Who Controls the User Experience? AMD’s Carrizo Thoroughly Tested
by Ian Cutress on February 4, 2016 8:00 AM EST#4 The HP Pavilion 17z-g100 (Carrizo, A10-8700P)
Of the group, the HP Pavilion sits as the larger screen, medium range hardware component with a similar sort of finesse to the Elitebook, albeit at a much lower price point. This 17-inch model was certainly heavy, suggesting that it is more aimed at that desktop replacement or mobile office group of users who want a large screen, although this one was also a 1366x768 TN panel, which pushes down the sticker price.
| HP Pavilion 17z-g100 (Carrizo) Specifications | |
| Size and Resolution | 17-inch, 1366x768 TN with Touch |
| Processor | AMD A10-8700P Dual module, 4 threads 1.8 GHz Base Frequency 3.2 GHz Turbo Frequency |
| Graphics | Integrated R6 384 Shader Cores 800 MHz maximum frequency GCN 1.2 |
| TDP | 15W |
| Memory | 8 GB in Single Channel Operation 1 x 8GB at DDR3L-1600 C11 Dual Channel Capable |
| Storage | 1TB HGST HDD |
| Battery Size | 41.113 Wh 4 cell Li-Ion design |
| WiFi | Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11n 1x1 |
| Optical Drive | Yes |
| Dimensions | 16.49 x 11.29 x 1.12-inch |
| Weight | From 6.84 lbs |
| Webcam | 1280x720 |
| Ports | Memory Card Reader HDMI 2 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0 10/100 Ethernet |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
This unit was purchased especially for our testing (it turns out there’s a Best Buy around the corner from AMD HQ), and comes in low on the hardware all around. Aside from the screen, the A10-8700P processor comes mid-stack of the Carrizo parts, with a 1.8 GHz base and 3.2 GHz turbo frequency for the dual module/quad thread design. The integrated graphics rings in at 384 streaming processors, or 6 compute units, running at 720 MHz.
Memory and storage are at the base level, going for a single module of 8GB (meaning single-channel memory operation) and a 1TB HGST mechanical hard-drive. The Pavilion is dual channel capable though, which would be my first port of call for an upgrade. The Wi-Fi is also bargain basement, being a single stream 802.11n solution in the Realtek RTL8723BE.
There has to be some upsides to this, right? Assuming low power everything, low resolution display, large heavy design with a big battery? Our light battery life test clocked in at 5.43 hours, or 326 minutes, meaning that some of the hardware here is only here because it needs to hit a price point.
The Design
Aside from the specifications, the Pavilion has a good look to it.
Aside from the outside of the chassis at the top of the page, the insides give a near-complete keyboard with a number pad and a curved fold-in display latch that feels aesthetically pleasing to me. The keyboard has some quirks, namely the arrow keys are of different sizes and the lack of a quick access mute/airplane mode button. The trackpad is slightly offset to the left, and I didn’t actually hate the movement on this one. The wrist rest is smooth but plastic, the sort that leaves oils and grease from hands touching it.
The audio strip is a Bang & Olufsen design, with a power button on the left.
On the sides we get two USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0 port, HDMI output, power/drive lights, a 3.5 mm headset jack, the exhaust vents, a full sized Ethernet port, a card reader, and the first laptop in this test with a DVD drive.
The vent on the side is the exhaust, and the intakes for the Pavilion are on the bottom, as shown above. As you might expect, there are a number of rubber feet on the bottom, including a single strip closed to the user, to help with stability, balance and grip.
Pavilion Specific Testing
On the display, the minute someone announces 13x7 TN it should fill most enthusiasts with dread. The lack of viewing angles was fairly obvious, but it wasn’t the worst display we tested from the set. Low brightness was at 0.624 nits while peak brightness was at 203 nits, giving a respectable 325 contrast ratio. The peak brightness is somewhat low, but that low peak brightness fits between the two Elitebooks.
For color reproducibility, both green and red have a good crack at it, with green doing better under 50% and red doing better over 50%. Blue undershot the whole range pretty much, as we saw on the other HP notebooks.
The processor page looks much like the others, with four processing threads and six graphics compute units.
On the integrated R6 graphics, this confirms the 384 streaming processors running at 720 MHz. An interesting element here is the memory bandwidth, showing 19.2 GB/s which is half-way between single channel and dual channel, which means the memory might speed up under load, or we have a wrong reading. Not sure on that one.
On the battery charge, the 41.1 Wh battery gave a 50% charge in 41 minutes, before hitting 98% charge in 96.
