The hottest trend in this year's PC market is the shift to AI PCs, a transition that began in earnest last year. AI PCs represent a new direction for the AI era by offering practical AI capabilities without the need for an internet connection, a feature previously limited to cloud-based services. This year, with support for the decade-old Windows 10 ending, many consumers are expected to choose AI PCs as their next device.

A major hurdle in this transition has been the high price point. The first generation of AI PCs launched as a premium market, differentiating themselves from traditional PCs. While prices have steadily decreased, they have largely remained in the mainstream range of ₩1.0-1.5 million. This means that to use AI on a PC, an additional investment is still required.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series of SoCs (System-on-Chips) has become a key player in the AI PC era, serving as the first partner for Microsoft’s "Copilot+ PC" initiative and bringing Arm-based architecture to the x86-dominated PC market. The new Snapdragon X, a more budget-friendly model in the series, lowers the price point by adjusting some specifications while maintaining a high-performance Neural Processing Unit (NPU). A new Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x model equipped with this chip is now the only Copilot+ PC on the market available in the ₩800,000 range.

Focusing on Practicality, Portability, and Price 

The Snapdragon X is specifically designed for the budget-friendly AI PC market. Compared to its higher-end counterparts like the Snapdragon X Elite, it scales back the processor's clock speed and GPU size. However, it retains a powerful 45 TOPS NPU, ensuring that even affordable PCs can access "Copilot+ PC" features.

Qualcomm is targeting a wide range of users, including students in their teens and twenties, freelancers in their twenties and thirties, and cost-conscious consumers in their thirties. This target demographic seeks a balance of practicality, performance, reasonable pricing, and excellent portability. Qualcomm plans to expand its market share by highlighting the Snapdragon X’s advantages in application compatibility, practical performance, and superior power efficiency.

The Snapdragon X shares the same core "Oryon" architecture as the Snapdragon X Elite but with some adjustments. The core count is reduced from 12 to 8, and the L3 cache size is lowered. Unlike many modern processors that use a "big-little" hybrid core configuration, the Snapdragon X series relies solely on Oryon cores to deliver both performance and efficiency. While the core's maximum clock speed is capped at 3 GHz, it is still powerful enough to handle modern applications. The chip also supports a robust memory interface with LPDDR5x-8448 memory and a 128-bit bus, enabling a maximum bandwidth of 135 GB/s.

The integrated GPU, the Adreno X1-45, is the most basic version in the Adreno X1 series. While its computational performance is lower than the high-end X1-85, this difference is only noticeable in demanding tasks like gaming or GPU-intensive AI applications. For everyday use, it performs smoothly, offering hardware acceleration for 4K video playback with the AV1 codec and supporting up to three external 4K displays.

The Power of the NPU and Portability 

Despite its budget-friendly focus, the Snapdragon X maintains a powerful NPU with a consistent 45 TOPS performance across the entire product lineup. This is the key to its AI capabilities, allowing it to meet the requirements for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC specification. When using NPU-intensive applications, the Snapdragon X can deliver performance comparable to higher-end models.

The Hexagon NPU at the heart of the Snapdragon X’s AI strategy provides a significant boost for on-device AI tasks. The platform also integrates the CPU, GPU, a Sensing Hub's DSP, and a micro-NPU to enhance overall functionality. This focus on NPU utilization is a core part of Qualcomm's strategy for AI technology.

The "Copilot+ PC" features supported by the Snapdragon X series include "Cocreator" and "Image Creator" for image generation, AI-powered editing in the Photos app, Super Resolution, real-time translation, and the "Recall" feature, which helps users find past activities. The NPU also accelerates third-party applications like Luminar Neo for AI-based upscaling, Affinity Photo 2 for precise object selection, and DaVinci Resolve for Magic Mask and Super Scale features.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, powered by the Snapdragon X, is a prime example of a budget-friendly AI PC. With a starting price of ₩899,000 and a street price in the ₩700,000 range, it successfully achieves the goal of a sub-₩1 million AI PC. The laptop’s other components, such as its plastic body and a 1920x1200 display, are typical for its price range. However, it still offers modern conveniences like USB-C charging and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. The combination of decent portability and full Copilot+ PC functionality makes it a compelling option for those seeking an affordable AI-powered laptop.

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