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Lighter, cheaper Surface Laptop saves a little money but gives up a lot

ARM, copilot, microsoft, qualcomm, snapdragon, Surface, surface laptop, Tech, Windows 11, windows 11 24h2 / /

The laptop has two USB-C ports on the right side, seen here, and a USB-A port and headphone jack on the left. Surface Connect is gone. For those reasons, it seems like most individual buyers would still be better off going for the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop, with the new one only really making sense for companies buying these in bulk if the 13.8-inch Surface goes up in price or if the 13-inch Surface happens to be discounted and the 13.8-inch version isn’t. The 13.8-inch Laptop is also obviously still the one you want if you want more than 16GB of RAM or 512GB of storage, or if you need more CPU and GPU speed.

The new 13-inch Laptop has most of the same basic ports as the 13.8-inch version, just arranged slightly differently. You still get a pair of USB-C ports (both supporting 10 Gbps USB 3.2 speeds, rather than USB 4), one USB-A port, and a headphone jack, but the USB-A port and headphone jack are now on the left side of the laptop. As with the 12-inch Surface Pro tablet, the Surface Connect port has been removed, so this is compatible with all existing USB-C accessories but none of the ones that use Microsoft’s proprietary connector.

An awkward refresh

Both of the new Surface devices being announced today. Credit: Microsoft

The new Surface Laptop doesn’t seem to regress on any major functional fronts—unlike the 12-inch Surface Pro, which throws out an 11-year-old keyboard fix that made the Surface Pro’s keyboard cover much more stable and laptop-like—but it’s still an odd refresh. But inflation, supply chain snarls, and the Trump administration’s rapidly changing tariff plans have made pricing and availability harder to predict than they were a few years ago.

Though PCs and smartphones are (currently) exempted from most tariffs, Microsoft did recently raise the prices of its years-old Xbox Series S and X consoles; it’s possible these new Surface devices were originally designed to be budget models but that world events kept them from being as cheap as they otherwise might have been.

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Qualcomm brings laptop-class CPU cores to phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite

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Qualcomm has a new chip for flagship phones, and the best part is that it uses an improved version of the Oryon CPU architecture that the Snapdragon X Elite chips brought to Windows PCs earlier this year.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the follow-up to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3—yet another change to the naming convention that Qualcomm uses for its high-end phone chips, though, as usual, the number 8 is still involved. The 8 Elite uses a “brand-new, 2nd-generation Qualcomm Oryon CPU” with clock speeds up to 4.32 GHz, which Qualcomm says will improve performance by about 45 percent compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Rather than a mix of large, medium, and small CPU cores as it has used in the past, the 8 Elite has two “Prime” cores for hitting that high peak clock speed, while the other six are all “Performance” cores that peak at a lower 3.53 GHz. But it doesn’t look like Qualcomm is using a mix of different CPU architectures anymore, choosing to distinguish the higher-performing core from the lower-performing ones by clock speed alone.

Qualcomm promises a similar 40 percent performance boost from the new Adreno 830 GPU. The chip also includes a marginally improved Snapdragon X80 5G modem, up from an X75 modem in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3—its main improvement appears to be support for additional antennas, for a total of six, but the download speed still tops out at a theoretical 10Gbps. Wi-Fi 7 support appears to be the same as in the 8 Gen 3, but the 8 Elite does support the Bluetooth 6.0 standard, up from Bluetooth 5.4 in the 8 Gen 3.

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THE FIRST POWERED BY THE LATEST QUALCOMM SNAPDRAGON WEAR 4100+ PLATFORM

ces2022, Highlights, qualcomm, snapdragon, watch, Wearable Tech, wearOS / /

November 26, 2021• by

It is with great excitement that Fossil announces the newest generation to our wearables portfolio: the Gen 6 Touchscreen Smartwatch. The Gen 6the smartwatch will be the first smartwatch powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon Wear™4100+ Platform, providing users faster application load times, highly responsive user experiences, and more efficient power consumption. In addition, the battery charging speed is two times faster than leading smartwatches, reaching 80% charge in just over 30 minutes. Users will also benefit from continuous heart rate tracking, a new SpO2 sensor, speaker functionality to make and receive tethered calls, software updates from Wear OS by Google™and Fossil Group, smart battery modes, and more. The Fossil brand Gen 6 smartwatch will be first to market, launching globally for pre-order for Android™and iOS phone users alike beginning August 30.

Gen 6 will also be compatible with Google’s new system update, Wear OS 3, announced earlier this year. The smartwatch will be eligible for the Wear OS 3 system update in 2022, alongside other updates that will continue to improve the overall user experience.

“We are proud to announce our highly-anticipated next generation of smartwatches. At Fossil Group, we are always striving to deliver increased performance and delight users, working in partnership with Qualcomm and Google, and we are excited by the new capabilities Gen 6 is bringing to our users. Faster interface, less time to charge, and upgraded health and wellness features are only a few of the benefits Gen 6 will see as our teams continue to innovate and evolve our smartwatch portfolio,” says Steve Evans, Fossil Group EVP Chief Brand Officer. “We also know how crucial personalized style continues to be in the wearables space for our design-conscious consumer, so I am excited to share that in addition to Fossil brand, Michael Kors will soon be launching Gen 6 as well. Our innovation teams at Fossil Group continue to provide users the best-in-class experience without compromising stunning design from brands they love.”

“Fossil Group and Qualcomm have had a long-standing partnership and have led the convergence of fashion and technology in the industry,” says Pankaj Kedia, Global Head of Wearables, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are delighted to have collaborated with Fossil Group on their latest smartwatch, the Gen 6, which is the first product to come to market based on our Snapdragon Wear 4100+ platform. This platform enables users to experience lightning-fast processing and richer, always-on, ambient modes and watch faces with ultra-low power consumption thanks to the integration of the always-on co-processor in the platform.”

The new Fossil brand Gen 6 smartwatch launches with four colorways in a 44mm case and three colorways in a 42mm case for added size options. In addition to offering seven timeless styles and endless interchangeable strap options, users can customize dials and buttons to UNDER EMBARGO until August 30 at 8 a.m. CST to easily access their most-used functions. Fossil Gen 6 is upgradable to Wear OS 3, Google’s new system update announced earlier in the summer, and will benefit from continued improvements in features and user experience.

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Last modified: November 17, 2021

About the Author:

Darik is the Editorial Director at TheCESBible.com

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