AMD’s Mobile Revival: Redefining the Notebook Business with the Ryzen 9 4900HS (A Review)
by Dr. Ian Cutress on April 9, 2020 9:00 AM ESTLow Power Performance
Truth be told, I didn’t go into this review with low power testing in mind. These sorts of laptops, while capable of driving high performance on the go, are essentially expected to be connected to the power socket when performance is needed. Even the best ultraportables struggle for battery life when everything is whirring at full tilt. Nonetheless, after my own experiences of 3 hours of gaming on power with a Matebook X Pro and a high screen brightness, it is a genuine use case.
For these tests, the settings and software are the same as normal, but the only change is that the power cable has been removed and the power setting in Windows has been moved to ‘Best Battery Life’. We’re still in the Recommended Power Plan and not the Battery Saver Plan. What this does is force the OS and system to manage its power appropriately between CPU and GPU. In these circumstances being able to distribute the power where it is needed most can be a very critical factor in getting a project finished, or having a game that is playable.
Our tests here, due to time, are the following:
- Civilization 6, 1080p MSAA 8x, AI Test (On Battery, Battery Saver)
- Borderlands 3, 1080p Medium (On Battery, Battery Saver)
- Counter Strike Source, 1080p Max (On Battery, Battery Saver)
So previously Intel had a very slight advantage in AI turn time here, but as we move to a power limited scenario, AMD takes a more substantial lead – over 10%.
Where we had a small 5% win for AMD in the full power scenario, the gap is a bit bigger percentage wise for AMD in the low power scenario. It is still under 30 FPS, which is probably unplayable for BL3.
Now CSS is a little odd. When I’m in Battery Saver mode but plugged in, I get the full power FPS value. But the minute I take it out, on the Razer Blade, something goes a bit mental and we end up being limited to 60 FPS. V-Sync is disabled in every setting I think of, and yet there doesn’t seem to be a way of getting off of 60 FPS.
Ultimately in every scenario, in a few small tests, where Intel might have been ahead on wall power, AMD pulls ahead on limited power.
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alufan - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
As an it pro you should know betterhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Ethernet-Including-...
Cooe - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
Because sticking a cheap USB adapter on the end of the Ethernet cable you plug into is just too much work? That problem is really minor to fix tbh.Icehawk - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
Agreed, for a home user - which this is aimed at I think it’s NBD but for enterprise machines I much prefer an integrated NIC so I don’t need to rely on a customer having a dongle (they won’t) or remembering to bring one. Sadly they are hard to find these days in this size laptop.At least this machine has a DIMM slot instead of soldered only.
GreenReaper - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Sure, but having to mod your memory because they didn't enable XMP profiles is not super-convenient. I'm sure Asus would like you to buy their RAM, but still. (Or perhaps it's an issue of Intel not giving the necessary data?)1_rick - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
What do you need a webcam for? I've seen a bunch of people here and at other sites call the lack of a webcam a hard pass.I use teleconferencing software extensively at my day job, both for meetings among people in different offices (and at home) and for meetings with clients, and nobody uses a webcam, although we're all far more interested in screen sharing, either to show someone how to do something, or to show a document of some kind, or whatever.
schujj07 - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
^ThisTotally agree with this. I do the same thing and screen sharing is far more important for me in the IT world than a webcam. If you need a webcam go out and get a good one from Logitech instead of the included garbage on most laptops.
1_rick - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
Yeah, that's the other thing--why wouldn't you want a better camera than the potato 720p you'll get with a laptop, if you do need one?haukionkannel - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
Webcams Are useful for personal contacts. At work I keep webcam mostly closed.And there Are/will be Also models with it, so people can chose what They pay for. So no worry if one Gaming laptop does not have it :)
Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
People making imaginary purchases....sonny73n - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
That and privacy issue too. I have a piece of black electrical tape cover my laptop webcam. I would not know when it turns on by itself and snoops on me like those Samsung TVs a while back.The aholes would say I got something to hide. I would like to let them know that I’d rather break the law or break their faces than letting myself caught in my most embarrassing moments.