AMD expands Chromebook APU offerings with new Zen-based Athlon C and Zen+-based Ryzen C SKUs; 14+ shipping designs expected from OEMs this year

AMD first announced exclusive processors for Chromebooks back at CES 2019, which included the AMD A4-9120C and the AMD A6 9220C based on the Stoney Ridge cores. Today, AMD is also bringing the Zen core to Chromebooks with the Athlon 3000 C and Ryzen 3000 C processors. AMD's Chromebook offerings are being segregated into the entry-level A Series, mid-level Athlon with Radeon graphics, and Premium-level Ryzen with Radeon graphics essentially extending the Chromebook APU range from 6 W to 15 W.

The Ryzen lineup for Chromebooks is comprised of the 2C/4T Ryzen 3 3250C, 4C/8T Ryzen 5 3500C, and the 4C/8T Ryzen 7 3700C. These are 12 nm Zen+ cores and feature the same integrated Radeon Vega graphics as we've seen with the Zen+ APUs for Windows/Linux notebooks. AMD said that these APUs should provide enough horsepower for those who wish to run Linux on Chromebooks and for running more powerful apps than what are normally found in the Chrome OS store.

AMD is also offering the 14 nm Zen-based Athlon SKUs for Chromebooks. OEMs can select between the 2C/2T Athlon Silver 3050C and the 2C/4T Athlon Gold 3150C. More details of all the available Athlon and Ryzen C-series SKUs are given in the slide below.

AMD claims that Ryzen-powered Chromebooks can offer up to 153% higher performance compared to last year's A6-9220C in Speedometer 2.0, up to 163% in Kraken 1.1, and up to 178% in Octane 2.0. Ryzen for Chromebooks is also cut-out for productivity and AMD said that gains from the Ryzen 7 3700C compared to the A6-9220C can be up to 151% in 3DMark Slingshot, up to 104% in PCMark Writing, and up to 153% in PCMark Photo Editing. These tests were apparently performed on a reference Acer Chromebook Zada configured with a Ryzen 3700C.

AMD expects OEMs such as Asus, Lenovo, HP, and more to add six new Ryzen C and Athlon C-powered Chromebook designs this year bringing the total AMD-powered Chromebook offerings to 14 and above.