The Next Surface Laptop Might Have A Powerful Surprise

The Next Surface Laptop Might Have A Powerful Surprise

German website Winfuture is claiming that the next generation of Surface Laptop could be using AMD processors instead of the Intel CPUs found in every other Surface device. If true that’d be a big boon for AMD and a bit of an embarrassment for Intel.

On October 2 Microsoft is holding an event in New York City where it is expected to launch a whole new slew of Surface devices.

We’ve heard rumours for over a year that the next Surface (the Surface Pro 7) would feature a major redesign including USB-C. We’ve also heard plenty of rumours about a dual-screen Surface device. Even this week Digital Trends also uncovered an FCC filing suggesting the Surface Pen would finally include wireless charging — similar to the latest version of the Apple Pencil.

Last year Brad Sams of Thurrot published a book, Beneath a Surface, that claimed Microsoft would be moving to AMD parts for the Surface Laptop. This week Winfuture went a step further and claimed that the AMD parts would appear primarily in a new 15-inch Surface Laptop.

Yesterday data miner and serial leaker @TUM_APISAK tweeted what appears to be the actual parts appearing in the devices.

Those processors have not been officially announced by AMD, but Tom’s Hardware reported on their probable existence last month and suggested they’d be quite speedy, with Vega 9 graphics.

Those Vega 9 would potentially be superior to the Vega 8 graphics in the marketplace, and they’d be potentially as fast or far faster than the graphics found in Intel’s new Ice Lake CPUs.

Ice Lake, which is the obvious alternative to AMD’s product, has been slow to roll out. Between that and the potential power boost offered by Vega 9, there would be a clear reason for Microsoft to make the switch.

But boy, this would be a big deal.

For the past few years, Intel has firmly held the market on flagship devices. The most notable laptops almost always have Intel CPUs standard. You’ll find Intel standard in everything from the MacBook Air to Lenovo’s ThinkPad series to Asus’s Zenbooks.

[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/01/amd-ceo-talks-ray-tracing-development-and-future-windows-laptops/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/xpn9tduuwktfzmvycpza.jpg” title=”AMD CEO Talks Ray Tracing Development And Future Windows Laptops” excerpt=”AMD CEO Lisa Su sat down with press, including Gizmodo, yesterday to chat about the company’s CES announcements. The conversation started with a bang, addressing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s criticisms of AMD less than an hour earlier, then moved to a broad discussion of AMD’s business. Of particular note was the discussion of AMD chips in Windows laptops and future gaming products AMD might be working on.”]

There’s a reason for that. AMD’s mobile processors simply weren’t as good as Intel’s for a very long time. It allowed Intel to get a huge chunk of the market and AMD has spent the last three years slowly trying to compete again.

It’s been wildly successful in the desktop space, where it’s high octane Threadripper CPUs are coveted by gamers, streamers and pros. Yet AMD has seemingly struggled in the laptop arena.

Back at CES, AMD held a roundtable with reporters and AMD CEO Lisa Su. I asked Su about the state of AMD’s laptop business and the absence of AMD in flagship devices.

“You know it’s a journey but we’re making progress. We really are,” said Su. She then went on to note AMD was seeing increased traction in the laptop market, and that production of laptops with AMD parts would ramp up, before admitting, “We have work to do.”

If all these rumours are accurate the laptop space is about to be a lot more competitive. Both AMD and Microsoft declined to comment on this story.


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