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Comment by jacek | Hacker News Reader

I have been waiting for mobile 7nm Zen 2 to get a new laptop. However, it seems most of the newly introduced laptops with Zen 2 are gimped compared to Intel counterparts. Some AMD laptops from Lenovo don't have a high-res display options (Intel versions do), 16GB memory options (Intel versions do). Acer Swift 3 with Intel comes with high res 3:2 display. AMD version comes with 16:9 FHD. I hope the next generation Thinkpad line will be more interesting.

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They announced these chips 2 days ago, there's still plenty of time for nicer laptops to get announced. Hopefully the Matebook D gets updated with these at least.

You are right, we need a bit of patience. Reviews of last generation Thinkpads with AMD have been very positive. I hope the next generation will be even better. I would love to see one with 16:10 screen, but that's rather unlikely.

Let's make it 3:2! I make extensive use of either 2 windows side by side, or multiple windows in Emacs. I never have horizontal space issues.

Microsoft at least makes a 3:2 AMD laptop, hopefully they'll update it with these chips. Too bad their hardware is generally not good at running Linux.

I play a lot of retro games, so why not 4:3!?

I don't remember 4:3 being frequent, wasnt almost everything 5:4?

No, you remember wrong, 5:4 was extremely uncommon, 1280x1024 is the only 5:4 resolution I have ever seen in the wild, compared to 320x240, 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768.

(Does anyone else fondly remember the short moment in time when all laptops and all projectors had 1024x768 as their native resolution and you could expect presentations to just work?)

That's the integration shortfall that the article mentions.

I think the article mostly means getting the most from the CPU, specifically at idle, via things like BIOS/OS power management (as opposed to purchase options).

What is currently out for mobile is Zen+ not Zen 2

I wasn't clear enough. I meant newly introduced laptops at CES 2020 with Ryzen 4000 chips. None of them are on the market AFAIK.

It's possible that these new chips might enough to push Apple into switching. That would likely kick the other OEMs into high gear.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that. More likely they'll switch to their A-series ARM processors at some point since the last thing they probably want to do is extend their dependence on x86.

What you're talking about is HS, they're never going to make high end MacBooks use ARM, at least not in the following years to come.

> However, it seems most of the newly introduced laptops with Zen 2 are gimped compared to Intel counterparts

The Asus Zephyrus G14 is AMD-only and is their 14" flagship which they are calling the most powerful 14" laptop. Complete with your choice of either a 1080p 120hz panel or a WQHD (probably 60hz) one. Both of which are Pantone validated. And 32GB RAM.

Those new ASUS laptops are certainly not gimped. They’re very premium.

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