Whats Currently the best or best all rounder APU is that can game?

[SilentGameTestR]

So ive had my Lenovo Flex 5 for almost 4 years if not 4 years and while it has never had problems and does everything i want, i am contemplating changing it for something better, but im undecided to get another APU, ideally touchscreen still or go for a low-mid gaming laptop.

4700u
8gb ram
512gb ssd

May be able to replace the ssd for something bigger, but its the small wifi looking ssd and really thats the main thing i want to improve with a new laptop, but i do play the odd game that this system allows(sims 4, wow, mad max, city skylines etc), but would like to be able to run a few more like BO6, Still wake the deep and probably a few others that i test on my desktop.

I believe the 4700u has 512gb vram without the shared part, so would obviously want to try and improve that sticking to an APU.

 

[Trickle]

The old AMD Vega 8 APUs (eg 5600g/5800g) were about the speed of a last gen console (PS4 = GTX 560).
2 years ago AMD released the 780M which was about just over twice the speed.
I believe Intel Improved last year and just about caught up with their Arc IGPU?

New laptops are just releasing with AMDs Strix Halo chips. The 'review's so far are from sites that don't do a very good job of providing comparative gaming performance so hard to say yet just how fast it is. Looks to be closer to a desktop GTX 1070 than 1060. These laptops look to be about £2K+. I'm not sure if there will be a more budget chip version. There had been a suggestion on leak sites of an 8 core version of strix halo?

 

[oweneades]

Right now in the <£1k range you are looking at devices with either AMD's 780m IGP (found in Zen 4 Ryzen 7's and above - 784x and 884x SKU's) or Intel Ultra series CPU's with the ARC graphics. I would look at the former for a more rounded experience in the real world.

If you don't mind having a discrete GPU then something with a RTX 4050 or 4060 (Or Radeon 7600m) will outperform all of the IGP models (barring the Strix Halo models which alone can match a 4060/4070m depending on configuration but are in devices £2k and upwards) and are available in various different laptop models and configurations.

 

[heman]

IMHO the best APU is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. The integrated GPU is a 8060s. Beast of a CPU and GPU. This cannot be beat, but its also very expensive right now.

 

[SilentGameTestR]

The old AMD Vega 8 APUs (eg 5600g/5800g) were about the speed of a last gen console (PS4 = GTX 560).
2 years ago AMD released the 780M which was about just over twice the speed.
I believe Intel Improved last year and just about caught up with their Arc IGPU?

New laptops are just releasing with AMDs Strix Halo chips. The 'review's so far are from sites that don't do a very good job of providing comparative gaming performance so hard to say yet just how fast it is. Looks to be closer to a desktop GTX 1070 than 1060. These laptops look to be about £2K+. I'm not sure if there will be a more budget chip version. There had been a suggestion on leak sites of an 8 core version of strix halo?

thanks for reply. hmm thats interesting regarding the older APU models. This laptop i have was never intended to play any games, was simply for creativity and touchscreen, but i was so impressed with certain games i decided to test, that i would be happy to stick to another APU. obviously for me 8gb ram aside, the 512gb is very limiting which is the main area i want to improve on with a new purchase especially if the laptop is another none upgradable.

This laptop at the time cost over 700 and ironically replaced a ryzen 5/rx 560 gaming laptop, but since then i have owned a Lenovo legion ryzen 5/rtx3060 which i sold last year and so for something inbetween my flex and that Legion i wont want to be spending 800 plus. i was lucky with the legion getting it at a sale price for under 800. I would like it to run BO6 even on the lowest settings, just so i dont have to take my series S with me if i go away for a few days, i obviously dont know if an APU is even capable of that though.

Right now in the <£1k range you are looking at devices with either AMD's 780m IGP (found in Zen 4 Ryzen 7's and above - 784x and 884x SKU's) or Intel Ultra series CPU's with the ARC graphics. I would look at the former for a more rounded experience in the real world.

