AMD Launches New Ryzen 5000 Series To Power Next-Generation Chromebooks
Looking to maintain its momentum in the laptop computer arena, AMD is offering new Ryzen processors that will power Chromebooks from HP, Acer and Google.
On the heels of impressive 2022 first quarter results, Santa Clara, Calif-based AMD today announced its Ryzen 5000 C-series processors for the higher end Chromebook segment, taking aim at a business market still hungry for hybrid office-home work solutions.
The new processors, based on AMD’s Zen 3 architecture, are expected to offer up to 67 percent faster responsiveness and up to 85 percent better graphics performance than its previous generation. Four new chips were released with between three and eight cores and up to 4.5GHz boost frequency, including the Ryzen 3 5125, Ryzen 3 5425, Ryzen 5 5625C, and Ryzen 7 5825C.
The company announced fiscal 2022 first quarter results on Tuesday with total revenue of $5.9 billion -- a 71 percent year over year increase (including revenue from its recent Xilinx acquisition) that shrugged off early signs of a softening consumer PC market. “Our focus remains on the premium, gaming, and commercial portions of the market,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said during the earnings call.
[Related: AMD Buying John Chambers Backed Pensando For $1.9B To Boost Cloud, Chip Innovation]
Mike Turicchi, vice president of Gaineville, Va.-based NCS Technologies (an HP Inc. partner), said in an interview with CRN that AMD’s newest Ryzen 5000 CPUs will help with booming demand for more powerful Chromebooks for business. Supply chain issues have also meant a lack of inventory for Chromebooks. And interest in lower end Chromebooks is beginning to wane as needs change in the education segment.
“We are seeing more interest and demand for the higher-end Chromebooks,” Turicchi said. “In fact, we are having trouble finding enough inventory of the (Intel) i7 models to meet our needs today. AMD’s launch is timely and necessary for healthy competition. End users want the performance and features of a business-class laptop on Chrome devices now, too. This is an exciting development for us as a reseller because Chromebooks have historically been low-cost, low-margin products.”
“AMD is raising the performance bar for modern Chromebooks,” Saeid Moshkelani, AMD’s senior vice president and general manager for the client business unit, said in a statement. “With up to eight cores, the Ryzen 5000 C-Series processors give Chromebook users the flexibility to stay unplugged all day without sacrificing performance and productivity.”
The new chips will be featured first in laptops from Google, HP and Acer.
“We are working closely with AMD to power a new generation of Chromebooks for the consumer and commercial markets,” John Solomon, vice president and general manager of Chrome OS at Google, said in a statement. “These Chromebooks, with AMD’s new Ryzen 5000 C-Series processors, are designed for greater efficiency, reliable performance and sustained battery life to enable increased collaborative productivity in Google Workspace and other business-critical applications on Chrome OS.”
Acer on Wednesday debuted the Chromebook Spin 514 featuring the new chips. “This new generation of Chromebooks is a great example of what a collaborative industry partnership can bring – excellence in compute performance, graphics, battery life and design,” said James Lin, Acer general manager of notebooks, IT business products, in a statement.
HP will use the new Ryzen chips in its HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook Enterprise. “HP is committed to delivering innovative solutions for mission-critical workers and avid learners in today’s hybrid work environments,” Alex Thatcher, Director of Cloud Client Planning, Commercial Systems, at HP, said in a blog post. He said the new machine will “enable even more performance, efficiency and enhanced connectivity, delivering an exceptional experience no matter where and how you work and learn.”