April 12, 2023
Consumers who are in the market for a new thin-and-light Windows PC in 2023 may not necessarily require the latest and greatest processors. This is because the ultralights options from Intel and AMD are mostly similar to their predecessors, unlike previous mobile chip releases.
The performance gains on premium ultralights and 2-in-1s relying on integrated graphics are small enough that budget-conscious shoppers should consider a last-gen model and save hundreds of dollars with a negligible loss in performance, assuming all other things are equal.
When Intel unveiled its 13th Gen mobile lineup in January, tech reviewers deemed the chips as “mildly improved.” The new chips are unremarkable compared to the 12th Gen release when Intel introduced the P-series and brought its hybrid Alder Lake architectures to laptops. The 13th Gen brings minimal changes, as testing illustrates, that ultralights featuring 12th Gen systems remain worth serious consideration comparatively. AMD Ryzen 6000 versus 7000 also show a similar story, according to a specs comparison.
Andrew Cunningham, a writer, wrote upon Intel’s announcement of 13th Gen mobile, that the lineup is “mostly identical to the 12th Generation CPUs they’re replacing.” While 13th Gen brings notable updates to HX chips, including more E-cores than before, and with some of the chips, support for speedier RAM, when it comes to the chips employed in thin-and-light laptops—the P and U series—there’s far less of that “new and shiny” feel.
The new U- and P-series chips, as well as the more powerful H-series, limit gen-over-gen improvements to support faster RAM (up to DDR5-4800/LPDDR5-5200 versus DDR5-5200/LPDDR5-6400) and small clock speed increases. In terms of the 13th Gen U and P series comparison to the 12th Gen, the differences are small. The U series is supposed to be slightly less powerful and more efficient than the P-series, and it shows similarly minimal differences between the 12th and 13th Gens.
When the U series upgraded from 11th to 12th Gen, two big cores were replaced with four to eight small cores. However, no such changes occurred with the 13th Gen. In summary, it may not be necessary to buy a new thin-and-light Windows PC with the latest and greatest processors. Budget-conscious consumers can consider a last-gen model and save money with a negligible loss in performance, assuming all other factors are equal.
The sources for this piece include an article in ArsTechnica.
