Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Laptops: How They Stack Up Against Apple, Intel, and AMD

After a 12-year journey of persistent effort, Microsoft has finally made Windows on Arm a reality. This is no small feat, given the historical challenges with software compatibility, reliable emulation, and performance that have plagued earlier attempts. Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips are now making Windows on Arm a viable platform. We’ve spent the past week and a half testing seven Copilot Plus PCs equipped with these new Snapdragon X chips against comparable laptops running Apple Silicon, Intel Core Ultra, and AMD Ryzen processors.

Key Findings

• Performance: Snapdragon X chips show promising performance in both productivity and multimedia tasks.
• Battery Life: Significant improvements in battery efficiency compared to traditional x86 architectures.
• Compatibility: App compatibility is rapidly improving but still lags behind established platforms.

Performance Benchmarks

We tested the following configurations:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus
• Intel Core Ultra
• AMD Ryzen 8000 Series
• Apple M3

Productivity Workloads

• Office Suite:

  • Snapdragon X chips performed on par with Intel and AMD in tasks like document editing and spreadsheet calculations.
  • Apple’s M3 showed a slight edge in speed, but the difference was negligible for most users.

• Web Browsing:

  • All platforms handled multiple tabs and complex web applications without issues.
  • Snapdragon X Plus had slightly better battery life due to optimized power management.

Multimedia Tasks

• Video Editing:
  • Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen 8000 were the frontrunners, thanks to their robust GPU capabilities.
  • Snapdragon X Elite managed well with lightweight editing tasks but struggled with more intensive projects.

• Gaming:
  • Traditional x86 platforms (Intel and AMD) outperformed Snapdragon X in gaming benchmarks.
  • However, Snapdragon X Plus delivered a smooth experience for less demanding games.

Battery Life

One of the standout features of Snapdragon X chips is their battery efficiency. Here’s how they compared:

• Snapdragon X Elite:
  • Up to 16 hours of mixed usage, significantly better than Intel and AMD.
• Snapdragon X Plus:
  • Extended battery life up to 20 hours, making it ideal for long travel or work sessions.

App Compatibility

While app compatibility is improving rapidly, there are still some hurdles:

• Native Apps:
  • Major productivity software like Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, and Adobe Creative Suite have native ARM versions.
• Emulated Apps:
  • Many x86 applications run well through emulation, but performance can be hit or miss.

Architecture Details

• Snapdragon X Elite:
  • Built on a 4nm process, featuring eight CPU cores (four high-performance and four efficiency cores).
  • Integrated GPU with support for DirectX 12 Ultimate.
• Snapdragon X Plus:
  • Also built on a 4nm process, but optimized for power efficiency with enhanced thermal management.

Conclusion

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips are making significant strides in the laptop market. While they may not yet match the raw performance of Intel and AMD in every task, their battery efficiency and rapidly improving app compatibility make them a compelling choice for users who prioritize long battery life and lightweight productivity tasks. As more developers release native ARM versions of their software, the gap between Snapdragon X and traditional x86 platforms is likely to narrow further.