A first-hand account of my experience upgrading to a new Ryzen mobile chip featuring Zen 4c cores, and how it improved my laptops performance and battery life.
Table of ContentsMy Old Laptop Showing its Age.Learning about AMDs New Zen 4c Cores.Deciding on the Ryzen 5 7545U.Unboxing My New Zen 4c-Powered Laptop.Impressed by Snappier Everyday Performance.Seeing Better Efficiency and Battery Life.Zen 4cs Potential for Even More Cores.Final Impressions on My Upgrade to Zen 4c.As a tech enthusiast who does a lot of my work on laptops, Im always eager to upgrade to the latest and greatest mobile processors whenever I can. My old laptop with a Ryzen 4000-series chip had served me well over the past couple of years. But lately it was starting to slow down, with worsening battery life to boot.
So when I heard AMD was launching new Ryzen Mobile chips featuring their Zen 4c CPU cores, I knew I had to try it out. The promise of improved performance and efficiency appealed to me instantly. After doing my research, I decided to upgrade to a new laptop powered by the Ryzen 5 7545U processor packing the Zen 4c cores.
In this article, Ill share my first-hand experiences upgrading to a Zen 4c-based Ryzen mobile chip. Youll see how it breathed new life into my laptop through snappier everyday workflows and longer battery runtime. Ill also dive into the technical details behind Zen 4c, and why its so well suited for mobile computing. Lets get started!
My Old Laptop Showing its Age.While Ive been pretty happy with my last laptop, an Asus ultrabook running a Ryzen 7 4800U from 2020, it was definitely showing its age after two years of heavy use. I often had a lot of tabs and programs open for work, and increasingly it struggled to keep up.
Sometimes simple tasks like browsing the web felt laggy and unresponsive. Video calls and meetings would also heat up and drain the battery quickly. Dont get me wrong the Ryzen 4000-series chips were great when new. But I started longing for the snappiness and responsiveness of a newer processor.
Boot times and launching apps were also noticeably slower than when I first got the laptop. The battery runtime had declined substantially too, from over 8 hours when new to barely 5 hours of real-world use now. Having to frequently reach for the charger was inconvenient.
While the 4800U was still usable, its sluggishness and poor battery life became daily annoyances. I started craving a more responsive system with the endurance to last me a full workday away from the office or charger. It was clear an upgrade was due, which led me to research AMDs latest Ryzen mobile offerings.
Learning about AMDs New Zen 4c Cores.In researching the latest Ryzen mobile chips, I quickly learned about AMDs new Zen 4c CPU cores that premiered in their recent Ryzen 7040U series.
These Zen 4c cores were designed specifically for power-efficient performance in thin and light laptops. By using new high-density libraries and optimizing the layout, AMD managed to make Zen 4c cores over 35% smaller than the standard Zen 4 cores found in desktop Ryzen 7000-series chips.
This smaller, denser design allows AMD to pack more cores into the same die area, increasing the core counts possible in premium mobile chips. Alternatively, it enables smaller and cheaper chip designs at the same core counts.
But Zen 4c isnt just about fitting more cores its also engineered for the best efficiency within the tight power constraints of a laptop. Though Zen 4c cores scale to lower clock speeds than desktop Zen 4, they deliver equivalent performance at the same clock speeds. This makes Zen 4c ideal for optimizing battery life in portable devices.
I was intrigued by the promise of more cores in future premium models. But for now, the efficiency of Zen 4c in the new Ryzen 5 7545U model seemed like the perfect fit for my needs. Time to go shopping!
Deciding on the Ryzen 5 7545U.After researching the options, I ultimately chose to upgrade to a laptop powered by AMDs Ryzen 5 7545U processor. This new Zen 4c-based chip had just the right specs and features to meet my needs.
The Ryzen 5 7545U combines two high-performance Zen 4 cores with four of the new Zen 4c efficiency cores. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it improves on the older 6-core Ryzen 4000 chips while fitting into slim and light laptops.
And while not the top-end Ryzen 7 model, the 7545U still boosts up to 4.9 GHz on its Zen 4 cores for snappy single-threaded task performance. This struck a good balance for my workloads compared to the pricier 7840U.
