware is robust and ARM OS has matured so much.
But, for windows to ask such high price that is just lame move. They should have just marked the deserved price at this stage which is $700 so that ARM user gets mass adoption. With only greater ARM apps coverage and with good hardware build and GPU for high end gaming then they should be asking >$1000. Microsoft is just forgetting why Windows users are loyal to this OS. This release is just wannabe mac while they forgot what actually they are budget friendly, freedom, wide app support and organization that cares is just went to the drain with greedy mindset of Apple wannabe and bloatware master.
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$700 for 16GB 512GB X-Elite processor as a base model. Sell it or don't sell it. Why
1. First thing their battery claim is totally based on ARM apps and it will take at least 2 years to get significant ARM apps adoption. So, let's check out that battery bs for now.
2. They are just desperate to claim Apple level pricing just because they have battery level claim.
3. AI is just new feature to Windows and a new feature to Chips that's it. User shouldn't be asked extra and called it to be premium in any way.
M3 Macbook Air which has 8GB RAM 256GB SSD costs $1100. The thing here is with M4 16GB RAM and 512GB will be base model and it will be priced the same. Apple can claim $1100 as their hardware is robust and ARM OS has matured so much.
But, for windows to ask such high price that is just lame move. They should have just marked the deserved price at this stage which is $700 so that ARM user gets mass adoption. With only greater ARM apps coverage and with good hardware build and GPU for high end gaming then they should be asking >$1000. Microsoft is just forgetting why Windows users are loyal to this OS. This release is just wannabe mac while they forgot what actually they are budget friendly, freedom, wide app support and organization that cares is just went to the drain with greedy mindset of Apple wannabe and bloatware master.
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MaheerKibria
I don't accept that the LPDDR5X has to be soldered. CAMM2 supports LPDDR5X and it is already out in the market. You can buy it today though apparently, it takes 2 weeks to ship. If all ARM-based laptops are going to be soldered, I don't feel like I am going to be comfortable buying them. Soldered RAM bothers me may more than soldered storage, especially with USB 4 and network storage options. I feel like I might as well buy a Macbook. It's not like these are particularly cheap. While faster today, my guess is the m4 MacBooks might change that. Like I am open to ARM on Windows now that the performance is approaching high-end x86 laptop processors at a fraction of the power but we need to know iGPU performance. There is also the question of whether they will support PCIe GPUs in the form of either external GPUs or internally. I am cautiously optimistic but if the m4 family has even remotely decent Ray tracing in professional apps I might just give up on Windows.
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I don't accept that the LPDDR5X has to be soldered. CAMM2 supports LPDDR5X and it is already out in the market. You can buy it today though apparently, it takes 2 weeks to ship. If all ARM-based laptops are going to be soldered, I don't feel like I am going to be comfortable buying them. Soldered RAM bothers me may more than soldered storage, especially with USB 4 and network storage options. I feel like I might as well buy a Macbook. It's not like these are particularly cheap. While faster today, my guess is the m4 MacBooks might change that. Like I am open to ARM on Windows now that the performance is approaching high-end x86 laptop processors at a fraction of the power but we need to know iGPU performance. There is also the question of whether they will support PCIe GPUs in the form of either external GPUs or internally. I am cautiously optimistic but if the m4 family has even remotely decent Ray tracing in professional apps I might just give up on Windows.
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destructodisk9074
Apple ARM laptops actually have fans
Only some of them do. So far from what I have seen, the X Elite is supposed to be competing against the base M series chips and sources keep quoting the Elite can beat MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is a fanless device.
If these new highest end offerings from Qualcomm, can only beat the competitors lowest end chip, and it has to use a fan (a huge one at that, going by the model in this video), thats going to be rather disappointing for Windows ARM future. Still it will be nice to have more battery life compared to x86.
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Apple ARM laptops actually have fans
Only some of them do. So far from what I have seen, the X Elite is supposed to be competing against the base M series chips and sources keep quoting the Elite can beat MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is a fanless device.
If these new highest end offerings from Qualcomm, can only beat the competitors lowest end chip, and it has to use a fan (a huge one at that, going by the model in this video), thats going to be rather disappointing for Windows ARM future. Still it will be nice to have more battery life compared to x86.
