Intel and AMD launch their mobile offensive against Apple M4 Pro and Max processors
In the world of laptops, the giant Apple blew everyone away with its M chips: powerful and energy efficient, they are now a benchmark in the field of so-called designer machines – including PCs with a very powerful dedicated GPU, designed for video editing and intense calculations. Taking advantage of CES in Las Vegas, Intel and AMD are therefore launching their mobile processors aimed at countering Apple in this segment.
Robert Hallock responsible for technical marketing of consumer products at Intel. © Adrian Branco for Les Numériques
If the two x86 chip players have both launched several ranges, two are attracting attention: AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ and Pro and Intel's Core Ultra 200HX. Two ranges which target high-power laptop PCs, for the moment the preserve of Apple. A company which has the double advantage of benefiting from the best engraving finesse of the moment and a very powerful GPU part. However, in the field of PCs for video editors and other creators, raw power is very important.
AMD attacks the M4 Pro head-on
Rarely for “classic” players in PC processors, AMD can be compared directly with Apple chips. © AMD
AMD's new class of Ryzen AI Max+ chips are the ones that most head-on attack Apple's chips. With, in addition to a deluge of CPU cores (up to 16, therefore 32 threads!), a very muscular GPU part: up to 40 graphics cores (CU for Compute Units) for the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. That is as many cores as Apple's M4 Max chip.
AMD has gone “all in” for this new category of processors. © AMD
On the technological side, AMD has integrated (almost) all of its best technological bricks: Zen 5 Performance CPU cores, second generation XDNA NPUs and RDNA 3.5 graphics cores (no RDNA 4 yet).
Taking advantage not only of its Radeon graphics know-how, but also of its mastery of chips combining CPU and GPU (called APUs at AMD), AMD thus offers the all-in-one chips in the PC world with the most powerful graphics part of the history of PC processors. AMD thus claims 140% more performance compared to Core Ultra 9 288V, the most powerful processor in the Lunar Lake family.
With no less than 32 tasks and a GPU that shares the memory pool with the CPU, this new generation of chip takes up some of the philosophy of Apple's M Pro and M Max chips. © Adrian Branco for Les Numériques
Designed to operate between 45W and 120W, these chips should be less durable than the M4 Pro, but the promised power gains could mitigate this state of affairs. But be careful though: AMD has not published a graph comparing its chip to the M4 Max. And the energy question remains unresolved.
Note that in addition to this range of chips, AMD is also launching its Ryzen HX3D (codenamed Fire Range) which are in fact the mobile counterpart of the Ryzen 9000 for desktop PCs. Modern chips from a CPU point of view (Zen 5 performance), dated on the graphics side (RDNA 2), and all capped at 54W to be integrated into gaming machines equipped with large GPUs.
Intel chooses external GPU
To the Core Ultra 200H, dedicated to thin and light devices, Intel has added a second family called Core Ultra 200 HX. Based on the same architectural bricks as the processors for desktop PCs (the Core Ultra 200S), they are therefore powered by the same high-power Lion-Cove cores (P-Cores) and high energy efficiency Tremont cores (E-Core). On the CPU side, the chip is at the forefront of what Intel can do, just like in terms of NPU. But it is different for the GPU,
Intel has opted for the pure power of its CPU cores. © Adrian Branco for Les Numériques
With starting TDPs of 55W going up to 150W (!), Intel has chosen to offer a lot of raw CPU power. The target is obviously gaming uses, but also, for once, scientific uses. Intel wants to offer a processor to be integrated into mobile workstations. Portable machines, but more generally used connected to the mains. Intel even provided a long performance summary table in which its high-end model, the Core Ultra 9 285HX, is continuously pushed to 150W.
Intel explicitly displays the use of an external GPU, subtly radiating here in green… ©Intel
Here, Intel's choice is not to have strengthened the GPU. A chip is well integrated (iGPU) to manage simple tasks and avoid draining the battery too quickly while on the move. The platforms should all integrate a dedicated GPU (dGPU in the jargon), whether for gaming or professional uses.
The energy question
The Core Ultra 200HX shamelessly go up to 150W. Intel therefore always plays for raw power “at all costs” in this segment which targets not only gaming PCs but also scientific workstations. ©Intel
One of the fundamental strengths of the M4 Pro chips, but also and especially M4 Max, is their large thermal gap. If the M4 Max and its 40 GPU cores can push the song up to 90W, the chip is surprisingly energy efficient in office uses. This allows Macbook Pros to be both powerful and durable work machines.
We do not yet know the behavior of the Core Ultra 200HX and Ryzen AI Max +. But if we can be sure that the power claims are roughly reliable (even if the numbers are always chosen carefully!), then there remains the unknown of how the chips will behave in endurance scenarios. Tests of the first chassis should arrive during the first quarter of 2025.
When reading the specifications, one thing is certain: AMD is taking advantage of the most modern chip and has put all the best into it. Let's hope that the upcoming arrival of Panther Lake gives wings to Intel in a segment that needs competition.
