Surface Laptop 4 AMD vs Intel Benchmark Tests: AMD Ryzen 5 vs Intel 11th Gen i5

In this video we compare the Surface Laptop 4 AMD Ryzen 5 vs the Surface Laptop 4 11th gen Intel Core i5.
1:08 Device task manager comparison
1:36 CrystalDiskMark
2:56 Cinebench R23 Multi-Core
5:41 Cinebench R23 Single Core
7:31 Geekbench 5 CPU
9:16 Geekbench 5 GPU
9:41 Novabench
These laptops looks identical from the outside and are running very similar specs, aside from one important fact that one of the Surface Laptop 4's is equipped with the 6 Core AMD Ryzen 5 4680U Mobile Processor whereas the other is running the latest 11th gen intel i5 i5-1135G7 processor.
On paper, the AMD Ryzen 5 seems to have the edge over intel in terms of raw processing power as it is a hexa-core (6 core) processor with 12 threads competing against Intel's 4 core, 8 thread i5 processor. But specs on paper aren't always the best way to test a devices actual performance.
Looking at specs along, Intel does seem to have the advantage in the graphics compartment with their new Intel Iris XE graphics looking like the more powerful of the two GPU's.
Let me know what you think about both devices and if you results were what you expected them to be
If you found this video useful make sure to LIKE 👍 and SUBSCRIBE 💻
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[@arpadore]

Truly clear and professional video. Thank you for your work. As some other mentioned it could have been good the battery life comparison. I have the 13" I5/8GB/512GB variant. Sometimes it became hot. The battery life should be better. Otherwise, I'm satisfied. Another remark, it can be charged with the 25W charger also, which comes with the Surface Go 2. Of course, it is slower, but still ok.

[@Rufiowascool]

Thanks for doing this mate.

[@NeonAcez]

Awesome video! I’m debating on whether to get the intel or amd version, I will be mainly using the laptop to do coding for school, also will have to run some programs like android studio which has emulators in it and run other ide and stuff simultaneously. Which do you think would be better suited for me?

[@Teddy-rh8vl]

Hey, did you decided yet ? I’m thinking to but for college so maybe your decision will help me 😊

[@CP-28]

Excellent video...helped me to understand and make better decision! 😊

[@AldoJames]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AntonioBatysta]

Very good comparison, bro... Thanks for sharing...

[@AldoJames]

Thanks for watching!

[@komakush3358]

Surface Laptop is supposed to be built for lower workload, less battery consumption and cooler thermal, so def I'd go with AMD.

[@douglasbuytendorpbizarro1930]

Hi, Aldo. Nice comparison. I'm looking forward to see battery life comparison. By the way, are you still using the Surface Pro X (emulating x64 apps)? I'd love to know more about improvements on x64 emulation for WoA (Windows on Arm).

[@AldoJames]

Hi Doug, thanks for the comment and I'll have a battery life comparison video up soon. I have taken the insider build off my Pro X for now as I started travelling for work again and it became my primary machine so I couldn't afford to have random glitches. If I put it back on, I'll make a video talking about the improvements and changes

[@douglasbuytendorpbizarro1930]

@@AldoJames Ok. Thanks for the attention. I'll be tuned for future videos.

[@hard2bear3110]

Thank you for the video, very interesting! Would really like the surface 4 in 13.5inch, but wish 16gb was standard. That and you can't get the AMD version in black in the UK. Soto get it in black you have to pay £250 more for the Intel version, then 16gb is another £250. Is 16gb needed for a laptop that's used for browsing the web, video, word documents etc? I just don't want to buy it and then be hampered by something that I can't change. Cheers

[@AldoJames]

Hi there, the black one does look amazing but I do also love the feel of the alcantara too. Honestly if you're just doing web, video and word documents 8GB will be more than enough for years to come. If you're doing a lot of multi-tasking or intense workloads e.g. video editing, large excel spreadsheets etc 16GB will be beneficial. I sometimes use an i5/8GB 15" Surface Laptop 3 and when doing simple task can't tell the difference of having less ram. Hope this helps!

