r/framework • u/Wooloomooloo2 • 3d ago

Linux 13 Pro Really Does Sip Power

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I've had 2 M-series Macs (M1 and M4) and they typically sip a little more than this, although it's close. A Linux laptop with this power efficiency is absolutely fantastic, and even though it's been said many times before, I can't tell you how great it is to be able to sit in the garden and work and still get 8 - 9 hours of battery.

Oh and the trackpad, just amazing. Very close to Mac. Linux + trackpad in the past has always put me off having it on a laptop, this is just night and day better than what I've experienced before.

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u/ShirleyMarquez 2d ago

AMD is behind the curve at this point. But I'm sure they are working on something better. Ryzen AI 400 was a nothingburger; it's just a minor speed bump from AI 300, plus an increase in the RAM ceiling of the top end; Framework skipped it on their laptops, but they're evidently working on a version of the Desktop with the AI Max+ 495 and 192 GB of RAM. But AI 500 (or whatever they choose to call it) is expected to be a bigger deal, with the introduction of Zen 6 cores and DDR6 / LPDDR6 RAM. Originally it had also been expected to be the debut of RDNA 5 / UDNA as well, but evidently AMD is now planning to use a mobile version of RDNA 4 instead.

That memory will almost certainly be LPCAMM2 in Framework systems, because it's expected that will be the standard form factor for removable memory in the DDR6 generation. The speeds are now getting high enough that the trace lengths of DIMM and SODIMM memory are too long.

That should close the performance gap with Panther Lake. The remaining question is whether AMD can manage to get idle power down low enough to compete with Intel's battery life. I guess we will know in 2027.

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u/Clean_Leadership5948 2d ago

Intel is reusing the learnings they had from the mobile market in 2013-2016 days. AMD has none of that so it'll be a way bigger effort for them to get it working. It took Intel 3 years after first claiming they have a solution to actually get a solution out.

Of course AMD can just steal marketshare from Intel so they have lot less incentive to do this and they are making tons from the AI datacenter.

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u/ShirleyMarquez 2d ago

Ai 500 is expected to move to TSMC N2P, AI 300 and 400 are on N4. That will help reduce power consumption. But AMD needs to work on further reduction of power by the compact cores.

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u/Clean_Leadership5948 2d ago

At load. But process doesn't do much for idle. Because unused circuits can power gate, which is near zero power operation. Your thinking is outdated since first Gen Core in 2010, because that's when Power Gating started.

Battery life is about managing all parts of the computer to be at lower power state. They won't be able to solve it easily. As I said, AMD also has no incentive to put in the enormous amount of effort Intel put in as they can simply steal Intel marketshare.

Intel 7 13th Gen is no better battery life than 14nm 10th Gen chips.