In brief: In the gaming laptop space, AMD has focused most of its recent efforts on Zen 5-based APU lineups like the Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen AI Max. However, new variants of the high-end Dragon Range processors show that the company hasn't abandoned notebooks with dedicated CPU and GPU combos.
Listings for four new high-end laptop processors recently appeared on AMD's website. Unlike the company's Fire Range and Ryzen AI 300 series, the new Ryzen 8000HX CPUs utilize the older Zen 4 architecture, with specifications closely resembling those of 2023's 7000HX lineup.
AMD appears to have refreshed its Dragon Range series from two years ago with little fanfare. The new processors reuse TSMC's 5nm FinFET process node and RDNA 2-based Radeon 610M integrated graphics, drawing up to 75W.
| CPU Cores | CPU Threads | Max Boost Clock | Base Clock | L1 Cache | L2 Cache | L3 Cache | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 8945HX | 16 | 32 | 5.4 GHz | 2.5 GHz | 1024 KB | 16 MB | 64 MB |
| Ryzen 9 8940HX | 16 | 32 | 5.3 GHz | 2.4 GHz | 1024 KB | 16 MB | 64 MB |
| Ryzen 7 8840HX | 12 | 24 | 5.1 GHz | 2.9 GHz | 768 KB | 12 MB | 64 MB |
| Ryzen 7 8745HX | 8 | 16 | 5.1 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 512 KB | 8 MB | 32 MB |
At the top of the stack, the Ryzen 9 8945HX features 16 Zen 4 cores with 32 threads. However, the new lineup lacks a Ryzen 5 tier, ending with the Ryzen 7 8745HX, which has eight cores and 16 threads.
While the included iGPUs lag far behind those in AMD's new Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen AI MAX chips, the 8000HX CPUs are meant to be paired with the latest dedicated GPUs, likely Nvidia's RTX 50 series. Team Red doesn't plan to release dedicated mobile chips based on its latest graphics architecture, RDNA 4, leaving Nvidia uncontested in the sector for now.
The appearance of Ryzen 8000HX is intriguing because Dragon Range already received a successor in January – the Zen 5-based Fire Range 9000HX chips. AMD might have introduced 8000HX to provide vendors with a lower-cost alternative.
Gaming laptops featuring the refreshed Dragon Range CPUs could appear soon, but new US tariffs may complicate the launch of high-end laptops. Vendors Razer and Framework recently paused pre-orders of new notebooks following the announcement of harsh duties on imports from China and other countries that supply the necessary components.
Although the White House paused most of the tariffs on countries vital to tech supply chains, such as Japan and Vietnam, anti-China import taxes currently sit at a staggering 125%. Although the impact on CPU shipments remains unclear, laptops are one of the products most severely impacted by the tariffs.
AMD quietly unveils its refreshed Zen 4 gaming laptop CPUs – the Ryzen 8000HX series
