AMD Slams Intel’s Core Ultra vPRO CPUs With Ryzen PRO 8040 APUs: Faster At Everything At Same Power

AMD's Ryzen PRO 8040 APUs debut today, slamming Intel's Core Ultra vPRO in all segments with strong performance & AI capabilities.

AMD's Ryzen PRO 8040 "Hawk Point" APU family adopts the same Zen 4 CPU core architecture, and the same RDNA 3 graphics core architecture, within a lineup that retains the same SKU configs as the Non-Pro family.

The AMD Ryzen PRO 8040 APU lineup is split into three segments, we first have the high-end Ryzen 8045HS APUs which will be the cream of the crop with the highest clock speeds, we then have the more mainstream Ryzen 8040HS SKUs and finally, we have the Ryzen 8040U which are entry-level SKUs designed for power-optimized platforms. To sum up the Ryzen 8000 "Hawk Point" family, you are looking at:

The lineup consists of a total of 8 SKUs of which all feature AI "XDNA" NPUs expect the Ryzen 5 PRO 8540U which is the most entry-level model. The lineup doesn't include the 8440U quad-core which is featured in the Ryzen 8040 Non-PRO family. The models range from 6 cores to 8 cores and come in TDPs ranging from 15/28W & up to 35/54W. All models are equipped with RDNA 3 GPU cores in up to 12 CU offerings.

Now, comparisons are made between Intel's recently released Core Ultra vPRO lineup, AMD uses its Ryzen 7 8840U configured at 15W and compares it with Intel's 15/28W Core Ultra 7 CPUs. From an overall view, AMD claims that its Ryzen PRO 8040 offerings offer faster productivity, seamless multi-tasking, better power efficiency, and longer battery life compared to the rivaling chips.

In CPU and graphics performance, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U runs up to 54% faster and 30% faster on average. For business-oriented workloads such as Microsoft Office, AMD's Ryzen 8040 PRO APUs offer up to 70% better performance (overall) and in AI-specific workloads, you can get +50% faster performance.

Another business-oriented benchmark is how fast it takes to run applications such as Teams Call and AI experiences. AMD Ryzen PRO 8040 APUs are said to be 69% faster in Teams Call while sipping 55% lower power.

At the same time, these chips run AI experiences such as background blur, etc with 72% faster performance while sipping in 84% lower power. AMD showcases how a 56Wh laptop running a Ryzen 7 Pro 8840U APU at 15W offers much higher total run times (avg) versus the competition which has laptops with larger battery sizes. AMD's solution even excels over Apple's M3 Pro CPU.

AMD is also teaming up with Mediatek for the launch of its first Wi-Fi 7 solutions with Bluetooth 5.4 wireless capabilities. The new solution offers 3x data transfer speeds and 4x data transfer capacity over WIFI 6. HP & Lenovo will be among the first to offer the world's first WIFI 7 Business PCs for the commercial segment.