There's a new performance analysis out that focuses on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7c chipset, and it shows some interesting results. The tests were carried out by HOTTECH, and they put the Snapdragon 7c against competing products from Intel and MediaTek, all running Chrome OS. Interestingly, AMD wasn't represented in this test, which is a shame.
Five Chromebooks were used, including the following:
- Snapdragon 7c Reference Platform (Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage)
- Snapdragon 7c Education Reference Design (Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB storage)
- Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (Intel Celeron N4020, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage)
- Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (MediaTek MT8183, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB storage)
- HP Chromebook x360 (Intel Pentium Silver N5030, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage)
They were all tested using Octane v2, Speedometer v2, JetStream v1.1, Geekbench v5.3, GFXBench, and battery life was tested by using Zoom. Note that while the former three are web-based benchmarks, Geekbench and GFXBench were running mobile versions that came from the Google Play Store.
First up is Google Octane, where both Snapdragon 7c devices had a solid lead over competition. The Snapdragon 7c Reference Platform scored 22,486 and the educational unit scored 22,203. The Chromebook x360 wth Intel Pentium Silver wasn't far behind at 21,169, and then the Celeron-powered unit scored 17,719, and the MediaTek processor came in last at 9,882.
JetStream and Speedometer had different results though, where in both cases, the Intel Pentium Silver N5030-powered HP Chromebook x360 came out on top, coming in at 108.47 and 61, respectively. For JetStream, the Snapdragon 7c Education Reference Design got 103.93, the Snapdragon 7c unit got 103.78, the Celeron-powered Chromebook Spin 311 got 94.46, and the MediaTek-powered one got 52.34.
For Speedometer, second place went to the Celeron with 55.4, and then the Snapdragon 7c Education unit got 49.7, the Snapdragon 7c unit for 48.4, and the MediaTek device for 27.9.
Geekbench and GFXBench are where the Snapdragon 7c really shines. On Geekbench, the Snapdragon 7c Reference Design comes in first place for both single- and multi-core, coming in at 594 and 1,654, respectively. The education unit got 592 and 1,606. After that, the order is Pentium, Celeron, and MediaTek, as you'd expect. The report actually says that using the MediaTek was a chore. The Snapdragon 7c beat the Pentium Silver by 14.8%, and it beat the Celeron by 24.3%.
In one GFXBench test, the Snapdragon 7c unit comes out on top, while in the other, the education one does. These two devices, unsurprisingly, are so close that the difference is trivial in every test. It's not surprising, since they have the same chipset, but it's good to see since the education unit has half the memory.
The battery test is another area where the Snapdragon 7c shines. The Snapdragon 7c Education unit had the best battery life with 665 minutes, while the 7c unit got 585 minutes. This was the only test where MediaTek didn't come in dead last, as it was in third with 511 minutes. Then of course, we have the two Intel chips. It's worth noting that this was also broken down by minutes per Wh, and the results were the same.
That's about it, and you should definitely check out the full report for a deep dive, including the procedures that were used and detailed specs of each of the devices. Of course, it would have been nice to see AMD represented here, and for MediaTek's chip, perhaps the company would have done better if the Helio P60T that's in Lenovo's Chromebook Duet were used.
Either way, the Snapdragon 7c looks promising at its price point. Compared to Intel chips, it allows for fanless designs, integrated cellular modems, and more.
9 Comments - Add comment