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Gadgety - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
So AMD's marketing and distribution strategy is a failure. The way it's described it would seem consumers specifying their own PCs would be a away around the dominant logic determined by the existing channels. With today's production technology tailor made products on demand should be possible.The other thing I don't get, is why doesn't AMD release a desktop Carrizo 4K capable APU for the FM2+ platform? Do they want to help the motherboard manufacturers sell more motherboards once the new AM4 socket APU:s are out in 2017, or do they want to sell their own existing products?
JMC2000 - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
I think it's more along the lines of having an installed base of AM4 boards before any Zen-based APUs roll out.It is possible that if the Athlon X4 845 sells well, AMD could release a full Carrizo part on FM2+.
AlB80 - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
What is discrete graphic chip in Lenovo?512sp GCN1.2.... I suspect that this combination is unreal.
Jamesiii - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
I have actually ordered Dell's AMD A8-8600P. It is intended as a media machine with the selling points being the low power equating to quiet and the 4K capability. The one thing I did notice is that he does have the Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz memory. There is no indication on if it unlocks the watts to 35, but I have my doubts given the choice of RAM.I will know more when I get it on Thursday and will update if anyone is still view this thread. But, at $380.00 it is not a bad choice for a media machine.
tygrus - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
OBM (the brands) bid for designs by the ODM's based on the design cost and the expected volume. I high cost Intel design can be made profitable by the expectation of very high volumes. Even the most popular AMD design is expected to sell fewer than a low-volume Intel design. Business limitations and commercial forces bias the system towards Intel. Intel also have deeper pockets to sponsor/partner/subsidise designs to make them Intel exclusive. From manufactures to distributors to retail, Intel penalise (withdraw discounts/subsidies) anyone who lets AMD gain market share (many limited to <10%) and limit the use of the "best" designs for AMD (forced to sell only A4 & A6 instead of A8 or better, limit battery and other features so Intel always looks better). The "Intel brakes" applied to AMD limits their opportunities and potential earnings. This has limited the AMD R&D spending and forced AMD to stay behind in some aspects. It's amazing what AMD has done with 28nm but think of the advantage they could have had with 22nm and 14nm if successful achieved much earlier (no more than 9months after Intel).every1hasaids - Monday, February 8, 2016 - link
I owned (owned being the operative word there) a Y700 with the AMD Carrizo FX8800P and can attest to the fact that the cooling solution and probably several other pieces of that device reviewed in this article are not the same design as what is available on the market in the US. There is a known issue of Lenovo skimping on the VRMs on the AMD Y700 which results in heavy throttling taking place. I couldn't play any game for more than 15 minutes before heavy throttling would occur. The data gathered from the review sample in this article should not be associated with the available product on the market. There appears to also be an FX-8700P variant of the Y700 out there however I cannot find any documentation of the existence of this device on Lenovo's site. Needless to say that I returned that laptop due to the significant throttling problems. I wish this site of some other site could get their hands on one of the FX-8800P Y700 laptops available in the US and put it through testing to reveal the problems with the unit. I'm guessing that they intend on releasing a Carrizo-L version of that laptop with the same motherboard which is why the VRMs are not up to the task of the 35w Carrizo and the added consumption of the dedicated graphics chip.Why are there no units out there that can handle the 35w TDP Carrizo and a dedicated graphics card!?!?!?! It would be a great alternative to the Intel/Nvidia gaming notebook monopoly.
I'm hoping Zen/Polaris will actually see some adoption from OEMs and maybe AMD could even get involved in assisting proper implementation of their products so that the negative stigma could get nullified.
Jamesiii - Monday, February 8, 2016 - link
The FX-8700P would more properly be called an A10-8700P. It sounds like a bit of marketing if they are using the FX handle.On gaming sites people are suggesting you turn off AMD's Turbo Core when gaming to avoid the FPS jumping up and down and overclock the processors. Overclocking a laptop is dicey at best though.
Malih - Monday, February 8, 2016 - link
maybe Microsoft should start making an AMD Surface laptop if they want good competition to drive PC SalesMarcelo Viana - Monday, February 8, 2016 - link
I just don't understand why in a comparison carrizo vs intel you didn't take out the intel chips memory in order to both have 1 channel memory, so do a benchmark for us in a same condition.The entire article show that intel offering has OEMs given what intel chips need, so the point in comparing carrizo vs intel is the chip itself not platform, since AMD has no platform at all.
Elensar286 - Monday, February 8, 2016 - link
That's a large focus of this article, though. The whole point was an investigation in to the implementation of Carrizo APUs by the OEM. It's highlighting exactly how like you said, the OEM platform, is hindering the potential of Carrizo processors.