AMD Ryzen Pro 3000-series, Athlon Pro CPUs Launched for Thin and Light Business Laptops

AMD has announced four new laptop CPUs in its Ryzen Pro line aimed at businesses and managed commercial environments. The Ryzen Pro 3000 series includes Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 3, and Athlon models aimed at different market segments. According to AMD, the new mobile Ryzen Pro processors will enable thin and light laptops that fit into business users' lifestyles as they demand devices that are as portable and stylish as consumer models. AMD says that HP and Lenovo will be the first to ship new laptops based on these processors, but details including specifications, designs, prices, and launch timelines will be announced by the respective companies in the near future.

AMD's new Ryzen Pro 3000-series CPUs are all 15W models for the thin-and-light laptop category. The Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U has four cores and eight threads, with base and boost speeds of 2.3GHz and 4GHz respectively, and integrated Radeon Vega 10 graphics. The Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U is also a quad-core model, and runs between 2.1GHz and 3.7GHz. This model features Radeon Vega 8 graphics.

Lower down, the Ryzen 3 Pro 3300U has four cores but no multi-threading. This CPU has a base speed of 2.1GHz and can boost up to 3.5GHz. It also has integrated Radeon Vega 6 graphics. Finally, the entry-level Athlon Pro 300U has two cores and four threads, with base and boost speeds of 2.4GHz and 3.3GHz respectively. This model also has integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics. 

Performance gains compared to the first-gen Ryzen Pro 2000-series are modest, and AMD has shown comparisons to the earlier AMD Pro A12-9800B processor to illustrate more dramatic differences. Compared to Intel's current 8th Gen Core CPUs, AMD claims performance that is on par or slightly better in mainstream productivity applications, but over twice as good in graphics applications.

AMD asserts that today's corporate workers need more multitasking power and workloads include more collaboration, video conferencing, and specialised tasks than before. That includes graphics work including photo editing, data visualisation, and even 3D work. Rendering tasks are accelerated by the integrated Radeon Vega GPUs. The company also touts support for multiple high-resolution displays and intelligently managed graphics power consumption.

Power efficiency was a critical design goal for AMD, and the company is claiming 12 hours of battery life for general productivity and 10 hours of video playback. The Ryzen Pro CPUs also have dedicated security co-processors and support full real-time memory encryption, which AMD says is an exclusive feature not available on Intel platforms. Ryzen Pro CPUs are claimed to offer better security against rootkit-level attacks. Additionally, AMD points out that all its AMD Guard security and remote management features are available on all models, unlike Intel's vPro features.

AMD supports Ryzen Pro processors with 18 months of software updates, 24 months of stable guaranteed availability, enhanced quality assurance, industry-standard management standards, and a three-year limited warranty.

Separately, AMD today announced that HP, Acer, and Lenovo are now shipping new Chromebooks based on the AMD A4 processor, taking advantage of Intel's current difficulties delivering processors to cover market demand thanks to manufacturing capacity difficulties. New Windows laptops aimed at students, based on the AMD A6 processor announced earlier this year, are also now available. 

The new Ryzen Pro linueup uses AMD's 12nm Zen+ architecture. These launches come in the runup to the expected launch of AMD's Zen 2 architecture in the form of 7nm Ryzen 3000-series desktop CPUs. While some rumours have indicated that the company is targeting the 7th of July, AMD has recently confirmed that CEO Dr Lisa Su will address a keynote at the Computex 2019 trade show in late May, where an announcement might be expected.