In this exclusive interview, we had the pleasure of sitting down with representatives from both AMD and Acer to discuss the latest in processor and graphics technology and how those cutting edge technologies are being brought to market by major OEMs. AMD has recently launched their Ryzen 7000 series processors, and Acer, a leading laptop manufacturer, is among the first to incorporate these powerful chips into their products. We delve into the specifics of AMD's innovative processors, the collaborative efforts between both companies, and how Acer's latest laptops are benefiting from this partnership. Read on to discover what lies behind the technological breakthroughs and learn about the exciting possibilities that these innovations bring to the world of laptops and beyond.
Digit – The Ryzen 6000 (Zen3+) series was all about bringing the capabilities of the Zen 3 5000 series into a more portable form factor. What are the design goals with Zen4-based laptops?
Zen 3+ allowed us to deliver ultrathin performance leadership last year. With Zen 4, we aim to help create designs that are even lighter and more power efficient, while delivering better performance and enabling new experiences with features like Ryzen AI.
To that end, we’ve designed the Ryzen 7000 series mobile platform to be one of our most flexible and scalable designs yet. On one end we have the AMD Ryzen 7045 series, which we believe to be the world’s most powerful mobile processor thanks to its 5 nm node, 16 multi-threaded cores, 5.4 GHz boost clock, and that huge 80 MB of cache (L2 + L3).
Then we have the AMD Ryzen 7040 (Phoenix) featuring the world’s first integrated AI Engine. That engine is based on our XDNA architecture and we’re very excited about the capabilities and efficiencies it unlocks in the laptop form factor. Phoenix is also built on a cutting-edge 4 nm node, and features powerful RDNA3 graphics, making it a true flagship.
The Ryzen 7020, 7030 and 7035 series offer proven performance and longer battery life for more value conscious buyers. Paired with RDNA2 and Vega graphics, we’re also in a unique position to be able to offer esports-ready gaming performance in this category and price.
Digit – Could you elaborate on how the AI Engine built into the Ryzen 7040 series chips will benefit the users?
The computing experiences of today are increasingly being driven by AI. We’ve seen some truly transformative AI experiences emerge this past year. Models like stable diffusion and ChatGPT have changed our perceptions of what computers can do, and engineers everywhere are increasingly designing their apps around AI. We’ve seen this in productivity apps like Teams and Zoom where AI is used to remove background blur and noise in audio, image editing apps like Photoshop and Lightroom for neural filters and subject detection, AI-powered suggestions in apps like Notion, and more.
Given the power of modern CPUs and GPUs, these models do run on current laptop hardware, but they do so very inefficiently. Your components have to run faster and hotter to perform AI-driven tasks that we take for granted today, making it harder to make thermally efficient designs that also deliver on promises like all-day battery life.
The XDNA-based AI Engine we’ve integrated into Ryzen 7040 is designed specifically to more efficiently handle such workloads. Not only does it accelerate AI experiences, but it also does so at much lower cost. As the adoption of AI engines increases, the benefits of an integrated AI Engine will only become more prominent.
Digit – We didn't see a lot of AMD Ryzen 6000-based laptops in the Indian market even months after launch. What efforts is AMD taking to ensure wider availability of AMD Zen4 based 7000 series laptops in India?
We won’t be able to answer the first part of this question.
The scalability of the AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile platform allows OEMs the flexibility to design new categories of products, and at price points that consumers are comfortable with. We’re also working closely with them to help improve sales by offering training and education programs for partners, and engaging in joint marketing and promotional activities to help raise awareness for the platform.
Digit – Will we see Zen4 mobile processors with 3D V-Cache technology aimed at gaming laptops?
No comments
Digit – Which software vendors are you engaging with to better leverage the AI Engine that the Ryzen 7040 processors have? Will popular content creation software incorporate support for AI Engine? When do you expect mass adoption of software that will leverage the features of AI Engine?
Unable to comment since the product is yet to be launched
Digit – What tools is AMD providing software developers to incorporate the features of AI Engine into their software?
Unable to comment since the product is yet to be launched
Digit – Please tell us what are the key factors driving the demand for Acer's laptop business in India?
The PC market grew exponentially as work-from-home became the norm during the pandemic, and it’s now more common to see PCs as personal devices rather than the family computer. In fact, it’s now more common for people to seek laptops that fit their lifestyle, not just their work.
On the gaming side of things, the rise of eSports as a viable profession is certainly an encouraging sign, and it’s one of the reasons we’re increasing our investments in the gaming laptop and accessory market. We’re also ensuring that the latest products arrive in India at the same time as they do globally.
We still think there’s a lot of scope for growth in the India PC market, and we’re seeing demand from all sectors including SMB, govt., BFSI, and more.
Digit – We know gaming has been a focus area for Acer. How is Acer planning to strengthen its leadership with the latest partnership with AMD for the Ryzen 7000 series?
I think it’s safe to say that Acer has a history of innovation and a reputation for incorporating cutting-edge tech into its products. With AMD, we’re better able to deliver on our promises of multi-tasking performance for work, single-threaded performance for gaming, and that all-day battery life that both gamers and professionals desire. Thanks to AMD, we’re able to offer powerful and sophisticated solutions to all our customers, and with Ryzen 7000, we’re proud of being among the first in India to do so. It’s encouraging to see the response that AMD’s products have received so far.
AMD’s Ryzen PRO 6000 series has allowed us to offer more secure, and easy-to-manage devices to enterprise clients, which has led to more growth in that sector as well. We’re excited to be able to collaborate with AMD and offer such cutting-edge solutions to our customers.
Digit – Which are the new AMD-powered models you will be launching and what are the expected timelines?
The Aspire 3 we just launched is the first AMD Ryzen 7000 Mobile Platform powered device in India, and it offers a great mix of thin-n-light performance and affordable pricing. It represents great value, and looking at the positive feedback it received, we decided to release the sleek and metallic, Ryzen 7000-series powered Swift Go as well – a productivity powerhouse.
In addition, we’ll soon introduce the Nitro 5 to gamers – a laptop that can handle 4K video editing, HDR streaming, not to mention high-performance gaming, and all at a very reasonable price. We will also be releasing devices to address other market segments soon.
Our partnership with AMD enables us to offer class-leading technology and a pleasant computing experience to our customers. 2022 was a milestone year for us, and we believe that 2023 will be even better thanks to partners like AMD.
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Mithun Mohandas
Mithun Mohandas is an Indian technology journalist with 10 years of experience covering consumer technology. He is currently employed at Digit in the capacity of a Managing Editor. Mithun has a background in Computer Engineering and was an active member of the IEEE during his college days. He has a penchant for digging deep into unravelling what makes a device tick. If there's a transistor in it, Mithun's probably going to rip it apart till he finds it. At Digit, he covers processors, graphics cards, storage media, displays and networking devices aside from anything developer related. As an avid PC gamer, he prefers RTS and FPS titles, and can be quite competitive in a race to the finish line. He only gets consoles for the exclusives. He can be seen playing Valorant, World of Tanks, HITMAN and the occasional Age of Empires or being the voice behind hundreds of Digit videos. View Full Profile
