Microsoft’s New Surface Laptop Won’t Feature Intel Processor

Microsoft is reportedly testing a new Surface Laptop with an AMD processor, seemingly due to what a report calls a “shaky” relationship between the Redmond tech giant and processor maker Intel.

According to a report from Petri, unnamed insiders knowledgeable about the matter said the relationship between Intel and Microsoft is on “shaky ground” as a result of the problems that happened to the Surface products running on Intel’s Skylake chips.

The report said there was immaturity between Windows and the Skylake chips, which resulted in hardware problems, ultimately affecting Microsoft’s reputation as a tech company. This in turn caused the tech giant to be “disappointed” with Intel.

As a result of these events, Microsoft is now testing non-Intel chips for its devices. It is reportedly testing prototypes of a Surface Pro model equipped with an ARM chip. It is also testing a new Surface Laptop powered by an AMD processor.

AMD-powered Surface laptop?

Microsoft is currently testing a new Surface Laptop with a 12nm AMD Picasso SoC. These SoCs, MSPowerUser noted, are based microarchitectures succeeding Raven Ridge. These SoCs are designed for the mobile segment based on the Zen+ microarchitecture, which incorporates a Vega GPU, and are fabricated on GlobalFoundries 12nm process and have four cores and eight threads.

Not much is said about the Surface Laptop with an AMD SoC, but the Petri report claimed that Microsoft is not doing away with Intel at the moment as the chip maker still has a strong brand reputation, and that reputation will still be very helpful in moving Surface devices that are running on Intel chips.

ARM?

Aside from the new AMD-powered Surface Laptop, Microsoft is also working on a Surface Pro device running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. This device is being developed on-campus at Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters, unlike previous devices that were outsourced to Original Device Manufacturers or ODMs.

Microsoft is said to be “working closely” with Qualcomm to build a custom chipset that will work better with Windows 10. The SoC, code-named “Excalibur,” is based on Microsoft’s own specifications and could be used as a reference for future devices the tech giant will outsource to OEMs.

These details are sourced from Petri’s aforementioned anonymous insiders. Microsoft hasn’t officially unveiled anything at the moment. It would be best to wait for the Redmond tech giant to announce devices soon.