[@hard2bear3110]

@@AldoJames thank you very much! It does look a very nice piece of kit. And thank you again for the excellent informative video. Really appreciate it!

[@773soccer]

I'm looking at potentially buying a SL4 and I'm stuck between these two. I don't know how beneficial a processor with more cores will be compared to giving up a better GPU. Do you have any idea how simple gaming works on the AMD vs Intel?

[@AldoJames]

Hey Trickybuz, that's a tough one but if gaming is your main goal, I would go with the Intel over AMD as the Xe graphics from Intel performs better than the AMD graphics and should help you get a few extra fps in your games

[@773soccer]

@@AldoJames Gaming obviously isn't the main goal with a laptop like this but something I do like to play some games like Sims 4 just to relax. Will you be doing a battery life test as well?

[@Impostrich]

I went with AMD. Mostly because it was 100€ cheaper than the Intel counter part. But after watching this video, I'd probably gone with AMD regardless. The less noise and better multi cores suits me better.

[@AldoJames]

Awesome to hear what you went for and why :) How are you finding it?

[@Mububban23]

What would you recommend for a kid going into high school? Probably only running Minecraft, everything else is just MS Office and web browsing etc. Battery life of 6-7 hours a must. I'm thinking of saving the $150 and getting the AMD if it's okay on battery?

[@AldoJames]

I would go AMD for better battery life. For Minecraft, office and web browsing, it'd be amazing even the 8GB model

[@aperson5062]

Would want to see you add performance on battery and battery life. They are laptops, so running on battery well is also important.

[@AldoJames]

Agreed, I did plan on doing battery tests but had to return the laptops before I had a chance

[@kingdom9214]

Why not a battery life test? That's a really important part of a thin & light.

[@AldoJames]

Hi Kingdom, I agree and apologies for leaving it out of this one. I am going to make another video which will show the battery life comparisons

[@kingdom9214]

@@AldoJames That would be awesome, I think for a lot of people like me that's the deciding factor. You can look up notebookreviews write up on the Intel & AMD SL4, the AMD 15" lasted almost 4hr longer than the Intel 13". This is crazy since the 15" using the same battery, so the smaller 13" AMD would probably be 5hr+ longer.

[@DSS553]

@@AldoJames No you're not. That never happened.

[@paulsim7589]

@@AldoJames Yea, my understanding is the price you pay for Intels performance is battery, which makes more of a difference to me than how fast a spreadsheet opens :p

[@AldoJames]

@@paulsim7589 Very fair point

[@Vajsel]

Hi James, I need your opinion on which is better lap top, Michrosoft AMD Ryzen 7 4989U 16GB RAM 512 SSD or DELL Ispiron 2 in 1 Core i7 16GB RAM 512GB SSD. Thanks

[@AldoJames]

Inspiron is the entry level Dell laptops whereas Surface is a premium device so you're getting a much better designed computer, newer features e.g. windows hello, higher resolution screen and more with the Surface. In terms of performance i'm not sure of the inspirion processor spec you're looking at but I go for the Surface. Hope it helps

[@Vajsel]

@@AldoJames much appreciated, very good explanation. Thanks

[@nlryahoo]

what about the 8gb ram version of the surface? is that sufficient over the long term bc you have to choose different and more expensive models to get the 16gb? Can I safely buy the 8gb ram version for regular college use??

[@AldoJames]

8GB for regular college, study, watching videos, writing assessment etc is perfect. You’d only need 16gb if you were doing intense tasks that have lots of graphic elements

[@gingerlew513]

Does amd graphics card suitable for game (not hardcore game)? And how about use for programming wise?

