AMD Ryzen 7020C series of low-power laptop processors unveiled for Chromebooks

AMD has launched a new series of low-power CPUs specifically for Chromebooks. The Ryzen 7020C series (not to be confused with the Ryzen 7020 Mendocino models) of laptop processors are manufactured on TSMC's 6 nm process node and pack a Radeon 610M iGPU. The "2" in the name confirms Zen 2 CPU cores, which is a bit disappointing, more so for something launched in 2023.

AMD claims the Ryzen 7020C series can deliver up to 17 hours of battery life against competing offerings such as the Intel Core i3-N305 and MediaTek Kompanio 1380. The company's choice of competitors might look somewhat dated, but it makes sense, given they run four-year-old CPU cores themselves. Its Radeon 610M GPU doesn't fare much better either, as confirmed by our in-depth review of the Acer Aspire 3.

Even though the Ryzen 7020C series is spearheaded by the Ryzen 5 7020 (4 cores, 8 threads, 15 W TDP, 2.8 GHZ base, 4.3 GHz boost, 6 MB cache), AMD has chosen to highlight the Ryzen 3 7320C's (4 cores, 8 threads, 15 W TDP, 2.4 GHZ base, 4.1 GHz boost, 6 MB cache) performance. Compared to the Ryzen 3 3250C, it is anywhere between 25% to 135% faster, depending on the application, all with a 60% battery life boost.

When pitted against the MediaTek Kompanio 1380, the Ryzen 3 7320C is between 15% and 65% faster- which isn't much, given that the former is an Arm-based SoC and not a high-end one. The situation is more or less the same against the Intel Core i3-N305, with the Ryzen chip besting it by 2-42%. Lastly, AMD compared the entry-level Athlon 7120C (2-core, 2-thread, 2.4 GHz base, 3.5 GHz boost, 3 MB cache, 15 W TDP) with the MediaTek Kompanio 580, where it (unsurprisingly) trounces it across the board.

Other Ryzen 7020C features include LPDDR5 memory support, 4K 60 FPS video output to up to three monitors, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. AMD has teased two laptops that will use the abovementioned processors, the Dell Latitude 3445 Chromebook and Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip, both of which will be announced in Q2, 2023.