The New Snapdragon X Is Qualcomm’s ARM Chip for Lightweight PCs

Did you get enough about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips in 2024? To start off 2025, the chipmaker known for finally bringing ARM to PC—and usable this time—now aims to carve a niche in the cheap laptop or mini-PC market. The new Snapdragon X platform isn’t plus and it isn’t elite, although if you want to get your mother a ARM-based small PC for nothing but browsing and streaming, this could be your first CPU of choice..

The current staple of Oryon-based Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips include an 8-core variant. The Snapdragon X has the same number of cores, though it’s dialed back to 3 GHz clock speeds on the same 4nm processor node and a 30 MB cache. It has a 135 mb/s memory bandwidth but maintains the same 45 TOPS neural processor as the other Snapdragon PC CPUs.

Does the NPU really matter so much when its made for a PC that has a limited amount of onboard RAM? Likely not. The Snapdragon X is more meant to compete against other, low-end CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 5 120U from early last year. Qualcomm claims its new chip is capable of close to 60% better benchmarks in Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024, though for a low-end PC the most important thing is how it handles browsing tasks with better power efficiency. Qualcomm claimed it should get 157% better power efficiency at ISO power than the last-gen Intel chip.

Intel just released new CPUs for both its Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake lineup, including a new U line. Without benchmark comparisons, all we have to go off is the company’s specs. Otherwise, the Snapdragon X supports Bluetooth 5.4 and WiFi 7. Devices with this chip should be able to support 4K HDR video capture and HiFi audio.

There should be several OEMs debuting new Snapdragon X-based PCs during this year’s CES. Lenovo is first out the gate with two mini-PCs, the ThinkCentre neo 50q QC and Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini x (1L, 10). Both include the Snapdragon X Plus, though the IdeaCentre is geared more toward creatives looking for a Mac mini alternative.