AMD just announced over a dozen new laptop CPUs, which will appear in over 150 new laptops being announced at CES 2025 and later this year, including a new 3D V-Cache chip for gaming laptops and some really impressive graphics in its new Ryzen AI Max+ halo chips.
Let’s start with Fire Range. These chips are for high-end gaming laptops, a successor to Dragon Range line, catering to enthusiast gamers and, so far, only enthusiasts are going to be happy, as those laptops likely be quite expensive. On the other hand, the CPUs sound mighty powerful. The lineup includes, first and foremost, the next big 3D V-Cache chip, dubbed the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.
This is a follow-up to the first 3D V-Cache mobile, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which launched in 2023. While it was impressive technically, it only ever showed up in one configuration of one gaming laptop, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17. But on the desktop side, the line of chips has earned itself a reputation among PC gamers, using the unique vertical stacking of L3 cache to improve game performance. Hopefully we see the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D get wider adoption and come to some of the best gaming laptops later this year.
Beyond that, though, the other chips in the Dragon Range line include the Ryzen 9 9955HX, and the Ryzen 9 9850HX. Across all three chips, the specs are very much the same as Dragon Range, but the switch from Zen 4 to the latest Zen 5 will hopefully net some gaming improvements. The 9955HX3D comes with 16 cores, 32 threads, 144MB of combined cache, and a maximum clock speed of 5.4GHz. The 9955HX is almost the same, apart from a much smaller 80MB cache. Lastly, the 9850HX is limited to 12 cores and 24 threads, 76MB of cache, and a maximum boost frequency of 5.2GHz. All three share the same thermal design power (TDP) of 54 watts.
These CPUs are yet to receive a solid release date, but they’re going to be available in the first half of 2025.
AMD is also expanding the Ryzen AI 300 series lineup with new midrange chips, and it’s promising to deliver sizable improvements over its competitors. The new additions include the Ryzen AI 7 350, the Ryzen AI 5 340, the Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and the Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340.
Ranging from six to eight cores and 4.8GHz to 5GHz in terms of frequency, these are workstation processors optimized to maximize battery life and support AI workflows. To that end, each comes with a neural processing unit (NPU) with up to 50 Tera Operations per Second (TOPS), so they’re Copilot+ ready. AMD claims that the NPU beats both Qualcomm’s X Plus and Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V in Procyon AI.
Next are AMD’s halo chips, namely the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro (and just AI Max). These come equipped with up to 16 Zen 5 cores, an XDNA 2 NPU with up to 50 TOPS, and RDNA 3.5 graphics with up to 40 compute units (CUs). AMD compared the new flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 to Apple’s M4 Pro, highlighting huge wins in 3D rendering over both the 12-core and the 14-core model; for example, in Vray, the AI Max was 69% faster than the M4 Pro.
AMD also claims to offer up to 14x faster graphics performance when compared to the Core Ultra 9 288V. That’s a big claim, especially considering how powerful the integrated graphics already are on Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 chips.
All the chips in the new Ryzen AI Max+ Pro and non-Pro range have a highly adjustable TDP ranging from 45 watts to 120 watts. Availability will be spread over the first two quarters of 2025.
We all know that AMD is no stranger to coming back to its older CPU ranges and adding products to lineups that are no longer “current.” This is what’s happening to the Ryzen 200 series, which is a Zen 4-based platform that AMD itself advertises as “AI for everyday experiences.”
A whole bunch of CPUs are arriving in the second quarter of 2025, ranging from the Ryzen 9 270 with eight cores and 16 threads, to the budget-friendly Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 3 Pro 210 with a modest four cores and eight threads. All of these, apart from the top two chips, have TDPs ranging from 15 to 30 watts, which should translate to good battery life.
There are a whole lot of mobile processors to dig into this time around. Now, it all comes down to availability. Previous generations weren’t widely available, but perhaps this time around, AMD’s presence in laptops has grown enough to give these chips a chance at success.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.