On Monday, Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7, the first devices featuring Qualcomm’s much-anticipated Snapdragon X Elite processor.
While performance specs for this powerful new AI CPU have been speculated about for months, nothing was confirmed until this week. Now, we finally have the first benchmarks for the Snapdragon X Elite, including comparisons to Apple’s MacBook Air M3.
New Wave of Copilot+ PCs
The Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 lead a new wave of Copilot+ PCs from Microsoft and partners like Dell, Lenovo, and ASUS. The Snapdragon X Elite’s Neural Processing Unit (NPU) enhances these laptops, offering longer battery life, smoother performance, and a suite of AI tools and features.
Benchmark Testing Results
The first hands-on benchmark testing for the Snapdragon X Elite was released this week following Microsoft’s announcement of the new Surface devices ahead of Microsoft Build. Although Microsoft commissioned the testing, it was conducted by the independent lab Signal65.
Test Configurations
Signal65 tested the Snapdragon X Elite version of the Surface Laptop 7, equipped with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, priced at $1699. For comparison, they also tested the 15-inch MacBook Air M3, the Surface Laptop 5 with an Intel 12th Gen Core i7, and the MSI Prestige 16 EVO AI with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H.
Key Performance Insights
In several categories, the Surface Laptop 7 performed exceptionally well, though competition with the MacBook Air M3 was closer than expected. The Surface Laptop 7 excelled in battery life, lasting 58% longer than the Surface Laptop 5 and 16% longer than the MacBook Air M3, which came in second place.
In multi-threaded tasks, the Surface Laptop 7 also outperformed its competitors on the Geekbench 6.3 test, scoring 12% higher than the MSI Prestige 16 AI EVO and 15% higher than the MacBook Air M3. However, the MacBook Air M3 led in the single-thread Geekbench 6.3 test, scoring 15% higher than the Surface Laptop 7.
Areas of Improvement
The Surface Laptop 7 lagged in other tests. The MSI Prestige 16 EVO AI scored 40% higher on the Handbrake 1.7.3 media transcoding test. The MacBook Air M3 outpaced the Surface Laptop 7 by 40% on the Speedometer v3.0 web browsing test. Additionally, both the MSI Prestige 16 EVO AI and the MacBook Air M3 outperformed the Surface Laptop 7 in graphics tests.
AI Performance
AI performance is where the Surface Laptop 7 truly shines. In the Procyon AI Computer Vision test, the Surface Laptop 7 demonstrated 48% more NPU performance than the MacBook Air M3. This is notable as AI is a major focus of Microsoft’s new Copilot+ PCs.
Practical Performance of Snapdragon X Elite
The first round of test results for the Snapdragon X Elite reveals a mixed picture: outstanding AI performance but middling results in other areas. While full reviews of the new Copilot+ PCs will provide more insight, demos during Microsoft Build have provided hints of its everyday performance.
Gaming Performance
Microsoft showcased gaming demos of Baldur’s Gate 3 and Borderlands 3 running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Developer’s Kit, achieving 30 FPS. While lower than gaming laptop standards, this is still playable. The demo also featured auto Super Resolution, using AI to deliver up to 60% faster FPS.
Signal65’s tests included gaming as well, with titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Borderlands 3 running at 1080p on the Surface Laptop 7. However, the graphics settings were on “low,” and the Surface Laptop 7 couldn’t run games requiring kernel-level anti-cheat software, like Fortnite.
Outlook
Based on early demos and test results, the Snapdragon X Elite appears to excel in AI and productivity tasks but struggles with gaming and graphics-heavy tasks. Microsoft might be planning to address this, as NVIDIA announced it will make RTX GPUs for Copilot+ PCs in the coming months. This could complement the Snapdragon X Elite, enhancing graphics performance for both AI tasks and gaming.
It will be intriguing to see how NVIDIA GPUs affect performance and battery life on future Snapdragon X Elite devices. Even in areas where the MacBook Air M3 outperformed the Surface Laptop 7, the differences were often marginal. A dedicated GPU might give the Snapdragon X Elite a competitive edge.
However, these initial benchmarks and demos do not include comparisons to Apple’s latest processor, the M4 chip, currently available only in the iPad Pro. Whether the M4 will dethrone the Snapdragon X Elite in future MacBooks remains to be seen.
