Snapdragon-Powered Laptops Could Soon Get a Big Boost

[henrytcasey]

Windows 10 laptops with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chip were plagued by slow performance, but its Snapdragon 1000 chip could change that.

Snapdragon-Powered Laptops Could Soon Get a Big Boost : Read more

 

[mlee 2500]

The conclusions in this article may or may not be right, but they are extrapolated from entirely faulty logic. Namely, when, how long, and how often is that power draw applied.

 

[alextheblue]

The conclusions in this article may or may not be right, but they are extrapolated from entirely faulty logic. Namely, when, how long, and how often is that power draw applied.

Yeah. For all we know the Snapdragons have better (more granular, faster) power/clock adjustments. They also might be more efficient at the majority of the power curve, merely having a similar top-end draw. It also doesn't factor in performance. A higher-performance chip won't have to spool up as much and/or as long to complete the same task, so if draw is the same but performance is higher you can sleep more. Similarly, the number of cores and core configuration are big factors. If it's big.LITTLE there will be opportunities to shift low-demand workloads to the more efficient small cores. Speaking of which, workload is always a factor. Basically just looking at TDP ranges isn't enough to guess battery life.

Even the SD850 will be a pretty substantial upgrade over the 835 devices. With that being said, the biggest factor for ARM in terms of raw performance is how much software (be it UWP or Win32) can they get native compiles for.

 

[electronicbineries]

ARM CPU should stay Android even for desktops/Tablets/Notebooks.

The App store alone is enough reason.

 

[mlee 2500]

The conclusions in this article may or may not be right, but they are extrapolated from entirely faulty logic. Namely, when, how long, and how often is that power draw applied.

Yeah. For all we know the Snapdragons have better (more granular, faster) power/clock adjustments. They also might be more efficient at the majority of the power curve, merely having a similar top-end draw. It also doesn't factor in performance. A higher-performance chip won't have to spool up as much and/or as long to complete the same task, so if draw is the same but performance is higher you can sleep more. Similarly, the number of cores and core configuration are big factors. If it's big.LITTLE there will be opportunities to shift low-demand workloads to the more efficient small cores. Speaking of which, workload is always a factor. Basically just looking at TDP ranges isn't enough to guess battery life.

Even the SD850 will be a pretty substantial upgrade over the 835 devices. With that being said, the biggest factor for ARM in terms of raw performance is how much software (be it UWP or Win32) can they get native compiles for.

Compiled and OPTIMIZED. I cannot speak for the Windows code base, obviously, but I do know that with the Linux and OpenSource ports to Qualcomm's Centriq line of Server chips it wasn't enough for us to just re-compile the code. Most compilers and source code have decades of optimization geared towards x86 architectures, putting entirely new platforms at a bit of a disadvantage.

Regarding the power draw, Qualcomm has an outstanding track record of disabling parts of the SOC that aren't needed...perhaps that will give them an edge.

 

[alextheblue]

Even the SD850 will be a pretty substantial upgrade over the 835 devices. With that being said, the biggest factor for ARM in terms of raw performance is how much software (be it UWP or Win32) can they get native compiles for.

Compiled and OPTIMIZED. I cannot speak for the Windows code base, obviously, but I do know that with the Linux and OpenSource ports to Qualcomm's Centriq line of Server chips it wasn't enough for us to just re-compile the code. Most compilers and source code have decades of optimization geared towards x86 architectures, putting entirely new platforms at a bit of a disadvantage.

I meant specifically in comparing x86 version of App X running on WoA with some emulation, vs a native ARM compile of App X. Even a poorly compiled native version (GCC or such) would run circles around partial emulation.

That's the biggest single factor in comparing ARM vs. x86 on Windows 10, getting a native version. It's pretty easy to do for UWP apps, but more challenging for Win32 programs. I suspect most open source projects will start adding ARM builds if WoA takes off a bit more with SD 850 hardware.