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Comment by rjh29 | Hacker News Reader

I know it's not the article topic but I want to talk about mobile Zen4.

Mobile Zen4 is obviously powering the ASUS ROG Ally and other handheld Steam Deck clones, and I'm very excited about it, but it's almost impossible to get laptops with it installed! The ones I found also have a discrete GPU which defeats the point. Having a low power draw, thin and light laptop that can also run fairly recent AAA games - amazing!

In the end I got tired of waiting for a Thinkpad T14s with Zen4 and got the previous generation, which is about 20% slower but still pretty good.

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On the other hand, while in all the previous years there has been a delay of around one year between the appearance in laptops of some Ryzen model and its appearance in small NUC-like computers, this year a large number of companies have introduced small computers with AMD Phoenix (Ryzen ? 7?40) immediately after its launch.

I am happy about this, because instead of carrying a big laptop, I prefer to carry a NUC-like computer, a 17" portable monitor and a compact keyboard, which all together are both lighter and much cheaper than a mobile workstation laptop, while being faster and more comfortable for working and also having more peripheral interfaces.

> The ones I found also have a discrete GPU which defeats the point. Having a low power draw, thin and light laptop that can also run fairly recent AAA games - amazing!

So, disable it? Most Zen4 laptops I've seen so far still fit the general thin and light category (albeit, at 15" vs 11-13") and is paired with a mid-range Radeon or GeForce (usually 4060/4070). Buy the laptop and put it in Eco mode in Windows (doesn't multiplex with discrete) or disable it in bios.

The Framework comes with a Zen4 cpu. It's thin and light and the GPU can be disabled:

https://youtu.be/L9Ww_7wwNkM?si=Zke0hCcubnwEl6oe

As someone who owns an AMD laptop (with Radeon discrete), I should point out that AMD's muxing algorithm is pretty conservative, unless you put it into performance mode. Video playback, basic GL/VK/DX operations, desktop usage/web browsing, etc sticks to the integrated GPU. I've only seen the discrete kick in once obvious heavy 3d operations were running (video games, benchmarks, 3d modeling, etc).

FYI the framework 13 doesn't even have a dGPU, so it would fit it seems. Not available yet, though, AFAIK. I'm certainly waiting for mine (preordered a couple months back).

That only helps with the power draw, not thinness, weight or cost

Which is specifically why I address thinness and weight independent of the disablement. You could read passed the first sentence next time.

As to cost, AMD generally bundles their GPU/CPUs so you aren't saving much by removing it. Certainly not anything the manufacturer is going to pass on to you, at least.

It might be thin and light enough for you but I’m guessing it could be thinner or lighter

Can they really provide a whole dedicated GPU, the extra circuitry on the motherboard to support it, a whole other cooling system, more powerful power delivery and the battery size to compensate all without costing any extra money or weight?

You vastly overestimate the TDP of a midrange laptop GPU. And/or don't understand general cooling infrastructure in modern laptops.

As to the size, what is even the point of arguing. Just go look at the specs yourself and decide if it's thin and light enough. I gave an option that the majority would consider so. If it's not for you, fine. Find something else or accept it doesn't exist.

You can keep moving the goalposts infinitely for someone who needs a hypothetically thinner and lighter laptop, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

I looked up the TDP of some laptop GPUs and they're all over 35W. The maximum TDP of the CPU the commenter was talking about, which has good integrated graphics, is 30W. The TDP of the mobile 4070 you mentioned is 115W(!)

> If it's not for you, fine. Find something else or accept it doesn't exist.

You seemed to be very dismissive of the person you were replying to, implying that it's not an issue at all because you can just disable it. I'm pointing out that it isn't always the case. I never said that your solution is completely useless, it's just not a good solution for most people

Also, I'm pretty sure the Framework doesn't have a built in dedicated GPU like you're saying, but an optional detachable module for one (that makes it more viable in this case though)

> I looked up the TDP of some laptop GPUs and they're all over 35W. The maximum TDP of the CPU the commenter was talking about, which has good integrated graphics, is 30W. The TDP of the mobile 4070 you mentioned is 115W(!)

None of which is contained inside of the Framework laptop. Awesome, glad you found some random stats to dismiss a hypothetical laptop I mentioned.

> You seemed to be very dismissive of the person you were replying to

I offered an alternative to their complaint. But sure, instead of "dismissing" them, I could leave them to complain and whine. Or follow you down ever dwindling definitions of "thin" and "light" until you prove yourself correct about some made up argument in your head.

Either way, I'm done with your Trump-style snippet-based retort tactics. Go buy a Steam Deck clone, since that's your's and the OP's only choice, apparently.

Just give it a rest already. You people are insufferable.

Too expensive.

It's 850usd. You're unlikely to find anything other than underspec'd Steam Deck clones for less than that price point.

If you mean the framework, a) it's not out yet b) it's not 850usd in my country (try double that, after adding ram/disk/modules). But it is a very nice laptop for sure.

The others are things like Razor Blade and ASUS Zephyrus.

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