All-AMD Ryzen notebooks for gamers and creators: USB4, Bluetooth 5.4, dedicated GPU and PCIe-Gen-4.0
I have been researching mobile AMD Ryzen notebooks for a while now, and my article The Quest for a Good AMD Ryzen Notebook With Linux Support is my most visited post. Originally written in 2021, I updated my findings from various notebooks, benchmarks, and reviews in 2022 with essentially the same finding: nothing beats the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 and L15, since you can max out RAM to 64 GB, the m.2 SSD, and there are a lot of other custom modifications if you are brave. Moreover, you can get the Lenovo L14 AMD Gen1 on eBay for $270, which is so little that I recently ordered one as a backup machine.
But what is the status of mobile Ryzen in Q2 and Q3, 2024? What are the latest and most promising technologies? What more could we want from a notebook in 2024? Well, USB4, a dedicated GPU, a higher resolution (and possibly OLED) screen, and faster networking. Don’t get me wrong, the L14 is still a fantastic piece of “bang-for-the-buck” hardware.
Tools and services for the Nomad Nerd
If you are know my list “Tools and services for the Nomad Nerd” on Github, you might have spotted that I have been testing 2 other recent notebooks, which are these two beauties:
- HP EliteBook 865 G10, Ryzen — The HP Elite Book 865 G10 is available with AMD Ryzen 7540U, 7840U, and 7940HS. It features two (!) USB4 ports, a 1000cd/m² bright screen, and has a maximum of 64GB RAM.
- ASUS TUF Gaming Advantage A16 — Ryzen 9 7940HS Zen4, DDR5, Radeon RX 7600S with Navi 33 LE (see Asus product page)
In this post I want to dig deeper into both these notebooks, and give you an idea of why I think you should consider both of them. Call me crazy, but I initially decided to keep both of them, not to return them after the testing period — and effectively buying them. Eventually I stuck to the ASUS TUF Gaming Advantage A16, because I am of the tinkering type, and I am okay with doing upgrades on my own.
HP EliteBook 865 G10, Ryzen
The HP EliteBook 865 G10 is still quite hard to get, but you could just directly configure and buy it from HP. Warning: my configuration comes to $4,522.00
I my case I got the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS (8-core) and the AMD Radeon Graphics ( 70A90AV ) which technically is an AMD Radeon 780M (iGPU), 12CU/768SP, 2.80GHz with “RDNA 3” architecture.
If you chose to buy the HP EliteBook 865 G10, Ryzen without operating system (say you want to install Linux), you can save $215.
I have purchased this specific screen option: 16" diagonal WUXGA WLED+LBL UWVA Anti-Glare Privacy Screen for WWAN for IR Webcam (1920x1200)(1000 Nits).
You can configure the notebook for 64 GB (2x32 GB) DDR5 5600 SODIMM Memory.
I cannot recommend getting NVMe drives directly installed, as they are very pricey. I do recommend getting the SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4, as it is available for $99 and can help you ease the pain of paying so much for a notebook in the first place.
ASUS TUF Gaming Advantage A16
The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is a better deal if you don’t have the money to spend on the HP EliteBook 865 G10. The downsides: you just get one USB-4 port, and much darker screen (16", 1920x1200, 142ppi, 165Hz, non-glare, IPS, 250cd/m²) — but for me this was not an issue, as I am mostly using external monitors. The dedicated GPU (AMD Radeon RX 7600S or Radeon RX 7700S) was much more important for me.
Make sure you get a 7940HS CPU, as this is ZEN4 architecture (Zen 4, TSMC 4nm).
You can get a configuration of the FA617XS-N3099W Sandstorm (or: FA617XS-N3037W) for approximately $1,700, and you can upgrade the RAM and SSD on your own to save some more.
- RAM: Crucial RAM 64GB Kit (2x32GB) DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Laptop Memory CT2K32G48C40S5
- SSD: 2x SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4
Verdict
If you want an amazing 1,000 nits (IPS) LCD — go for the HP EliteBook 865 G10, Ryzen (availability on Amazon is not “great”, so you might have to directly configure and buy it from HP).
If you essentially want a Ryzen 9 with Zen4, USB4, and a dedicated GPU — go for the ASUS TUF Gaming Advantage A16 Sandstorm (FA617XS-N3099W). This is the option that I chose to complete my mobile Linux-based studio where I record 4K video (via USB4) and render Blender 3D scenes.
READ ON: opengears.medium.com
Please follow me on medium & on Twitter @audiores and let me know in the comments if you have any other feedback or additions to this write-up. You can read more of my hardware and gear suggestion on my list Tools and services for the Nomad Nerd.
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