AMD announced its new Ryzen 5000 line of laptop processors for ultraportable devices during its keynote at CES 2021. It previously launched Ryzen 5000 parts for desktop in 2020.

The first laptops using the new hardware will appear in February. Asus, HP and Lenovo are confirmed to be launching notebooks with these processors, with more than 150 laptops expected to launch with Ryzen 5000 this year. 

Based around the corporation's Zen 3 architecture like the desktop chips, this hardware is again based on the super-efficient 7nm process that Intel can't currently match. AMD cited a performance improvement over the previous generation of 19 percent per core. 

Intel's key chips are still going to be based around 10nm for the rest of 2021, even in its upcoming 12th generation Core chips that it announced yesterday. 

What's more, the series also boasts a 15W, 8 core part - Ryzen 7 5800U - which is better than anything Intel is currently offering for thin-and-light devices at present.

AMD intros Ryzen 5000 thin-and-light laptop chips - powering over 150 PCs in 2021 photo 2
AMD

For gaming ultraportables, there's the Ryzen 9 5900HX and 5980HX which AMD says brings "desktop-like performance". These operate up to 4.6/4.8Ghz boost frequencies and again have 8 cores/16 threads. 

AMD claims "leading battery life for x86-based notebooks" too, although these figures will still pale compared to ARM-based PCs based on Qualcomm Snapdragon and Apple Silicon (M1).  

Microsoft Surface Chief Panos Panay appeared on screen alongside AMD chief Dr Lisa Su to highlight the work the two companies were doing together including on the Xbox Series X and S. And the companies could to be doing even more work together with recent rumours that the Surface Laptop 4 will use AMD Ryzen across all models instead of only a few versions.