AMD Ryzen Pro 7 6860Z: Specs of exclusive ThinkPad Z13 CPU published

When Lenovo introduced the new ThinkPad Z series in January, which are the first high-end ThinkPad laptops exclusively powered by AMD CPUs, there was an additional surprise: Lenovo also announced that there would be an AMD processor that would only be available in the ThinkPad Z13: The AMD Ryzen Pro 7 6860Z.

This is a Zen 3+ CPU with eight cores - this was the extent of knowledge we had thus far about this chip, as neither Lenovo nor AMD published specifications for it. Even after AMD separately announced the Ryzen Pro 6000 series in April, no specifications were published.

Now, the availability of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 gets closer, and Lenovo has published a more detailed spec-sheet for the first time. This also includes new info on the processor.

Looking at the specs, it quickly becomes apparent that the Ryzen 7 6860Z is just a variation of the well known AMD Ryzen Pro 7 6850U. On paper, these CPUs are almost identical, but the Ryzen 7 pro 6860Z has a maximum clock rate of 4.725 instead of 4.7 GHz.

It is not completely out of the question that AMD has modified the CPU in a few more ways not covered in this brief CPU spec sheet. But based on it, the "exclusive CPU" for the ThinkPad Z13 seems to be more of a marketing stunt than anything substantial. It is probably meant to sweeten the "AMD exclusivity" deal for Lenovo.