Is the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme the future of Windows PCs? Breaking down its game-changing performance
www.windowscentral.com
From single-core speed to AI acceleration, Qualcomm’s new flagship outpaces Apple, Intel, and AMD — without sacrificing all-day battery life.

…In Geekbench 6.5 single-core, the X2 Elite Extreme posts a score of 4,080, edging out Apple’s M4 (3,872) and leaving AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (2,881) and Intel’s Core Ultra 9 288V (2,919) far behind…

…The multi-core story is even more dramatic. With a Geekbench 6.5 multi-core score of 23,491, the X2 Elite Extreme nearly doubles the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (11,386) and comfortably outpaces Apple’s M4 (15,146) and AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 370 (15,443)…

…This isn’t just a speed play — Qualcomm is betting that its ARM-based design can deliver desktop-class performance at mobile-class power draw, enabling thin, fanless designs or ultra-light laptops with battery life measured in days, not hours.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is its memory‑in‑package design, a departure from the off‑package RAM used in other X2 Elite variants. Qualcomm is using a System‑in‑Package (SiP) approach here, integrating the RAM directly alongside the CPU, GPU, and NPU on the same substrate.

This proximity slashes latency and boosts bandwidth — up to 228 GB/s compared to 152 GB/s on the off‑package models — while also enabling a unified memory architecture similar in concept to Apple’s M‑series chips, where CPU and GPU share the same pool for faster, more efficient data access…

… the company notes the “first half” of 2026 for the new Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme…

  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    143·
    14 days ago

    Keep in mind the original X Elite benchmarks were never replicated in real world devices (not even close).

    They used a desktop style device (with intense cooling that is not possible with laptops) and “developed solely for benchmarking” version of Linux (to this day X Elite runs like shit in Linux).

    This is almost certainly a premeditated attempt at “legal false advertising”.

    Mark my words, you’ll never see 4,000 points in GB6 ST on any real products.

    • Zak@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      14 days ago

      I imagine things would be much closer if they put a giant heatsink that Ryzen 370 they’re comparing and ran it at its 54W configurable TDP instead of the default 28W.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    58·
    14 days ago

    Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme

    That doesn’t sound very high end, I think I’ll wait for the Pro version, preferably Pro Plus.

  • a_fancy_kiwi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    54·
    14 days ago

    Let me know when these X elite chips have full Linux compatibility and then I’ll be interested. Until then, I’ll stick with Mac, it has the better hardware.

      • a_fancy_kiwi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        14 days ago

        I think I see what you’re saying. My gripe is that if I want a laptop/tablet with a great ARM chip, with long battery life, my options all force me to use one of two operating systems that I’d prefer not to use for ideological reasons. If I’m forced to use one, because I want an ARM device, I might as well use the one that has the best hardware. M5s are right around the corner and the MacBook Airs are really competitive.

        If I misinterpreted your question, then no, as far as I’m aware, none of the M series has FULL support. The M1s and M2s are pretty close though.

      • barnaclebutt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        14 days ago

        M1 still doesn’t have full Linux support, unfortunately. They’ve done a lot of good work, but it isn’t there yet. Yet, another reason not to buy snapdragon PCs yet.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
    37·
    14 days ago

    I’m going to call semi-bullshit here, or there is a major revisionist version or catch. If this were true, they’d be STUPID to not be working fast as hell to get full, unlocked Linux support upstreamed and start selling this as a datacenter competitor to what Amazon, Microsoft, and Amazon are offering, because it would be an entirely new class of performance. It could also dig into Nvidia and AMDs datacenter sales at scale if this efficient.

    • jollyrogue@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      14 days ago

      Qualcomm is pretty dumb. Even if this were true, they’d still be leaving Linux support to the community.

  • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    13 days ago

    The X1 Elite never lived up to its geekbench scores, and the drivers are absolute dogshit.

    The X2 Elite wont match Apple or AMD in real world scenarios either, I’d wager.

  • malwieder@feddit.orgEnglish
    14·
    13 days ago

    X2 “Elite Extreme” probably in ideal conditions vs. the base M4 chip in a real-world device. Sure, nice single core results but Apple will likely counter with the M5 (the A19 Pro already reaches around 4,000 and the M chips can probably clock a bit higher). And the M4 Pro and Max already score as high or higher in multi-core. Real world in a 14 inch laptop.

    It doesn’t “crush” the M4 series at all and we’ll see how it’ll perform in a comparable power/thermal envelope.

    I don’t hate what Qualcomm is doing here, but these chips only work properly under Windows and the Windows app ecosystem still hasn’t embraced ARM all that much, and from what I’ve heard Windows’ x64 to ARM translation layer is not as good as Rosetta 2. Linux support is pretty horrible, especially at launch.

  • commander@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    14 days ago

    How’s the GPU drivers though? Especially to me for Linux. These should be used in PC gaming handhelds but Qualcomm support is mediocre

    • humanspiral@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      14 days ago

      linux on arm is not mature. on windows, typically emulation of x86 is used. They’ll need to also support all of the gpu libraries for gaming.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      14 days ago

      If it’s anything like their windows driver support then also awful. Maybe things have improved in the last year or so, but has Qualcomm ever put real effort into making ARM Windows laptops good?

  • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    13 days ago

    And here I am with my cheap old quad core doing my stuff.

    Except for the theoretical interest, what are we supposed to do with stuff like that? Is it just more data centers? Does I sound like 640KB is enough?