AMD complicates its mobile product line with various Ryzen 7000 models. There are also models based on the new Zen4 SoCs (Phoenix), as well as the Zen3+, Zen3 and Zen2, which are not yet available. That is, if you buy Ryzen 7000 laptop, you should pay attention to the third digit, because it refers to the Gen generation. For example, consider the Ryzen 7 7730U: the first 7 indicates the Ryzen 7000 chip, the second 7 indicates the performance level (Ryzen 7) and the third digit (in this case 3) indicates the Zen3. The fourth digit makes things more complicated. Because 0 represents Barcelo-Rnashi and 5 represents Rembrandt-Rnashi (for example, AMD Ryzen 7 7735U is based on Zen3+). Is that reasonable? It is very strong and you should check the specifications carefully. The following table summarizes the current Ryzen 7000 mobile processor lineup:
Ryzen 7 7730U and Ryzen 5 7530U processors
Since the specs are identical to the previous models Ryzen 7 5825U and Ryzen 5 5625U, both models AMD Ryzen 7 7730U and Ryzen 5 7530U are essentially older chips (with 200 MHz higher single-core clock). This means that older iGPUs, including the RX Vega 8 and RX Vega 7, use 8 Zen3 cores (7 nm). The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 G8 and Flex 5 16 G8 we tested have CPUs that consume up to 48 watts.
Our benchmarks clearly show that the new models are almost identical to their predecessors. Both the Ryzen 7 6800U and the Intel chips perform better in single-core scenarios, but the “cooler” Zen3 models do exceptionally well in multi-core tests. Long-term tests, such as Cinebench R23 Multi, show the Ryzen 7 7730U to be significantly slower than Intel’s recent Raptor Lake Core i7-1360P.
It gets even more interesting when we look at Cinebench R15 Multi Loop. Individual laptops and their ability to handle higher turbo clocks vary markedly, but modern Intel CPUs, in particular, show significant performance degradation after the first run.
The smaller Ryzen 5 7530U does well, outperforming the Core i7-1255U in the Surface Pro 9 and slightly slower than the Core i7-1260P in the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Carbon.
In the current test equipment, the two Ryzen 7000 CPUs can use the higher power limits, so the efficiency is not particularly good. The Zen3 SoCs are roughly on par with the Intel competition, but the Ryzen 7 6800U with Zen3+ cores does significantly better in multi-core tests.
As early as 2023, AMD “fallen” new Zen3 CPUs will still deliver decent performance. Multi-core performance is particularly competitive, with even Intel’s latest Raptor Lake mobile processors failing to provide a significant advantage. This also applies to integrated GPUs; The Iris Xe graphics with 96 EUs is slightly faster than the G7 Velocity 8, but both chips are also operating at a lower level so the difference is minor.
Zen3 CPUs are still a good choice, especially for low-end laptops, but we criticize AMD current product line. Given the large list above, we’re not sure what the user should choose. Zen3+ SoCs like the Ryzen 7 7735U are very interesting models, as they are based on last year’s very good Ryzen 7 6800U, which is not widely available. The new Zen4 U-series chips are not yet available and we don’t expect them to be available soon.
