AMD doesn't want you installing Windows 10 on these Ryzen PCs despite Microsoft's support

AMD and Windows 11 logos side by side in red

Back in June, following Computex 2024, Neowin noticed that AMD had indeed ended support for Windows 10 in terms of driver support like for chipsets for upcoming AI chips. However, as an artifact of that perhaps, the company also lists its very popular Ryzen 3 7320U Mendocino laptop APU as being only supported on Windows 11.

It says:

*OS Support

Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition , Ubuntu x86 64-Bit

I spotted it a few days ago when I was covering an HP laptop deal powered by this APU. While the discount ran out soon after we published the article, I decided to investigate what was going on.

This is not the case with any of the AMD APUs or CPUs belonging to the 7000 series. I also checked support on newer Ryzen 8000 series parts and it is the same thing. Every other SKU correctly lists Windows 10 under OS support.

They say:

*OS Support

Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition , Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition , RHEL x86 64-Bit , Ubuntu x86 64-Bit

However, when I checked another Mendocino-based SKU, the Ryzen 5 7520U, it also lists Windows 10 as unsupported, just like its more popular sibling 7320U. I went back and confirmed that this has in fact always been the case.

It is noteworthy here that the CPU portion of Mendocino APU is based on Zen 2 even though it is part of AMD's Ryzen 7000 series lineup. Speaking of which, AMD made its mobile processor lineup very confusing and attempts at making it less confusing with stickers have not been great.

And what makes this even more confusing is the fact that AMD's chipset driver release notes, even on the latest version at the time of writing, says that it supports Ryzen 7000 mobile since there is a "Yes" in terms of support for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 "AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series Mobile Processors".

I looked at previous Zen 2-based mobile chips like the Ryzen 5 4500U and these too are supported by the latest chipset driver. Sadly, AMD no longer lists the specs of the 4500U on its official website where we can go through the OS support list to cross-check the matter.

Regardless though, Zen 2 really should not have any issues running Windows 10 at all since Microsoft itself lists the 7320U and 7520U processors in its official supported list of CPUs.