Computex 2024: Pushing Boundaries in AI

Quick Links

• Intel Lunar Lake
• Nvidia GeForce RTX AI Laptops
• AMD Ryzen AI 300

Key Takeaways

• Intel’s Lunar Lake laptop chips offer faster processing & NPUs than Snapdragon X Elite chips.
• Nvidia’s GeForce RTX AI laptops boast up to 686 TOPS for high-end AI processing.
• AMD’s Ryzen AI 300-Series chips promise up to 50 TOPS, surpassing Lunar Lake & Snapdragon X Elite.

The world is dominated by AI, and Computex 2024 is no different. No matter where you look or what you read, it seems every new piece of hardware is riding the AI wave—some much better than others, it has to be said.

So, these are the best bits of AI hardware launched at Computex 2024.

Intel Lunar Lake

Laptop chips have been hot business in 2024. Intel’s last generation laptop chips, Meteor Lake, launched in December 2023, featuring a chiplet design and Intel’s first NPU, carrying the company into 2024 with aplomb. Then it was Qualcomm’s turn to step up to the plate; it very much seized the opportunity with its Snapdragon X Elite chips, coinciding with Microsoft’s Copilot+ AI PC platform launch.

Intel

Despite Qualcomm’s ongoing plaudits at Computex 2024 (Snapdragon X Elite is also coming to desktops!), Intel’s new Lunar Lake laptop chips have grasped some of its spotlight, promising rapid CPUs, faster NPUs, substantial upgrades to integrated graphics, and big battery life boosts.

Intel claims Lunar Lake will deliver 1.4 times faster processing than a Snapdragon X Elite chip in Stable Diffusion 1.5, while its NPU will deliver more than 40 TOPS (tera operations per second), which is substantially more than the 10 TOPS offered by its Meteor Lake chips.

Intel

Aside from the AI side, the most interesting Lunar Lake upgrade is fully integrated memory. Intel Lunar Lake won’t ship with specific memory chips. Instead, Intel will integrate 16 or 32GB memory into the chip design, saving space and boosting efficiency.

Nvidia GeForce RTX AI Laptops

Nvidia is the world’s leading GPU manufacturer, so it’s perfectly positioned as the world transitions to high-end AI processing hardware. Now, Nvidia is launching a new range of “GeForce RTX AI” branded laptops, pushing services that make the most of its Tensor cores.

The new GeForce RTX AI models include Asus’ new TUF A14 and A16 gaming laptops, its ProArt PX13 and PX16 laptops, and the updated ROG Zephyrus G16. Also carrying the RTX AI branding is a new MSI Stealth A16 Studio, with more laptops to launch from Acer, Dell, Gigabyte, Lenovo, Samsung, and more.

Although the new RTX AI models launched are all Windows Copilot+ laptops, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX AI adds extra features like Nvidia’s Project G-Assist (an AI chatbot assistant within your games), RTX Remix, Nvidia ACE, RTX Video, and more.

Interestingly,Nvidia claims its RTX AI will deliver a bonkers performance boost over other AI-enabled PCs and laptops, delivering up to 686 TOPS (compared to Lunar Lake’s 40+ TOPS). It’s an enormous boost that Nvidia attributes to its powerful GPUs, while integrated AI chips like Lunar Lake and Snapdragon X Elite are still bound to and limited by CPUs.

AMD Ryzen AI 300

Not to be outdone by Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, AMD revealed its long-awaited AI chips at Computex 2024, built on its shiny new Zen 5 architecture (another AMD upgrade we’ve been patiently waiting for).

AMD

Starting from the top, AMDD claims its new Ryzen AI 300-Series laptop chips XDNA2 NPU will deliver up to 50 TOPS, outstripping both Lunar Lake and the Snapdragon X Elite. However, like Lunar Lake, the real tests will come when these chips are finally launched; only Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite has been tested in the wild.

Still, it means a new generation of AMD AI-powered laptops are incoming, to be powered by either the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, which features 12 Zen 5 cores with a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.1 GHz, or the Ryzen AI 9 365 featuring 10 Zen 5 cores and a maximum boost clock of 5.0GHz.