AMD is releasing new mobile processors, Ryzen, and Athlon, which will be the brains for a new generation of s Chromebook.
These Zen-based mobile processors are designed to make Chromebooks quicker for web browsing, productivity tasks, and multitasking. Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo are expected to launch a wide range of entry-level chip-based premium systems in their upcoming Chromebooks, both for children studying at home during the pandemic and for home-bound professionals.
A new line of AMD Ryzen and Athlon chips for Chromebooks
While the chips are targeting the low end of the market, AMD is hitting one of Intel’s strongholds in a bid to gain market share. The Ryzen and Athlon processors are up to 178% faster than the previous generation of chips.
“Zen as a core is coming to Chromebook,” Robert Halleck said in a press briefing by AMD, mobile technology leader. “There seems to be a Chromebook for every child. Chromebooks attack more markets that cost less and demand better performance. And surely in all of these verticals, from learning to business and customers, we want to play.
The AMD Ryzen and Athlon 3000 C-series Mobile Processor lineup has been developed in partnership with Google and launches the fourth quarter of the first Zen-based Chromebooks launch. AMD said it provides up to 251% better graphics than previous AMD Chromebooks, up to 104% faster Office efficiency, and up to 152% higher picture editing outputs than in the previous generation.
| Cores / Threads | Base / Boost Freq | Cache | GPU | TDP | Node | Architecture | |
| Ryzen 7 3700C | 4 / 8 | 2.3 GHz / 4GHz | 6MB | Radeon 10 @ 1.4 GHz | 15W | 12nm | Zen+ |
| Ryzen 5 3500C | 4 / 8 | 2.1 GHz / 3.7 GHz | 6MB | Radeon 8 @ 1.2 GHz | 15W | 12nm | Zen+ |
| Ryzen 3 3250C | 2 / 4 | 2.6 GHz / 3.5 GHz | 5MB | Radeon 3 @ 1.2 GHz | 15W | 14nm | Zen |
| Athlon Gold 3150C | 2 / 4 | 2.4 GHz / 3.3 GHz | 5MB | Radeon 3 @ 1.2 GHz | 15W | 14nm | Zen |
| Athlon Silver 3050C | 2 / 2 | 2.3 GHz / 3.2 GHz | 5MB | Radeon 2 @ 1.2 GHz | 15W | 14nm | Zen |
| A6-9220C | 2 / 2 | 1.8 GHz /2.7 GHz | 1MB | Radeon R5 (3-cores @720 MHz) | 6W | 28nm | Stoney Ridge |
| A4-9120C | 2 / 2 | 1.6 GHz /2.4 GHz | 1MB | Radeon R4 (3 cores @ 600 MHz) | 6W | 28nm | Stoney Ridge |
In an older 12-nanometer manufacturing process, the Ryzen 4-core or 8-core 3700C and 3500C chips are made. With an even older 14 nm process, the 2-core or 4-core 3250C is made. The chips use 15 watts of power. The chips of Athlon are manufactured by the 14 nm process.
Back in early 2019, AMD revealed that its previous generation of chips had migrated to Chromebooks for the first time. Since then, AMD has risen to over 20% of the Chromebook market share of 5.2% in 2019, based on market analyst IDC results.