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j340_official
Sending you well wishes Gordon I’ve been a fan since MaximumPC days in the 1990s! These ARM laptops are looking great, and seem to deliver a significant shot across the bow of Intel. Intel has been struggling to deal with a resurgent AMD (especially in the data center). The question now is how Intel will deal with the threat of an ARM invasion in Client How are the compatibility of Windows apps on the ARM platform, is the Windows Prism emulator working well Would you recommend an ARM laptop over say waiting for Intel Lunar Lake / Arrow Lake
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Sending you well wishes Gordon I’ve been a fan since MaximumPC days in the 1990s! These ARM laptops are looking great, and seem to deliver a significant shot across the bow of Intel. Intel has been struggling to deal with a resurgent AMD (especially in the data center). The question now is how Intel will deal with the threat of an ARM invasion in Client How are the compatibility of Windows apps on the ARM platform, is the Windows Prism emulator working well Would you recommend an ARM laptop over say waiting for Intel Lunar Lake / Arrow Lake
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davidlt
It's unknown today if Microsoft can move from Windows x86 (x86_64) legacy lock-in. Microsoft alone cannot fully pull this forward alone. Not really a problem for Apple, or companies that plan to run Linux-based OS on these. x86_64 ISA has extreme amount of legacy (multiple decades), that's a blessing and the curse. Intel is trying to do something there with x86S and APX, but not sure what will happen. Anyways if you are running Linux Qualcomm has been upstreaming support for X Elite for the last few Linux kernel releases.
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It's unknown today if Microsoft can move from Windows x86 (x86_64) legacy lock-in. Microsoft alone cannot fully pull this forward alone. Not really a problem for Apple, or companies that plan to run Linux-based OS on these. x86_64 ISA has extreme amount of legacy (multiple decades), that's a blessing and the curse. Intel is trying to do something there with x86S and APX, but not sure what will happen. Anyways if you are running Linux Qualcomm has been upstreaming support for X Elite for the last few Linux kernel releases.
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rolf7135
Good that Apple get some real compotition, maybe they can find in themself to up the cheapest configuration to16gb ram and perhaps also 512gb storage. A bit concerned that all reviewer talk about a product, with the product in hand, without being able to run bench marks or other tests. I think Apple have a better approach here, giving some mystical numbers in their presentation, but when the reviewers have the laptop they can do the tests they want to do.
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Good that Apple get some real compotition, maybe they can find in themself to up the cheapest configuration to16gb ram and perhaps also 512gb storage. A bit concerned that all reviewer talk about a product, with the product in hand, without being able to run bench marks or other tests. I think Apple have a better approach here, giving some mystical numbers in their presentation, but when the reviewers have the laptop they can do the tests they want to do.
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David-Zita
windows laptops continue to disappoint on battery life, year after year. a 58whr battery is a dealbreaker for me, why because a arm chip with a fan means a cpu with 5watts tdp minimum, now add the display and other motherboard components we are looking at 10-12 watts total power, divide 58whr by 10watts you get 5-6hrs of battery life. That's disappointing. Apple still has the edge when it comes to battery life.
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windows laptops continue to disappoint on battery life, year after year. a 58whr battery is a dealbreaker for me, why because a arm chip with a fan means a cpu with 5watts tdp minimum, now add the display and other motherboard components we are looking at 10-12 watts total power, divide 58whr by 10watts you get 5-6hrs of battery life. That's disappointing. Apple still has the edge when it comes to battery life.
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douglasbusch
What a great review, so good to have your unique point of view, experience and expertise available to usher in this new range of interesting ARM-architecture Qualcomm PC's. Your absence over the last months was worrysome and now it looks as though you are back to stay! So good to see you at work again! Looking forward to watching all your coming reviews and analyses!
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What a great review, so good to have your unique point of view, experience and expertise available to usher in this new range of interesting ARM-architecture Qualcomm PC's. Your absence over the last months was worrysome and now it looks as though you are back to stay! So good to see you at work again! Looking forward to watching all your coming reviews and analyses!
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gatsusagara6637
Glad to see you Gordon! I wish you well on your recovery.
This EliteX looks like a glorified Chromebook. Unless the arm windows version has ironed out it's compatibility issues, I'll treat it as such. Ever since Chromebooks picked up android support on the apps side, it's much more versatile. Great for vacations, still horrible for actual work related tasks.
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Glad to see you Gordon! I wish you well on your recovery.
This EliteX looks like a glorified Chromebook. Unless the arm windows version has ironed out it's compatibility issues, I'll treat it as such. Ever since Chromebooks picked up android support on the apps side, it's much more versatile. Great for vacations, still horrible for actual work related tasks.
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Kuldeep-qm3xk
WithIn slow future, we gono see this ARM architecture machines with current gaming laptops large heatpipe design cuze slowly they will need more TDP power and will eventually generate more heat, so it will eventually be similar (2023 or 2024 etc... heatpipe cooling design) with only processor or SOC that's being changing from x86/x64 to ARM architecture.
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WithIn slow future, we gono see this ARM architecture machines with current gaming laptops large heatpipe design cuze slowly they will need more TDP power and will eventually generate more heat, so it will eventually be similar (2023 or 2024 etc... heatpipe cooling design) with only processor or SOC that's being changing from x86/x64 to ARM architecture.
