Laptops with AMD processors are not very popular nowadays, but some brands still have strong lineups of AMD-powered laptops: HP, Asus, Toshiba and MSI, among others. In case you are looking for a laptop with an AMD processor, you can find useful information here. Or you can go straight to the featured laptops
What are the current AMD processors for laptops?
Most AMD processors for laptops are dual-core CPUs (Athlon X2, Turion X2 and Turion X2 Ultra; AMD dropped the “64” used in older models), but you can also find a few single-core CPUs (Sempron and Athlon Neo).
- Sempron: single-core processors found in low-cost laptops. Current laptops usually use the SL-40 model, running at 2.0 GHz.
- Athlon X2: dual-core processors running from 1.9 GHz (QL-60 model) to 2.1 GHz (QL-64 model). Both models have a TDP of 35 W, while the QL-62 (2.0 GHz) has a TDP of 25 W.
- Turion X2: very similar to the Athlon X2 CPUs, they run at frequencies from 2.0 GHz (RM-70 model) to 2.2 GHz (RM-74 model). TDP is 31 W for the RM-70 model, at 2.1 GHz, and 35 W for the RM-72 and RM-74 models.
- Turion X2 Ultra: they sport a larger L2 cache than the Athlon X2 and Turion X2 processors (2 MB instead of 1 MB), and they run at frequencies from 2.1 GHZ (ZM-80 model) up to 2.4 GHz (ZM-86 model). TDPs are 32 W for the ZM-80 model and 35 W for the faster models.
- Athlon Neo: this new processor is a single-core, low-power processor aimed at small laptops (around 12″ or similar). The current model (MV-40) runs at 1.6 GHz and has a TDP of 15 W. Both performance and power usage are in between of Intel Atom and Core 2 Duo processors.
For more detailed information see the AMD site and Wikipedia.
How do AMD laptop processors compare to Intel alternatives?
Intel Core 2 Duo processors are built on a 45 nm process, while AMD processors are built on an older 65 nm process. In addition, Intel Core 2 Duo processors have optimizations for HD video encoding. These factors give an edge to Intel processors. I found some benchmarks comparing AMD Puma vs Intel Centrino 2 platforms months ago. There are also some interesting benchmarks at Notebookcheck: I’m summarizing the most relevant ones in the following chart:
Laptop CPU benchmarks
Please note that many tasks are limited by the hard drive performance and other factors, so the differences in performance will be smaller when performing such tasks. All in all, real-life differences are:
- AMD laptop processors cannot achieve frequencies as high as Intel Core 2 Duo laptop processors. So the top performing laptop processors are from Intel.
- AMD laptop processors are slightly slower than Intel’s when running at the same frequency.
- AMD laptop processors are noticeably slower than Intel Core 2 Duo processors when encoding HD video.
- Laptops with AMD processors have a shorter battery life than comparable laptops with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (the difference was of 22% in the Laptop Magazine test).
It is quite clear that, if you are going to do a lot of HD video encoding or you need a long battery life, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor is the best alternative for your next laptop. But if you are an average user and you do not perform processor-intensive tasks often, a laptop with an AMD processor is going to serve you well, and make perfectly sense as long as you can find them cheaper than similar Intel alternatives.
What interesting laptops with AMD processors are there in the market?
Some stores have specific sections for AMD-powered laptops, such as Buy.com in the US and Canada, or Alternate in Spain, so this is a good point to start to find a laptop with an AMD processor. Here you have a few laptops that I find interesting:
17″ laptops
If you are looking for a desktop replacement notebook computer, with a big screen and maybe numeric keypad, but you do not need high performance, an AMD-powered laptop can be a good choice, because shorter battery life is usually not a concern in this case.
Toshiba Satellite P305D-S8900
- AMD Turion X2 RM-70 (2.0 GHz)
- 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3100 (integrated)
- 320 GB hard disk (5400 rpm)
- 1440×900 glossy screen
- Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
- Harman-Kardon speakers
- Specifications: Toshiba USA
- Pricing (USA): 775 USD (Buy.com)
- Review: Laptop Magazine
AMD-powered laptops seem to have been discontinued by HP USA, but they are available in other countries, such as in the UK:
HP Pavilion dv7-1103ea
- AMD Turion X2 RM-72 (2.1 GHz)
- 3 GB DDR2 RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 (256 MB dedicated)
- 250 GB hard disk (5400 rpm)
- Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer
- 1440×900 glossy screen
- Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
- Harman-Kardon speakers with integrated subwoofer
- Specifications: HP UK
- Pricing (UK): 635 GBP (HP UK)
- In Spain: HP Pavilion dv7-1150es (similar, but with AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-82@2.2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 2×250 GB HD, no BD), 899 € at PC City.
MSI offers a few gaming laptops with high-end graphics cards and AMD processors. Usually the performance bottleneck for gaming is the GPU, not the CPU, but some games are heavy on the processor too.
MSI GT735
- AMD Turion X2 ZM-82 (2.2 GHz)
- 4 GB DDR2 RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3850 (512 MB dedicated)
- 320 GB hard disk (5400 rpm)
- 1680×1050 glossy screen
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- 4 speakers + integrated subwoofer
- Specifications: MSI
- Pricing (USA): 1044 USD (Buy.com)
15-16″
HP has configurable 15″ laptops with AMD processors:
- Compaq Presario CQ60Z. Classic design, with integrated numeric keypad. Configurable at your linking from 449.99 USD
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- In Europe, HP laptops are not configurable. There are many different configurations with AMD processors at the HP UK site. In Spain you can find the CQ60-125es (499 € at HP) and CQ60-135es (599 € SRP).
- In the UK there are 3 dv5 models with AMD processors, from 586 GBP. In Spain you can find the dv5-1230es (806 € at HP) and dv5-1135es (reads BD, 899 € at HP).
- HP Compaq 6735b. Business laptop that keeps cost down thanks to the use of AMD processors. In the US I find interesting the KR987UT model, with a WSXGA+ (1680×1050) screen. Available for 899.00 USD at Buy.com.
- The most similar model in the UK sports a faster processor and is available for 638 GBP + VAT at HP. The spanish model is available for 802 € + VAT at HP, but uses a standard WXGA (1280×800) screen.
Toshiba Satellite A355D-S6930
- AMD Turion X2 ZM-80 (2.1 GHz)
- 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 hybrid x2 (256 MB dedicated)
- 320 GB hard disk (5400 rpm)
- 1366×768 16″ glossy screen
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Harman/Kardon speakers
- Specifications: Toshiba
- Pricing (USA): 815 USD (Buy.com)
- UK model: the most similar model (A350D-202) uses a faster graphics card (HD 3650) and costs 649 GBP (SRP).
You can find other 15″ AMD-powered laptops from Asus and MSI.
Smaller laptops
Because of shorter battery life, AMD processors are not usually the best option for highly portable laptops, but I find interesting the tablet-PC with multitouch interface from HP, the HP Touchsmart tx2z (tx2 outside the US):
Also very promising is the upcoming Pavilion dv2 with Athlon Neo processors (waiting for reviews to judge it).
Feel free to share your experiences with recent laptops with AMD processors or point us to other interesting models you have found.
