AMD just launched the Ryzen 8000 series of CPUs, which will power laptops launched during 2024. AMD is largely thought to have moved to a tick-tock model now, with major CPU improvements coming roughly once every two years, so this is just a minor upgrade compared to previous chips. If you were wondering whether they would be coming to gaming handhelds, GPD just launched the very first ones, but you’ll have to ask yourself whether they’re worth your time.
GPD is probably not a brand you’re too familiar with, but we’ve covered it a few times as it has launched some interesting gaming handhelds. These ones are no different. They are just refreshed versions of the Win Mini, Win 4, and Win Max 2 handhelds, which were already being sold with Ryzen 7000-series CPUs. All GPD is doing here is swapping out the Ryzen 7000 chips that were inside for Ryzen 8000 ones. In addition to this, the upcoming Flip handheld will also be launched in two flavors, with a Ryzen 7 7840U and a Ryzen 7 8840U CPU.
In all honesty, though, unless you don’t already own one of these handhelds (or any Ryzen 7000-series handheld), this is probably not worth your time. While all upgrades are well-received, AMD just launched what might very well be one of the least exciting updates to its CPU range in recent years. The Ryzen 8000 series chips for laptops do pack some improvements, like a Ryzen AI NPU, but in all honesty, it kind of seems AMD got a little too carried away with AI and forgot to make any substantial silicon-level improvements. We’ve talked about this more in our Ryzen 8000 announcement post, but silicon improvements, at least on paper, seem non-existing, with basically all chips carrying the same specifications (same Zen 4 cores, same GPU, same clock speeds) as what is supposed to be their predecessors.
Given this, however, it’s likely we won’t get anything much better from this until we get new Ryzen chips (Ryzen 9000?) and the Zen 5 architecture. For now, you should expect these new Ryzen 8000-powered models to pop up within the next few weeks as 2024 rolls around.
Source: GPD via Liliputing
