The AMD Ryzen Z2 is a fast gaming handheld processor from the Hawk Point series with 8 cores and hyperthreading (SMT), which means it can process up to 16 threads simultaneously. The CPU uses the Zen 4 architecture and clocks from 3.3 GHz (base clock) up to 5.1 GHz (single-core boost). The CPU offers 8 MB L2 cache and 16 MB L3 cache. Technically the Z2 is identical to the Ryzen 7 7840U and Ryzen 7 8840U but without Ryzen AI Engine.
Due to the lower TDP, the performance should be slightly below the Ryzen 7 7840HS should be lower. The fastest old U processor, the Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U should be clearly outperformed.
The chip integrates a relatively modern RDNA 3-based graphics card (iGPU) called Radeon 780M with 12 CUs including AV1 video engine. Hawk Point offers 2x USB 4 (40 Gbps), 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes and a dual-channel DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5x-7500 memory controller (with ECC support).
The Hawk Point series is a single chip (unlike the Dragon Range 7045HX series) and is manufactured at TSMC using the modern 4nm FinFET process. The TDP is specified by AMD at 15 watts and can be configured from 15 to 30 watts by the manufacturer.
The AMD Ryzen 7 250 is a powerful laptop processor (APU) of the now years-old Hawk Point family that was announced at CES 2025. This isn't an entirely new APU; instead, the R7 250 is a rebadged R7 8840U. Its eight Zen 4 cores run at 3.3 GHz to 5.1 GHz and are SMT-enabled for a total of 16 processing threads. The Radeon 780M iGPU is responsible for 3D processing and similar duties.
Architecture and Features
Hawk Point family chips are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, much like Phoenix and Dragon Range family chips were. The 16 TOPS NPU present here isn't powerful enough for systems built around the 7 250 to be Copilot+ certified.
Elsewhere, the chip has 16 MB of L3 cache and support for super-fast DDR5-5600 and LPDDR5x-7500 RAM while also being compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt. It comes with 20 PCIe 4 lanes, giving fast NVMe SSD up to 7.8 GB/s of throughput.
Please note that this processor is not overclockable and neither is it user-replaceable. It gets soldered to the motherboard for good instead (FP8 socket interface).
Performance
Since the R7 250 is an 8840U / 7840U in disguise, it's safe to expect it to be about as fast as the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V in multi-thread workloads. Therefore, the CPU performance is good enough even for demanding tasks, as of 2025.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.
Graphics
The Radeon 780M has 12 CUs (768 shaders) purring away at up to 2,700 MHz. The Radeon will let you use up to 4 monitors with resolutions as high as SUHD 4320p and it will also HW-decode and HW-encode the most widely used video codecs (such as AV1, HEVC and AVC) without breaking a sweat. As for gaming, most 2024 games run fine at 1080p with settings set to Low on this graphics adapter.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are, how competent the cooling solution of your system is, how fast the RAM of your system is (there is no dedicated VRAM here).
Power consumption
This Ryzen 7 series chip has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 28 W. Laptop makers are free to change that value significantly, with values as low as 15 W and as high as 30 W greenlighted by AMD. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for any system powered by this chip.
The R7 250 is built with TSMC's 4 nm process for high, as of late 2023, energy efficiency.