Intel had temporarily launched a marketing campaign about CPU architectures in mobile processors. The focal point of the now unavailable presentation was AMD’s use of Zen-2 cores in Ryzen 7000 mobile processors. Due to AMD’s altered nomenclature since 2023, customers might mistakenly believe they are purchasing a CPU with much newer technology.
Specifically, this concerns the AMD Ryzen 5-7520U, which initially appears to be a current CPU and is being installed in current entry-level notebooks like the Lenovo V15. AMD’s website lists the release year as 2022. Intel compares the single-thread performance of this processor with a Core i5-1335U, a current Raptor Lake chip.
Not surprisingly, the much newer processor significantly outperforms it, being around 80 percent faster in synthetic benchmarks. Intel criticizes the lack of clarity in the name, as it doesn’t indicate the use of an older architecture.
However, for a fair comparison, we would have expected to see an Intel Core i5-7200U as the third CPU, which, according to this logic, should be considerably faster than both CPUs.
Both companies are not shining in this situation
However, that is certainly not the case. The old Kaby Lake processor wouldn’t stand a chance against either the Ryzen 5-7520U with Zen-2 cores or the current Core i5-1335U. The problem seems to lie within the marketing departments of major companies because simple things like counting or using product names for better differentiation regularly become an issue for almost all firms.
AMD now prioritizes the portfolio year in its nomenclature, while the most crucial information for customers comes third: the abbreviation for the CPU architecture. Intel has also ceased to consistently count in its mobile processors. In a few years, alongside visual inspection, without technical knowledge, it will be nearly impossible to categorize used notebooks at first glance.
Occasionally, changes in naming conventions are unavoidable. However, the difference should remain easily identifiable for customers. Particularly, information about which product offers higher performance should be quickly discernible. Both manufacturers demonstrate with their desktop processors that this approach is not impossible. Yet, significant confusion reigns when it comes to notebook CPUs.
