In brief: AMD's Ryzen Pro 6000 series processors are now official, and businesses will be able to buy laptops sporting them starting next month. As with the regular 6000 series, these are designed for energy efficiency and better iGPU performance, but they also integrate several layers of security as they're aimed at business customers.
Back in February, AMD launched the Ryzen 6000 series mobile processors for gaming laptops. Our own Tim Schiesser noted the Zen 3+ (Rembrandt) architecture brings a roughly 10 percent improvement in performance per watt when compared to the previous generation, and mostly shines in the iGPU department where the RDNA 2 design brings some substantial performance improvements when compared to the previous Vega design.
Today, the company announced the Ryzen Pro 6000 series CPUs, which are aimed at enterprise machines where security and robust IT management support are key. As with the regular Ryzen 6000 series, the new processors offer up to eight cores and 16 threads with a maximum boost clock of 4.9 GHz.
AMD says the use of a 6nm process node makes this lineup ideal for scenarios where cool and quiet operation under load and longer battery life are more important than peak performance. Interestingly, the company is even keeping some Ryzen Pro 5000 U-series processors around, so laptop manufacturers will be able to decide between 15-watt (5000 series) and 28-watt (6000 series) designs and adjust the TDP based on what the cooling system can handle.
The Ryzen Pro 6000 H-series processors come in two variants, one with a thermal envelope of 45 watts and one that targets 35 watts. Both the H-series and the U-series come with support for DDR5 memory, USB 4, and Thunderbolt 4, as well as WiFi 6E. Also notable is support for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 for up to four display outputs.
In terms of CPU performance, AMD says its Ryzen Pro 6000 U-series are up to 30 percent faster than their Ryzen 5000 counterparts, while the integrated GPU can be up to 2.1 times faster.
The company is also touting up to 15 percent higher performance in some productivity tasks when compared to Intel's 12th generation Alder Lake CPUs (specifically the P-series), but it does admit that single-threaded performance is slightly lagging. For a comprehensive picture of what you can expect from the H-series, check out our Ryzen 9 6900HS review.
The most interesting of AMD's claims has to do with the battery life afforded by the Ryzen Pro 6000 U-series processors. The company says its Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U can play video for up to 29 hours on a laptop with the display brightness set to 150 nits.
An HP EliteBook 865 G9 equipped with the new CPU, a 16-inch display, and a 76 Wh battery was supposedly able to run the MobileMark 2018 battery test for 26 hours, which sounds impressive on paper but might not translate well into what you can achieve in a real-world scenario.
AMD has also integrated a host of hardware security features into the new CPUs, including Microsoft's Pluton. This is further augmented by fleet management tools for IT admins and additional security tools from Lenovo and HP.
The first laptops to integrate the new Ryzen Pro 6000 processors are expected to start shipping by the end of Q2 2022. These include HP's Elitebook 835, 845, and 865, as well as Lenovo's ThinkPad Z series, T14, T16, and X13. Ryzen Pro 5000 series will show up in the ThinkPad L series and Elitebook 655 and 645 models.
Laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 and its larger brother, the ThinkPad Z16 will start shipping in May for $1,549 and $2,099, respectively.
https://www.techspot.com/news/94267-amd-launches-ryzen-6000-pro-series-processors-business.html
