Sure, AMD’s new Ryzen 9 4900HS is pretty powerful by laptop standards — it’s a 35 watt, 8-core chip based on Zen 2 architecture with support for speeds up to 4.3 GHz.
But you know what’s even faster? AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X processor. That might seem like comparing apples and oranges, since it’s a desktop chip… but that didn’t stop XMG from putting the chip into a 5.7 pound gaming laptop with a 15.6 inch display.
Sure, the XMG Apex 15 has an underclocked version of the Ryzen 9 3950X processor. But even running at 65 watts (instead of 105 watts), it offers a heck of a lot of horsepower for a mobile computer.
While the desktop processor typically has a base frequency of 3.5 GHz and top single-core boost speeds up to 4.7 GHz, the version used in XMG’s laptop is clocked at 2.6 GHz and hits top speeds of 4.2 GHz.
But it’s a 16-core/32-thread processor that should offer desktop-class performance, especially when paired with the laptop’s other specs:
- 15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS 144 Hz non-glare display
- Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics
- Up to 64GB DDR4-3200 RAM
- 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA III SSD
- 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 2./0 x4 SSD
- 1 x 2.5″ drive bay (HDD or SSD)
Other features include a backlit keyboard, HDMI, mini DisplayPort, audio, Ethernet, USB-C, and USB-A ports, a microSD card reader, a Windows Hello-compatible webcam, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.
The notebook measures 14.2″ x 10.2″ x 1.3″ and it could be one of the most powerful gaming laptops/mobile workstations around… but there’s a catch. With just a 62 Wh battery, I wouldn’t expect much in the way of battery life.
One disappointing thing about the laptop? It seems to lack a Thunderbolt 3 port, which seems like a strange omission on such an otherwise powerful notebook.
Update: I’ve been reminded that it’s virtually unheard of to see an AMD machine with Thunderbolt 3, although that may change in the future.
The product listing for the Apex 15 seems to be blank at the XMG website, but the laptop is available for purchase in Europe from Bestware for €1,337 ($1474) and up.
via ComputerBase and VideoCardz
I am really interested with specifications of this laptop, but if I could get one with 17,3 inch screen size. that will be more appropriate for me.
Hi guys, thanks for your interest in our XMG APEX 15. If you have any more questions. please comment below! // Tom
Do you happen to know of any places that build AMD Ryzen 9 3950x laptops that ALSO ship to the United States? I was told that the makers of the XMG APEX 15 do NOT ship to the United States. THANKS!
I’m also interested in this question.
However, Frankie, if the answer turns out to be never (unlikely) you could just get the R5 3600 variant and upgrade to the 3950X.
I wonder how huge the power brick going to be.
* is
Output: 230W
Dimensions: 155 x 75 x 30mm
Weight: ~700g
At your service. // Tom
Brad, Thunderbolt is a proprietary Intel technology, which is why you aren’t going to see any on a Ryzen laptop anytime soon. It’s a sore spot for AMD given how robust Thunderbolt accessories have gotten in the last few years, especially given the proliferation of port-starved laptops that implicitly rely on a robust dock for display duplication and more than one peripheral at a time.
Right, forgot about that. It looks like it’s theoretically possible, but still rare.
Huh–I didn’t realize that. But Intel didn’t certify the first Thunderbolt-equipped AMD motherboard until February of this year, so yeah, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
This is wrong. Intel opened up the licensing over a year ago. There are like 4 AM4 (specifically X570) motherboards with officially certified Thunderbolt 3 support. The certification process is just really expensive, long, & onerous for non-Intel based hardware at this point. That’ll change when TB3 becomes USB4.
USB4 is not Thunderbolt 3. It will gain some of Thunderbolt 3’s feature set, but it won’t be full parity.