Microsoft may be joining the red team once again for an upcoming Surface device. A 3DMark benchmark spotted by Twitter's @_rogame reveals a Microsoft device with a Ryzen 5 4500U chip and AMD's RX 5300M mGPU.
The Ryzen 5 4500U is one of AMD's upcoming flagship mobile processors based on the Zen 2 architecture. It's designed for ultra-thin devices and holds 9 cores and 16 threads with a base of 1.8GHz and a boost of up to 4.2 GHz.
Essentially, it should be enough to compete with Intel's offerings, especially as the chip-maker struggles with security and supply issues. At this point, though, the Microsoft device it would inhabit is a mystery.
I found a weird hardware combination
An all AMD laptop with Ryzen 5 4500U & what appears to be an RX 5300M
GPU vendor is Advanced Micro Devices for both iGPU & dGPU so it's an AMD test laptop
Add to that the new Microsoft Laptop with 4500U
I think this is Surface Book 3 pic.twitter.com/ELsppJo7PP
— _rogame (@_rogame) March 18, 2020
RoGame's personal opinion is that this could be the Surface Book 3. However, there isn't a whole lot of evidence for that so far, especially as its display-separating functionality has historically been linked to Intel.
Previous benchmarks have also suggested a 1660Ti Max Q and Core i7-1065G7 for the device. With Microsoft's tendency to release different variants, though, nothing is off the table.
Another contender is the Surface Laptop, which last year had Intel and AMD variants. There's also the chance of a possible successor to the Surface Pro X that moves away from ARM or an entirely new entry in the lineup.
Ultimately, we won't know for a good while if these benchmarks are accurate. We could see something Ryzen-related at Microsoft's Surface hardware event in October, but who knows what will have happened with Covid-19 by then. Either way, increased competition in the mobile processor space can only be a good thing.
Last Updated on April 9, 2020 12:04 pm CEST
