AMD has been on a roll with their computer parts, having released very power efficient mobile CPUs in the form of their Ryzen 6000 processors, and more recently with the introduction of the mobile versions of their Radeon 6000 series GPUs.
Despite recently converting to Intel on my personal build, one cannot deny the fact that AMD does make good computer parts. And they are now good enough to compete in the laptop space
But how does it fair for day-to-day use?
TL: DR
To summarize, it is definitely a viable choice in 2022, especially if you are a gamer.
Where it falls short is the ability to do GPU-based work, like using the video editing software DaVinci Resolve, for example.
Test Specs
Still with us?
For our testing, we have the Asus Zephyrus G14, fitted with a Ryzen 6900HS and a Radeon 6700S. Other specs include 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB Gen4 PCIe SSD.
There are a couple of tiers for the AMD’s mobile GPUs that you will need to keep in mind.
There is the M-tier and the S-tier. The S-tier has its frequency and power limit reduced from the M-tier version, but with all the other goodies intact. So the 6700S in our test unit is simply a power-limited version of the 6700M.
The G14 has the odd resolution of FHD+ (1920 x 1200), which is a slightly extended FHD (1920 x 1080). In general, it shouldn’t be much of a difference in performance between FHD+ and FHD, but all these tests were run at FHD anyway to make it a comparable experience in other forms of laptops.
Also for these tests, keep in mind that the G14 is comparable to a thin-and-light laptop, with a lot of its functions catered towards form rather than cooling.
CPU
The Ryzen 6900HS, which is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that could boost to a whooping 4.9GHz on a single core at times, is very comparable to having a Ryzen desktop processor.
But just like the desktop Ryzens, the 6900HS boosting to these frequencies will generate as much heat, and while the desktop variants will have a CPU cooler in place, the 6900HS will not. It will generally depend on the design of the laptop to dissipate this heat.
This is exactly the limitations we faced with the G14.
We first tried to get the laptop to perform at its maximum potential, with the laptop’s fans going full-tilt at 100 per cent in a 23 deg C ambient.
The 6900HS reaches 100 deg C when attempting to boost to its highest single-core frequency while playing games, and throttles to about 80 deg C after, usually settling around 4.5GHz.
A test on Cinebench R23 sees it hitting about 75 deg C, with a score of 14525. A side note, if you know your numbers, this is an insane feat considering it is very close to the all-core numbers of AMD’s own 5800X3D and Intel’s i7-11700K, while only pulling less than 100w.
For ‘normal’ usage, with the fans not spinning like the laptop is about to turn into a flying drone, expect these numbers to drop slightly, but not to a point where the laptop is unusable.
GPU
The Radeon 6700S is a decent gaming GPU on a laptop, but struggles to process GPU-based work from programs like DaVinci Resolve.
For comparison, a laptop with a 3060 and an older Ryzen 5900HS managed to render a 5-minute 1080p video on DaVinci Resolve in 7 minutes, while the 6700S took 11 minutes.
For programs like Adobe Premier Pro, it is very comparable to the RTX 3060, simply because Premier Pro uses more of the CPU than the GPU to render its videos.
But at its maximum performance, the 6700S only draws a good 95 watts even in games.
Temperatures are a little on the high side at 90 deg C in our tests, but a laptop with a beefier cooler could remedy this.
Games
Here are just some average game numbers that you can expect from the combination of the 6900HS and the 6700S at 1080p.
All games were played at their highest settings, with resizable-BAR, or what AMD likes to call Smart Access Memory, switched on.
You get a pretty decent gaming experience with the combination of the 6900HS and the 6700S. Long gone are the days where you would shun an AMD GPU on a laptop if you are looking for a gaming device.
The G14 lasted a good four hours while playing games on full battery percentage before reaching five per cent, where it went into power-saving mode.
I would assume that laptops with larger batteries will have longer playtime.
Four hours is not something to sneeze at, as a lot of older gaming laptops with large batteries can only muster two hours of playtime at maximum.
Conclusion
Is it viable to get an all-AMD laptop in 2022? Absolutely.
AMD has attempted to enter the gaming laptop space again with the release of the Mobile Radeon 6000 series, and unlike its predecessors, it is actually providing some decent gaming experience for recent games.
Not to mention that the parts are pretty power efficient, with both CPU and GPU not pulling anything close to 100w individually.
This is something that will affect battery life the most, and AMD has done well in this regard.
Is it worth it, though? That is something only you as the consumer can answer.
If it’s solely for gaming and non-GPU related work, just go for the cheapest if you have the choice of an all-AMD laptop or a laptop with an Nvidia RTX 3000 series GPU.
If it’s for GPU-related work and editing though, much like its desktop brethren, AMD is still not there yet.
However, they are getting pretty close, and I hope we will see more improvements and changes in the upcoming next-gen mobile releases.
Dominic loves tech and games. When he is not busy getting bodied in games or watercooling anything he sees, he does some pro wrestling.
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