If you don't mind having a discrete GPU then something with a RTX 4050 or 4060 (Or Radeon 7600m) will outperform all of the IGP models (barring the Strix Halo models which alone can match a 4060/4070m depending on configuration but are in devices £2k and upwards) and are available in various different laptop models and configurations.

Thanks for reply. I dont mind having a dedicated gpu as i had a Legion ryzen 5/rtx 3060 last year or the year before, i just use the touchscreen on my flex a lot even in non tablet mode, so would like to still have that feature on a high graded hardware laptop, i just dont think you can get gaming laptops with that especially for under 800.

Ive been looking at gaming laptops with an rtx 3050 which i know is worse than the Legion i once had, but back then i didnt have a gaming desktop like i do now, so it just needs to run some games even on low ie BO6. My step-dad has owned a Nitro 5 for a fair while which has an i7 and gtx 1660 which is really good, however i suspect those are best avoided these days unless one comes up with an acceptable price tag.

My flex cost 700, my Legion cost 750, so im maxing my budget at 800 as i dont need a fire breather.

IMHO the best APU is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. The integrated GPU is a 8060s. Beast of a CPU and GPU. This cannot be beat, but its also very expensive right now.

Thanks for reply. I will have a look in to it even though it will be more than my budget. Are there any runners up to that chip to consider as alternatives?

 

[oweneades]

Touchscreen on a gaming laptop (or any laptop with a dGPU) for <£800 is going to be a challenge. Off the top of my head I am not aware of any ( at least not with a dGPU).

Maybe something like the Asus Flow Z13 or X13 used / refurbished might be worth a look. The former is a tablet with keyboard addition whilst the latter is a 360 2 in 1. CPU's are either Intel i9 or Ryzen 7 with a 3050/3050ti on each.

If the touch screen requirement is dropped then that does open up more options.

 

[SilentGameTestR]

Touchscreen on a gaming laptop (or any laptop with a dGPU) for <£800 is going to be a challenge. Off the top of my head I am not aware of any ( at least not with a dGPU).

Maybe something like the Asus Flow Z13 or X13 used / refurbished might be worth a look. The former is a tablet with keyboard addition whilst the latter is a 360 2 in 1. CPU's are either Intel i9 or Ryzen 7 with a 3050/3050ti on each.

If the touch screen requirement is dropped then that does open up more options.

Thanks for reply.

Yeah i would imagine they would cost a fair bit unless there are old models, i just wasnt sure if you could get proper gaming laptops that have the touchscreen feature.

I was thinking of the HP 360 or whatever its called thats similar to my flex, but they seem to be a lot more than im wanting to pay and the ones ive seen are no better hardware wise.

Im not limiting myself to touchscreen, but if i dont get an actual gaming laptop be it with an rtx 3050 or older then i would want pretty much what ive already got, just with more ram and hard drive space and obviously a better CPU + GPU combo. If i go proper gaming, i would like to try get one with a 14" screen if they can be had under a grand.

 

[oweneades]

I haven't looked in detail but in the <£800 budget range you should have a number of options with Ryzen 784x CPU's which will include the excellent 780M iGPU. You could also look at the 783x models which still have excellent 680M iGPU but are Zen 3+ instead of Zen 4. Just make sure the laptops you are looking at have at least 16GB RAM. I say this as lot of the slimmer models will have soldered RAM (shown normally LPDDR5 with higher speeds) which as you imagine is not user upgradable.

 

[SilentGameTestR]

I haven't looked in detail but in the <£800 budget range you should have a number of options with Ryzen 784x CPU's which will include the excellent 780M iGPU. You could also look at the 783x models which still have excellent 680M iGPU but are Zen 3+ instead of Zen 4. Just make sure the laptops you are looking at have at least 16GB RAM. I say this as lot of the slimmer models will have soldered RAM (shown normally LPDDR5 with higher speeds) which as you imagine is not user upgradable.

Ok thank you i will have a look. Im currently looking elsewhere as well as on here and im surprised laptops with the rtx 2050 are still in circulation and between 600-750