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aelaan12
FWIW I truly hope that Qualcomm and Microsoft have come up with a cunning plan. So far I have not seen anything regarding performance other than some colored lines on a slide. If this works as advertised and there are no further barriers from Intel I would think that we would see a major swing away from chiplets and other mumbo jumbo marketing speak.
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FWIW I truly hope that Qualcomm and Microsoft have come up with a cunning plan. So far I have not seen anything regarding performance other than some colored lines on a slide. If this works as advertised and there are no further barriers from Intel I would think that we would see a major swing away from chiplets and other mumbo jumbo marketing speak.
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sloanNYC
It strikes me as crazy that an M3 with only 4 P cores is only 15% slower for multicore performance than 12 P cores from Qualcomm. For battery life, the question will be real world usage vs using super energy efficient H264 video hardware decoders which don't tax the CPU at all. Having no Efficiency cores will be very interesting...
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It strikes me as crazy that an M3 with only 4 P cores is only 15% slower for multicore performance than 12 P cores from Qualcomm. For battery life, the question will be real world usage vs using super energy efficient H264 video hardware decoders which don't tax the CPU at all. Having no Efficiency cores will be very interesting...
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jonas000111
Comment section is full of people wishing the best for Gordon. Nobody cares about the laptop.
tl;dr a discrete gpu will smoke any NPU, this NPU talk only matters for low power igpu laptops and phones that will need the help. The general public is purposely being mislead. A general purpose, modern GPU will smoke these NPUs
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Comment section is full of people wishing the best for Gordon. Nobody cares about the laptop.
tl;dr a discrete gpu will smoke any NPU, this NPU talk only matters for low power igpu laptops and phones that will need the help. The general public is purposely being mislead. A general purpose, modern GPU will smoke these NPUs
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mulciberus
But what about someone like myself who's in publishing (so I need the media functions like the superior display, audio, etc.) but wants the durability and reliability of the Thinkpad line This is a middle ground that no one seems to be addressing effectively, and it should be easy for Lenovo, imo. Terrific review, thank you!
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But what about someone like myself who's in publishing (so I need the media functions like the superior display, audio, etc.) but wants the durability and reliability of the Thinkpad line This is a middle ground that no one seems to be addressing effectively, and it should be easy for Lenovo, imo. Terrific review, thank you!
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alexcastas8405
To hell with x86 and it’s 50 year tech. Finally something to give apple a run for its money. Now all we need is a gaming version with a discrete graphics card. Intel is fkd, and amd maybe moreso given liscencing and investments on x86 crp.
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To hell with x86 and it’s 50 year tech. Finally something to give apple a run for its money. Now all we need is a gaming version with a discrete graphics card. Intel is fkd, and amd maybe moreso given liscencing and investments on x86 crp.
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vasudevmenon2496
Looks like dram at high speed 8000MTps and ssd needed passive cooling. Damn Wi-Fi is soldered. Only 5G and SSD is replaceable on a ThinkPad. Good to see you Gordon. Especially like the Casio than x Elite laptop
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Looks like dram at high speed 8000MTps and ssd needed passive cooling. Damn Wi-Fi is soldered. Only 5G and SSD is replaceable on a ThinkPad. Good to see you Gordon. Especially like the Casio than x Elite laptop
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victormtzc
The Thinkpad T14s with the X Elite is 2700 usd. It is quite expensive. I can buy a Macbook Pro for that money. Not sure if the price is right to be honest, very hard to buy without seeing a review. I do like it.
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The Thinkpad T14s with the X Elite is 2700 usd. It is quite expensive. I can buy a Macbook Pro for that money. Not sure if the price is right to be honest, very hard to buy without seeing a review. I do like it.
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RobertDunn310
Great hands-on! I especially appreciate how you opened up the laptop to show the internals. They do not look much different from an x64 laptop's internals, honestly, but that shouldn't really matter much.
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Great hands-on! I especially appreciate how you opened up the laptop to show the internals. They do not look much different from an x64 laptop's internals, honestly, but that shouldn't really matter much.
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jeyendeoso
To be fair i don't even doubt the hardware. It's there, it runs. What worries the most... is Windows on ARM. Theres a lot of talk about the hardware, but not a lot about the software. Only AI of course.
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To be fair i don't even doubt the hardware. It's there, it runs. What worries the most... is Windows on ARM. Theres a lot of talk about the hardware, but not a lot about the software. Only AI of course.
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Gustavo_St
The Yoga boasts a MacBook Pro battery size on a MacBook Air chassis. With fans, for sustained performance, which the Air can’t do. With a better processor than the Air. With upgradable storage!
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The Yoga boasts a MacBook Pro battery size on a MacBook Air chassis. With fans, for sustained performance, which the Air can’t do. With a better processor than the Air. With upgradable storage!
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