AMD’s new integrated graphics look mighty powerful. According to AMD’s marketing materials, the upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip with Radeon 8060S integrated graphics is upwards of 68.1% faster than a laptop RTX 4070, which is currently our pick for the best graphics card for laptops.
You can see the results below. AMD tested the Radeon 8060S in a variety of games at 1080p with the High graphics preset. In most games, the margins are tight. However, you can see some significant leads for AMD in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Baulder’s Gate 3, Hitman 3, and especially Borderlands 3, where that 68.1% increase comes from, as highlighted by Notebookcheck.
Those are impressive results, but there are a few important elements of this data to highlight. First, AMD is focused on highly portable mobile machines running a “similar TDP and form factor.” The ROG Flow Z13 only comes with an RTX 4070 through its ACRNM edition, which features a larger metal casing compared to the standard Flow Z13. The machine also runs the RTX 4070 at 65 watts, while the GPU is capable of running at up to 115W Total Graphics Power (TGP).
Despite the drop in power, it looks like AMD is coming out ahead in efficiency. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 can run at up to 120W, but it’s important to remember that it includes a CPU with 16 Zen 5 alongside a GPU with 40 Compute Units (CUs). For context, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, which you’ll find in laptops like the Asus ZenBook S 16, tops out at 16 CUs. That’s a huge bump in the graphics capabilities of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395.
Clearly, vendors are on board with the graphics capabilities of this chip. Asus is ditching the discrete GPU for its 2025 Flow Z13 and instead relying solely on the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. HP is also leveraging the new CPU in its ZBook Ultra 14 G1a, which is set to launch this year. No other models have been announced yet, though we expect to see more laptops packing this Strix Halo chip as we get further into the year.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.