Microsoft partnered with AMD to create Surface Edition Ryzen processor for laptops

Microsoft today announced the new Surface Laptop 3 with 15-inch display. This Surface Laptop variant is powered by a new custom processor which was developed by Microsoft in partnership with AMD. Microsoft is calling it Surface Edition Ryzen processor. Microsoft mentioned that this is the most powerful mobile processor from AMD and hence making the Surface Laptop 3 the most powerful in its class. It will be interesting to see how these “custom” AMD Ryzen 5/7 processors with Vega 9/11 compare to comparable Intel processors.

Highlights of this new processor:

• Go from idle to full boost in the blink of an eye: We challenged ourselves to improve Smart Performance Shift with enhanced highly tuned predictive algorithms that adapt to the end-user workload on-demand, delivering a perfect balance of battery life and peak performance under virtually any situation. This re-engineered approach provides a hybrid-turbo-like capacity for bursts up to 4 GHz of “Zen+” CPU performance or take what is already the world’s fastest performing graphics for ultrathin laptops to new heights when needed.
• Effortless acceleration when needed: The specifically?customized AMD?Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processor inherits from the graphics core architecture of Xbox One and includes one additional compute unit more than any other AMD Ryzen mobile processor for an extra boost of graphics horsepower. Complex content creation and machine learning workloads seamlessly offload to the massive parallel-processing GPU engine through AMD Radeon OpenCL and WinML drivers. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 harnesses the power of its compute and graphics resources to drive demanding content creation and gaming workloads in an ultrathin laptop.
• Crystal clear, vivid display: Connected to a world-class GPU engine with AMD FreeSync technology controlling a high resolution (200 DPI) display. Lean back and enjoy movies or games smoothly on-the-go, building upon the same leadership Radeon GPU technology found in the Xbox One X. AMD’s wide color gamut and display color calibration enable vivid on-screen colors in games and videos that better match real life.
• Dynamic responsiveness: A fully optimized pen interface delivers unparalleled precision through the revolutionary on-die pen controller. The fully optimized pen software stack takes up to 200 measurements per second. Paired with the optimized Bluetooth stack, Windows scheduling priority, and foreground application boost – the pen has never been more powerful.
• Roadside assistance: Re-architected system software from firmware capsule storage to recovery of critical system functions gives peace of mind that the system is stable, robust, and protected from failures.
• Be heard even in a crowded arena: Next-level voice detection optimized to perform even in noisy or echo-filled environments powered by a superior DSP algorithm – the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 voice assistant is always on, always ready for the next spoken request.
• A quick start is everything: Fast storage access delivers the highest performance from the internal SSD, dramatically reducing application start, system boot, and file copy times.
• No need for pit-stops: The system constantly monitors vital processor and skin temperatures to deliver the highest performance possible while keeping Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 cool to the touch. A new Windows system management framework enables the processor to directly negotiate the power policy with the OS. Microsoft added specific optimizations for the first time in the Windows OS to ensure that all the applications have the best environment to shine.
• Always connected: Power and performance-optimized WiFi stack with Modern Standby delivers super-fast transfer speeds when needed most and always stays connected on-the-go.
• Stay cool while in the driver’s seat: Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is performance-modeled for maximum thermal management headroom through thousands of hours of thermal simulations. The ultimate combination of processor thermal calibration and containment, and system thermal dissipation sustains those demanding content creation and gaming workloads.

Surface Laptop 3 15-inch variant will be available for pre-order from today starting at $1199. Microsoft will be shipping these devices from October 22nd.