The Zen 4c cores run at a lower 3.2 GHz clock in the 7545U. But they deliver the same IPC and features like SMT, so performance should still be solid. And the efficiency cores will help maximize battery life during lighter threads.
The Ryzen 5 7545U also comes with AMDs latest RDNA 3 graphics, though only 4 cores compared to the 12-core GPUs in premium models. Still, plenty for light gaming and GPU acceleration in my workflows.
Overall, the Ryzen 5 7545U seemed like the ideal chip to give my laptop a new lease on life. I was eager to get my hands on a machine packing these next-gen AMD cores!
Unboxing My New Zen 4c-Powered Laptop.When my new Ryzen 5000-series laptop arrived, I was thrilled to unbox it and start setting up. The model I chose was the thin-and-light Asus Zenbook S 14X OLED packing the Ryzen 5 7545U.
At just 3.1 lbs and 0.6 inches thick, it had a super portable but premium design I loved. The OLED 2.8K touchscreen was stunningly vibrant and detailed. This felt like a major upgrade over my old 1080p IPS panel.
I quickly installed my usual apps and imported my files and settings over from my old system. The process went smoothly, and I was ready to start putting the Ryzen 5 7545U and Zen 4c cores through their paces.
Boot times felt instantly snappier, and apps launched briskly on the 7545U. Even with multiple programs and a dozen Chrome tabs open, everything remained responsive. The newer AMD processor was clearly breezing through my everyday multitasking.
Now it was time to push the system harder with some 4K video exports and other demanding workflows. I had high expectations for the performance and efficiency gains from the Zen 4c cores, and couldnt wait to experience them first-hand.
Impressed by Snappier Everyday Performance.For my daily workflow consisting of web browsing, office work, video calls, and more the difference was instantly obvious. Everything felt so much snappier and smoother on my new Zen 4c-based laptop.
Even with 20+ Chrome tabs open, I could browse and scroll effortlessly. No more stuttering or beachballs when loading complex webpages. Multi-tasking was also seamless, with apps remaining responsive even when running numerous programs simultaneously.
Video calls over Zoom, Teams, and Discord were very smooth. Before, my old system would sometimes get choppy or delayed, disrupting meetings. But with the 7545Us new cores, calls consistently ran perfectly even at 4K.
The gains during simpler work like document editing were less drastic. But everything was still quicker with fast application launches and rapid boot ups. The difference in mundane tasks really adds up over time.
It was in demanding creative work where the Zen 4c cores showed their muscle. Tasks like editing 4K video in Premiere Pro and exporting in the background were significantly faster. The smoother playback and faster encoding saved me real time.
Everything I threw at it, the combination of new Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores handled with aplomb. It was so satisfying having a system that could keep up with my workflow again instead of making me wait.
Seeing Better Efficiency and Battery Life.Besides the performance uptick, what impressed me most was the efficiency boost from Zen 4c leading to much improved battery life.
My old Ryzen 4000 system really struggled with endurance as the battery degraded. I was lucky to get 45 hours of real-world use out of a charge with my workloads. I constantly had to use conservation modes or stay tethered to AC power to make it through a workday.
With the new 7545U and its Zen 4c cores, my battery woes seem to be over. During lighter productivity work, Im now easily getting 8 to 9 hours on a charge. The efficiency cores do a great job sipping power during menial work.
Even when I push the system harder with demanding tasks, the battery holds up well. A heavy workload of 4K video editing still delivered over 5 hours of runtime thanks to Zen 4c. The efficiency gains are substantial.
The improved battery life has been hugely freeing. I can go out and work remotely at a cafe for hours without worrying about my laptop dying. Its so convenient not having to constantly change power profiles or hunt for an outlet.
Zen 4cs Potential for Even More Cores.While the Ryzen 5 7545U has been a big upgrade already, Im also excited by the potential for Zen 4c to power even beefier Ryzen mobile chips in the future.
With Zen 4c cores taking up around 35% less die space, AMD can cram more cores into the same area. Theyve already demonstrated 1216 core server chips built with Zen 4c. We could see similar core counts in premium Ryzen mobile processors soon.
More cores will enable laptops better suited for intensive creative workloads like 3D rendering, coding compiles, AI model training, and high-res video editing on the go. Mobile workstations and gaming powerhouses could offer desktop-class performance.
Higher efficiency will also allow more power-hung
