
HP 15-bw075ax (A12-9720P, Radeon R7) Laptop Review
AMD A12-9720P | AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) | 15.60" | 1.9 kg
The AMD A12-9720P is a mainstream SoC from the Bristol Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was introduced in 2017. The ULV chip with a TDP of 15 Watts (can be configured to 12 Watts, not verified) has four CPU cores (two Excavator modules) clocked at 2.7 - 3.8 GHz (4.05 GHz for single core were briefly achievable in our test sample), a Radeon R7 iGPU as well as a dual-channel DDR4-1866 memory controller. Carrizo is a full-fledged SoC and is also equipped with an integrated chipset, which provides all I/0 ports.
Architecture
Bristol Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 1866 MHz. More technical details are available in the following articles:
Performance
The performance of the A12-9720P should be slightly faster than the A12-9700P (the latter is notable for its slightly slower clock rates). Compared to Intel CPUs, the CPU is most comparable to Skylake Core i3 CPUs. Our first test sample however performed a bit worse than an average A12-9700P and on par with a i3-5010U (multi-core) and i3-4010U (single-core). Due to the TDP limitation, the performance of the A12-9720P will drop significantly under sustained workloads.
This means there is sufficient performance for typical office and web applications as well as light multitasking.
Graphics
The integrated Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) GPU has 512 active shader units (8 compute cores) clocked at up to 758 MHz. Thanks to the better utilization of the clock range as well as faster DDR4-RAM, the GPU can slightly beat its predecessors Radeon R7 (Carrizo) and competes with a dedicated GeForce 920MX in the best-case scenario (dual-channel memory, low CPU requirements). Many games from 2015/2016 can be played smoothly at low settings.
Power Consumption
AMD specifies the TDP of the A12-9720P with 15 Watts, which is comparable to Intel's ULV models. This means the CPU is a good choice for thin notebooks starting with a 12-inch screen.
Series | AMD Bristol Ridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Bristol Ridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Bristol Ridge Bristol Ridge
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Clock Rate | 2700 - 3600 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Level 2 Cache | 2 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of Cores / Threads | 4 / 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power) | 15 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistor Count | 3100 Million | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturing Technology | 28 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Die Size | 250 mm2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Max. Temperature | 90 °C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Socket | FP4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | Dual-Channel DDR3/DDR4-1866 RAM, PCIe 3.0 x8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GPU | AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) ( - 758 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
64 Bit | 64 Bit support | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | x86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announcement Date | 06/01/2016 |
Lenovo Ideapad 320-15ABR-80XS007XGE: AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge), 15.60", 2.2 kg
External Review » Lenovo Ideapad 320-15ABR-80XS007XGE
HP Pavilion 15-cd0000nu: AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge), 15.60", 2 kg
External Review » HP Pavilion 15-cd0000nu
HP Envy 15-bq015nd x360: AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge), 15.60", 2.2 kg
External Review » HP Envy 15-bq015nd x360
» Mobile CPU Comparison
Comparison of all mobile CPU series
» Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist
Benchmarklist of all known CPUs that are used in laptops (desktop and laptop CPUs)
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones