AMD during its CES 2022 press conference launched its Ryzen 6000 laptop processors. Interestingly, they are the first OEMs to integrate Microsoft’s new Pluton security processor along with their CPUs. With this AMD has managed to beat Intel and Qualcomm to the punch by integrating the latest in Windows security features.
Pluton security processor is a new security chip, which has been designed to bring Xbox-like security to Windows PCs, by securing hardware and cryptographic keys. Microsoft has designed Pluton to block new and emerging attack vectors, which are used to compromise PCs. Pluton is simply the successor to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which we see integrated directly into the CPUs of most recent laptops and PCs.
To develop Pluton, Microsoft took its learnings from Xbox, where it has a number of physical attack protections in place, and has tried to bring in a similar level of protection to Windows PCs.
“Ryzen 6000 series will be the first PC processors that integrate the Microsoft Pluton security processor,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su during the company’s CES 2022 keynote. “Our co-development work with Microsoft eliminates entire attack vectors on notebooks, better protecting critical data like system credentials, user identities, encryption keys, and personal information,” she added.
Pluton will be integrated with AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 series processors, which will start showing up in upcoming laptops over the next few months from various OEMs. Apart from the integration of the Pluton chip, AMD has also announced that its new 6000 series Ryzen CPUs bring in up to 69 percent faster video editing, more than double the 3D rendering performance, and double the 1080p gaming performance in comparison to the 5000 gen Ryzen CPUs.
AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs
The new AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs are based on the company’s upgraded Zen 3 Plus architecture and a new 6nm process node. Apart from this, they also bring in their new RDNA 2 graphics architecture for integrated GPUs. The company claims that the new CPUs will be able to deliver up to 1.3 times faster processing, up to two times the gaming performance of the previous generation, and up to 24 hours of battery life.
The new Ryzen 6000 CPUs will be offered in both an H-series line (for powerful devices) and a U-series line (for thin-and-light laptops).
AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics architecture is used on next-gen consoles including the Xbox Series X|S, and the PlayStation 5. This bundled with the company’s FidelityFX Super Resolution supersampling will provide a great gaming experience even on ultrathin category laptops according to the company.
Apart from the performance gains, AMD has also focussed on improving the power management of its chips, which according to the company enable a maximum of 24 hours of battery life. The new CPUs also come with support for USB4, DDR5, LPDDR5, PCIe Gen 4, HDMI 2.1, WiFi 6k and Bluetooth LE 5.2.
First laptops powered by the new AMD Ryzen 6000 chips will be announced at CES 2022 by major OEMs including Acer, Asus, Alienware, Lenovo, Razer, and HP. The company claims over 200 premium laptops powered by the new chips will launch in 2022, with the first devices set to ship next month.