Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the shocking topics on our YouTube show or freshest news from across the web? You’re in the right place.
Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!
Skepticism is normal. But cynicism is different. It blocks receptivity—as I realized after this week’s discussion about Qualcomm’s launch of its Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme processors.
TFN regular and my colleague Mark Hachman joined us to chat about the press briefings he attended last week, which included a reveal of phenomenal benchmark results. According to its numbers, Qualcomm’s second-gen Snapdragon Elite chips don’t just smash the baseline set by its predecessors. They smoke Intel and AMD’s laptop CPUs, too. In Cinebench 2024, the X2 Elite Extreme outpaced rival silicon like the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Core Ultra 7 155H by as much as 56 percent in single-core performance. Meanwhile, in multi-core performance, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme posted a lead of over a 200 percent.
Qualcomm claims this insanity extends to gaming as well, teasing a doubling of performance in games—which would boost the expected output from 1080p 30fps at Low settings to 60fps. For the thin-and-light laptops that Snapdragon Elite chips would power, this shot in the arm for gaming would be impressive.
And yet, while guiding the conversation, I poked at the shadows lurking on the periphery of this information. I wanted to know: Where’s the PC vendor support? The software support? (Especially games…) Why didn’t Qualcomm focus more on its battery life performance, where it already stands strong?
I still believe these are fair questions. But after the show, I thought back to when another semiconductor company made a fresh push into laptops. We think of this company with positivity today, but five years ago, AMD faced a tough uphill battle.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
At the time, Intel held around 90 percent of the market. AMD mobile chips also carried the reputation of being low-performance, found only in cheap budget laptops. So while Team Red had turned around its desktop reputation, this initiative met with reserve and even cynicism.
We now know that such unwillingness to consider success for AMD was unfounded. AMD’s mobile chips now sit comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with Intel’s best—and even set the bar for expectations in high performance (i.e., Strix Halo). AMD has also steadily gained ground in the market—Intel’s now down to just under 80 percent for laptop share, according to recent reports.
So yes, my questions were fair. Qualcomm still needs more robust software support. And it can be confident in the Snapdragon Elite reputation for long battery life. But I think it’s worth calling myself out here. I didn’t shine light on these areas with an attitude of curiosity. I was wary—and it’s not yet justified.
Because that last piece of the puzzle—PC vendor support—never happens in a vacuum. Laptop makers won’t offer Qualcomm models without interest. And I don’t have independent benchmark results yet to warrant anything more than reserve.
If I want to see more innovation, I can’t let skepticism get the better of me. It’ll turn into cynicism, blocking the spirit of The Full Nerd. Gordon always championed the idea of companies pushing into the unknown. In this era of economic turbulence, such an approach is even riskier. It’s up to us in the stands to remain open. We could otherwise accidentally kill off incredible hardware with indifference, before it ever launches.
Table of Contents
In this episode of The Full Nerd
In this episode of The Full Nerd, Alaina Yee, Brad Chacos, and Mark Hachman dig into the details of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme chips (including the Elite Extreme’s eye-popping benchmarks) and if Windows 10’s looming death is really a big deal. With Will out this week, I take up the mantle of indignant chicken over Microsoft’s [censored] promise of 500 rewards points for using the Bing app.
(Yes, yes, I know, more fool me.)
I also lowered Brad’s respect for me by confessing I like rubber domes better than mechanical switches. Why? You’ll have to tune into the Q&A section to get the full context. (Also, shoutout to the homies on our Discord server, who’ve been offering great advice about my issues with using a mechanical ergo keyboard.)
Willis Lai / Foundry
Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time!
Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now!
And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds.
This week’s confounding nerd news
I did a double-take when I heard of Microsoft’s unexpected Game Pass price hike. Same for the idea that the world’s getting literally darker (but not colder).
At least we still have pieces of joy out there to take comfort in—like the wonderful hit of nostalgia I got from imagining the sound of 12 56K modems all blaring at once.
- These keycaps sound so good: I might have unusual switch preferences (or unnatural, depending who you ask), but I still enjoy the sound of mechanical keyboards. Mike Crider, our resident keyboard guru, recently tested one with ceramic keycaps. I could listen to it on repeat for a while, to be honest. It’s soothing.
- I’m still wary of AI browsers: But I have to admit, I found it interesting reading someone else’s hands-on experience with one. If you ignore the security and privacy concerns of such an AI browser, the potential to help people with accessibility challenges is cool.
- Maybe gamers don’t hate Windows 11: You know, I actually forgot to consider how motivated people are by deadlines. Now I’m wondering what the October and November Steam surveys will look.
- Will Adam sniff this next? I’m not sure how I feel about an SSD with a built-in oil diffuser. But I am sure Adam would give this a go.
Catch you all next week—or maybe later today during my first PC build livestream in awhile! (I’m finally getting to build in the Hyte X50!)
~Alaina
This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.