NVIDIA‘s latest RTX 4090 and 4080 laptop GPUs are impressive. Based on the early reviews of these new gaming laptops, it has been overall positive, sans the pricing. The RTX 4090 laptop GPU is on par or slightly faster than an RTX 4070 Ti desktop GPU, spitting out those frames while consuming less power. However, most RTX 40 series-powered gaming laptops we saw are paired with a 13th gen Intel mobile CPU. Where’s AMD’s latest mobile CPU? Finally, AMD-powered gaming laptops with Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 Dragon Rage CPUs are hitting the market. And Asus is the first to bring AMD-powered gaming laptops to the market.
AMD Ryzen Dragon Range-Powered Gaming Laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs Now Available
AMD’s latest mobile CPU is the Ryzen 7045 series, code-named “Dragon Range”. AMD’s flagship mobile CPU is the Ryzen 9 7945HX, which is said to be 10% faster than Intel’s Core i9-13950HX on average. Currently, there are four mobile CPUs under the Ryzen 7045HX series: the Ryzen 5 7645HX, Ryzen 7 7745HX, Ryzen 9 7845HX, and Ryzen 9 7945HX.
The Ryzen 9 7945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread mobile CPU with a boost clock speed of up to 5.4GHz. It has 80MB of cache and a TDP of 55W+. Unlike Intel’s mobile CPU, AMD’s mobile CPU has a traditional design configuration. There’s no “big-little” approach, and it’s (somewhat) similar to its desktop counterpart.
Meanwhile, Intel’s flagship CPU (Core i9 13980HX) boasts a total of 24 cores, of which 8 are performance cores and 16 are efficient cores. It also has 32 threads and a maximum turbo frequency of 5.60GHz. Based on paper alone, Intel’s CPU is surely faster and better, right? Well, not according to the AMD.
AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX vs Intel Core i9-13950HX
According to AMD’s internal testing, its flagship CPU outperforms Intel’s Raptor Lake Core i9-13950HX by an average of 10%. You might be wondering if the CPU model is a typo. Apparently, AMD did not compare its flagship CPU to Intel’s flagship CPU, the Core i9 13980HX. Instead, they compared it to the Core i9-13950HX, a somewhat flagship-ish CPU. The only difference between the 13950HX and 13980HX is a 100MHz boost clock speed.
Of course, some games and applications will favor an AMD platform, while others will perform better on an Intel system. Nevertheless, it is promising, considering that Intel’s CPU dominantly powers the current generation of gaming laptops.
Asus ROG Gaming Laptops with AMD Ryzen 7045HX CPU and GeForce RTX 40 Laptop GPU
Currently, Asus is the first company to release gaming laptops powered by AMD’s latest Ryzen 7045HX CPUs. Most of these gaming laptops are under the ROG branding. The first few gaming laptops are powered mainly by the Ryzen 9 7945HX, paired with an RTX 40 series laptop GPU.
Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2023) with Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 40 Series Laptop GPU
The ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is Asus’ flagship laptop designed for gaming and content creation. This thing is a powerhouse with its dual display setup. That’s right; it features two displays, one 16-inch QHD+ main display with a resolution of 2560×1600 and a refresh rate of 240Hz. Meanwhile, the additional display, or ScreedPad Plus, is a 14″ inch display with a resolution of 3840×1100. The secondary display is like a 4K display cut in half.
Powering the 2023 ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is AMD’s Ryzen 9 7945HX, paired with an RTX 40 series laptop GPU. The storage and memory are expandable and can be upgraded to a higher capacity. It also features the latest connectivity options, like WiFi 6E, BT 5.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, etc. The Zephyrus Duo 16 is on the heavy side, though, weighing 5.89 lbs.
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 4090 is available on Amazon.com here or Newegg.com here.
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 4080 is available on Amazon.com here or Newegg.com here.
So far, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is the only gaming laptop with a Ryzen CPU that made it into our list of best gaming laptops with RTX 4090 laptop GPU.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) with Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 40 Series Laptop GPU
If the dual screen is not your thing and you just want a conventional gaming laptop, yet powered by the latest hardware, then the ROG Strix Scar 17 could be for you. Do not be confused with Asus’ laptop naming scheme. The ROG Strix Scar 18 and Scar 16 are powered by the 13th Gen Intel processor. Only the ROG Strix Scar 17 is powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7000 mobile CPU.
The ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) G733 features a 17.3″ inch WQHD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 and a refresh rate of 240Hz. The Strix Scar 17 is also available in RTX 4090 or RTX 4080 laptop GPU models. Similar to its Intel counterpart, the Strix Scar 18 and 17, it comes with RGB lighting effects and is more premium than the Strix G17.
However, Asus only used a regular 1440p display on the Scar 17, not the Nebula or Nebula HDR display on the Strix Scar 18/16. There’s no customizable RGB logo and swappable armor caps on the Scar 17 as well. It looks like Asus cut some corners with the AMD variant.
ROG Strix Scar 17 with Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 4090 is available on Newegg.com here.
ROG Strix Scar 17 with Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 4080 is available on Amazon.com here or Newegg.com here.
Asus ROG Strix G17 (2023) with Ryzen 9 7945HX and RTX 40 series Laptop GPU
Last but “somewhat” least is the ROG Strix G17 (2023). The ROG Strix G17 is perhaps a trimmed-down version of the Strix Scar. It has less RGB flare, less eye candy, and perhaps less premium than the Strix Scar. It is also available with up to RTX 4070 laptop GPU only. There’s no Strix G17 with RTX 4080 or 4090 laptop GPU. However, thanks to the ommissions of these features, the Strix G is cheaper than the Strix Scar gaming laptop.
Like the Strix Scar 17, the Strix G17 features a 17.3″ inch WQHD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 and a refresh rate of 240Hz. The display is 100% DCI-P3 certified and has a response time of 3ms. It has a storage of up to 2TB Gen4 SSD and up to 32GB of DDR5 memory. It also features WiFi 6E, USB 3.2 Gen 2, 720p webcam, etc. Check out more details and current pricing via the links below.
ROG Strix G17 with Ryzen 9 7945HX with RTX 4070 is available on Amazon.com here or at Newegg.com here.
ROG Strix G17 with Ryzen 9 7945HX with RTX 4060 is available on Amazon.com here or at Newegg.com here.
