1. The concept of an AI PC is being defined differently by various PC vendors. 2. This article aims to clarify what an AI PC is and whether it's necessary for consumers. 3. Understanding the different interpretations and features of AI PCs can help consumers make informed decisions.

1. MediaTek is reportedly developing an Arm-based PC processor for Windows. 2. There are rumors of a partnership with NVIDIA for an AI PC processor. 3. MediaTek's chip could compete directly with Qualcomm's offerings in the market by 2025.

Asus on Tuesday said that it would announce its first 'AI PC' based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite system-on-chips later this month. The new laptop is set to be introduced at the Next Level. AI Incredible virtual launch event on May 20. The launch of Asustek's new Vivobook S 15 will be hosted by Asus and will be joined by representatives of Qualcomm and Microsoft, who will reveal how they collaborated with PC maker to develop the first notebook based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processors. These new SoCs promise to have a significant impact on the PC market in the coming quarters as they are based on the Arm instruction set architecture and are expected to bring together high performance, on-device AI acceleration, and long battery life.  Qualcomm itself calls systems powered by its Snapdragon processors as AI PCs, which is exactly how Asus calls it Vivobook S15 as well. Meanwhile, the only things we know about the machine for now is that it will be based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite or Snapdragon X Plus processors with 12 or 10 Oryon CPU cores (originally developed by Nuvia), a high-end Adreno GPU, and a 45 TOPS NPU; will come in a metallic chassis, and will feature a 15-inch display. "The launch event, which will feature a collaboration between Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Asus, celebrates the first of the new-era Asus AI PCs, which are set to redefine the very fabric of computing," a statement by Asus reads. "The new laptop will usher in a new era of Asus AI PCs, breaking traditional boundaries and harnessing advanced AI capabilities. With comprehensive support for the latest AI functionality from Asus and Microsoft, it offers personalized AI experiences tailored to individual requirements." Asus is also scheduled showcase its Vivobook laptops based on Qualcomm's processors at Computex in June. Actual systems will be available later this year.

In what appears to be a mistake or a jump of the gun by ASUS, they have seemingly published a list of specifications for one of its key notebooks that all but allude to the next generation of AMD's mobile processors. While we saw AMD toy with a new nomenclature for their Phoenix silicon (Ryzen 7040 series), it seems as though AMD is once again changing things around where their naming scheme for processors is concerned. The ASUS listing, which has now since been deleted, but as of writing is still available through Google's cache, highlights a model that is already in existence, the VivoBook S 16 OLED (M5606), but is listed with an unknown AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor. Which, based on its specificiations, is certainly not part of the current Hawk Point (Phoenix/Phoenix 2) platform. The cache on Google shows the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 Processor While it does happen in this industry occasionally, what looks like an accidental leak by ASUS on one of their product pages has unearthed an unknown processor from AMD. This first came to our attention via a post on Twitter by user @harukaze5719. While we don't speculate on rumors, we confirmed this ourselves by digging through Google's cache. Sure enough, as the image above from Google highlights, it lists a newly unannounced model of Ryzen mobile processor. Under the listing via the product compare section for the ASUS Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) notebook, it is listed with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170, which appears to be one of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based mobile chips codenamed Strix Point. So with the seemingly new nomenclature that AMD has gone with, it has a clear focus on AI, or rather Ryzen AI, by including it in the name. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 looks set to be a 12C/24T Zen 5 mobile variant, with their Ryzen AI NPU or similar integrated within the chip. Given that Microsoft has defined that only processors with an NPU with 45 TOPS of performance or over constitute being considered an 'AI PC',

Setting things up for what is certainly to be an exciting next few months in the world of CPUs and SoCs, Apple this morning has announced their next-generation M-series chip, the M4. Introduced just over six months after the M3 and the associated 2023 Apple MacBook family, the M4 is going to start its life on a very different track, launching alongside Apple’s newest iPad Pro tablets. With their newest chip, Apple is promising class-leading performance and power efficiency once again, with a particular focus on machine learning/AI performance. The launch of the M4 comes as Apple’s compute product lines have become a bit bifurcated. On the Mac side of matters, all of the current-generation MacBooks are based on the M3 family of chips. On the other hand, the M3 never came to the iPad family – and seemingly never will. Instead, the most recent iPad Pro, launched in 2022, was an M2-based device, and the newly-launched iPad Air for the mid-range market is also using the M2. As a result, the M3 and M4 exist in their own little worlds, at least for the moment. Given the rapid turn-around between the M3 and M4, we’ve not come out of Apple’s latest announcement expecting a ton of changes from one generation to the next. And indeed, details on the new M4 chip are somewhat limited out of the gate, especially as Apple publishes fewer details on the hardware in its iPads in general. Coupled with that is a focus on comparing like-for-like hardware – in this case, M4 iPads to M2 iPads – so information is thinner than I’d like to have. None the less, here’s the AnandTech rundown on what’s new with Apple’s latest M-series SoC. Apple M-Series (Vanilla) SoCs SoC M4 M3 M2 CPU Performance 4-core 4-core 4-core (Avalanche) 16MB Shared L2 CPU Efficiency 6-core 4-core 4-core (Blizzard) 4MB Shared L2 GPU 10-Core Same Architecture as M3 10-Core New Architecture - Mesh Shaders & Ray Tracing 10-Core 3.6 TFLOPS Display Controller 2 Displays? 2 Displays 2 Displays