Snapdragon X-Series - Everything we Didn't Know...

Its been a while since the launch of the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus but in this video Sponsored by Qualcomm we wanted to go deeper into the architecture, technology, battery life claims and more importantly the future potential of Copilot Plus Ai PC's. Contrary to popular belief, these can be some of the best everyday laptops right now in 2024 but they also need some time to mature a bit more and deserve some chances to shine.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - A Laptop Revolution
0:35 - Updates have ALREADY Changed Everything
1:15 - The Evolution of x86 vs Windows on ARM
2:15 - Why RISC Instruction sets?
3:05 - Snapdragon X Series Architecture
4:33 - Cutting through Confusion - X Elite vs X Plus Specs
6:52 - The Importance of POWER
7:38 - Impressive Connectivity (USB4 & More)
8:02 - AptX Good News & Bad News
8:32 - Native App Support
9:13 - Understanding Emulation through Prism
11:12 - The Gaming Challenge
12:24 - A WTF Moment for Gaming & AutoSR
13:53 - External GPUs & The Linux Question...
14:50 - The Intent of Snapdragon Laptops
15:46 - The Copilot Marketing...
17:06 - A Hard Sell, Except....

This video is sponsored by Qualcomm, making the removal of ads possible. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer other than . As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

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[proesterchen]

Yeah, I don't think having this video sponsored by the company making the products covered is helping its (and your) credibility.

[AaronMartinColby]

Love this channel. Nothing against you and the need to pay the bills. But I bailed the moment I saw the "sponsored by Qualcomm" tag.

[marvnch]

"We want to wait and bring accuracy"
"Sponsored by Qualcomm"
oh please, I was confused when you said "with the help of Qualcomm, " that's some sleazy wording.

[ChapayG]

There is no sponsored by qualcomm sign until after a minute and the description puts it so far below which makes it hard to see. Disappointing

[moldytexas]

Guys. Almost everyone who's into the tech space has watched enough videos at this point about how overhyped and under delivering these new chips are. I'm speaking from a real, potential customer's point of view, as I really hoped to buy one had they stuck their landing. But they didn't.

Lack of software support (not everyone lives in the browser, mate), lack of hardware monitoring, lack of any useful usecase of the NPU (at least in my case), lack of an otherwordly battery improvement (the Ryzen laptops I was looking into anyways all had 10+ hrs of battery life; getting 15hrs really isn't going to budge me towards X-Elite), and the lack of a respectable GPU performance are just pathetic misses that NO ONE deserves to expect from a laptop that costs well upwards of $1.2k. Plus, performance per watt is nowhere near Apple's, so no one, not any reviewer, not Qualcomm themselves have the right to call this an "Apple moment for Windows". It's not the architecture/technology that is the problem. It's the lack of developer support, lack of a respectable operating system that is going to deter users away.

Especially when you consider Strix Point is on the horizon, with almost just as good efficiency, and Lunar Lake later this year with on-par or even better efficiency. I say this as an electronics engineer myself.

Watching an 18min ad of Snapdragon X-Elite seemed pointless, let alone write a gargantuan comment like this, but I felt the need to provide feedback for both Hardware Cunucks and Qualcomm.

[Reaper]

I've got to be honest, I'm kind of tired of the reviewers on YouTube doing sponsored content raving about these computers when they obviously aren't actually ready for people doing anything except working in a browser or using a handful of ARM ready programs. Compatibility is rough, many things don't work at all or are really slow when emulated. I'm glad to see you all did mention at least that many games aren't playable at all. Maybe in a few years or generations of product later, these will actually be ready for the broad market, but if you're anything other than a basic user, these are not for you and more channels need to be honest about this.

[drandersjiang]

I don't need someone to read Qualcomm's marketing material. I can read it myself.

[khizer]

Talks about holding the review for accuracy but doesn't mention that this is a sponsored ad So much for accuracy lol

[FoxxFire]

I know you guys try your asses off not to make sponsored videos something not worth watching. And you do a great job. The only small critiques are when you mentioned in the beginning how you've been waiting for updates before 'reviewing' these -- that was awesome to hear, and i was prepared for an in-depth, no nonsense performance comparison, including how different variants behave under different amounts of power and cooling ability. And the title 'Everything we didn't know' -- that leads one to believe there is some new or interesting finding that is not readily available from other sources. But then we learn that this video is sponsored by Qualcomm. I've already heard two reviewers say that Qualcomm cut parts of their product from the final uploaded video, including LTT. So obviously Qualcomm has tight control over sponsored content. They're surely not telling you what to say; but they also are seeing the video and approving it before you post it. Since that is the case, i think the beginning of this video and the title are misleading. I still watched and enjoyed the video; I watch all videos from this channel. I just became a little disappointed with the sponsorship and lack of an actual performance review, which is what many of us really like to watch.

[krazyfrog]

I don't have issues with sponsors or the contents of this video, which were reasonably balanced. What I have an issue is witholding the information that it is sponsored until a full minute into the video, not mentioning it in the title, and burying it in the description. This, and having a Montech case sponsor in a Corsair case review where you shit all over the said case, regardless of whether the reasons were valid or not, suggests to me that HC needs to be more professional and rethink how they handle these things if you want to be taken seriously.

[JoshBiggs]

“The Intel and AMD monopoly” … I think you mean Duopoly. :)

[mechanicalmonk]

There's no point to holding off on a review for "accuracy" when the product is available for purchase

[sur]

Like if you don't give a f..k about Copilot+-% functionality.

[ItsJaggaJatt]

This video is Qualcomm trying to put a positive spin on the negative reviews. I didn't expect HC to take them up on it.

[czbrat]

Man, I didn't subscribe to watch Qualcomm ads. I want unbiased reviews that tells me if the product is worth the money.

[Ludecan]

This seems a bit biased. Based on other reviews out there the gpu is not good, gaming is practically not a thing on these laptops, I mean Doom Eternal the most optimized game in the world right now was running at 27 fps on Vulkan. I think these may be good business laptops but nothing more.

[BriefNerdOriginal]

The Qualcomm sponsoring makes watching this video a no go. Trust cannot be built on these premises.

[AleWebCreate]

Disappointing processors and machines. Everyone hoped it would have been a revolution like Apple M series, but... it isn't at all
This is just a sponsored video of course

[ALMURTADA]

1:08 this and talking about how you "had" to wait for the sake of "accuracy" 😂 I find it laughable how you play with words, I bet you'd be a good salesman or a politician😂
I also was scrolling through the comments to see what people are saying, some of them didn't even notice that this was sponsored thanks to you conviently clarifying it ever so subtlety (which you're forced to do legally and not out of your honesty), and for the others who did notice and criticized you for it you shut them down like that one you said to him "shame on you"! No shame on you.
It's safe to say that me and my whole circle of family, friends and close colleagues are unsubbed from this channel.
If I'm gonna miss something then it would be eber's signature line "spend responsibly" and Dmitry's line "hello good people" and his ads which are unlike this video are honest yet creative and fun.

[andyH_England]

Qualcomm and MS throwing money at creators to market these devices. It is destroying the integrity of YouTube even if they say they are sponsored. Really frustrating to see so many Snapdragon X ads. Yet if this was an Apple product, as they do not pay creators, these reviews would have been more objective.