[@AldoJames]

Depends on the games really, some will but some wont. You're best to check the minimum system requirements of the games you're wanting to try

[@cloakrabbit767]

Hey in the graph at the end you have the values reversed. The AMD won (2438) but you have it's performance in the graphs marked as Intel's

[@AldoJames]

Ahh 😫Thank you for pointing that out, I didn't realize :(

[@torodatruth]

i was just about to say lolll.....

[@habat4ever]

Thanks, James, this is indeed a very nice review!. I currently own a 16GB 1TB SSD Mac Book Pro 15inch from 2014 Intel Core i7 and wonder if I will do a nice move with the Surface Laptop 4 as I'm using Windows 10 on a daily basis in my line of business and it would be better to be able to easily switch from my personal laptop to my business laptop if on the same OS and sharing similar accessories...I do not really look at the 100$ price difference (I wish to have the Black version), I'm looking at pure performance and silence rendering overall (I do not wish to hear the Fan two often as I'm leaving in a place where temperatures can get high very quickly in addition to performing single or multi-tasks with CPU and GPU)... I'm also typically a business profile and mainly looking at working within Office 465 and Conferencing Tools... + X-Plane for gaming or a racing game (Cars, Azetto Corsa, Forza...) or a typical Tomb Raider alike or a 3D chess game would potentially be my "limited" game requirements... In this sense, do you have a similar SBS Benchmark between Surface Laptop 4 15 inches and AMD Ryzen 7 vs Intel 11th Gen i7 with 16GB RAM and 512G SSD? and what is your quick viewpoint around my project to renew my 2014 MBP with a Surface Laptop 4?

[@AldoJames]

Hey Herve, thanks for the comment! I think renewing you're 2014 MBP with a Laptop 4 is a great option as the Laptop 4. I don't have a similar comparions with the high spec Laptop 4 models but I think the i7 would be louder than the i5 so I'd op for the AMD model. If you're wanting to game though, I would also recommend a laptop with a dedicated graphics card like the Surface Laptop Studio. Hope this helps

[@Yoko.Kurama]

I won't be doing anything heavy. Just web browsing with a bunch of tabs, Netflix, twitch, KZbin ect. Will there be a noticeable difference?. Lag really annoys me so I don't mind paying more

[@AldoJames]

If you have a bunch of tabs it will likely lag so I'd recommend getting the biggest ram size you can

[@sonicthedgehog9473]

Does the laptop fan stays quiet when benchmarking or the fan is kicking in but with a tolerable noise ?

[@AldoJames]

The AMD was much quieter than Intel but that being said the Intel was not that loud

[@carly200]

Is it true the AMDs performance is reduced on battery? that could have been an interesting comparison as well

[@AldoJames]

Both Intel and AMD have reduced performance on battery but AMD is effected more. This video was done with constant power to keep things consistent

[@Young_Oz]

I'm configuring a SL4 and I'm stuck between choosing a processor... Quad Core 11th Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 processor VS AMD Ryzen™ 7 4980U Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Graphics Microsoft Surface® Edition (8 cores), which do you think is better and why?

[@AldoJames]

Firstly I think it's safe to say that whichever you choose, you're going to get a great laptop. In my experience the AMD has two key advantages over the Intel being better CPU performance with multi-threaded workloads so it's a bit more of a workhorse and when the fans engage, they are noticeably quieter than the intel model, the Ryzen also gives you better battery life over Intel. If you're doing things that require more graphics grunt, then I would go with the Intel as it has a stronger onboard graphics card. Hope this helps!

[@Young_Oz]

@@AldoJames Thanks!

[@AldoJames]

Which one did you go for?

[@SuperSonali]

so which one was better overall?

[@AldoJames]

If I had to choose one, I'd go AMD for the better multi-core performance, battery life and quieter fan noise

[@Teddy-rh8vl]

I’m an IT student and I’ll have to use python code, should I go for intel or AMD ?

[@AldoJames]

Laptop 4 is to AMd

[@createed692]

It makes sense to get the three year complete warranty to cover the battery. The pen and dock will add to the price until... Over my budget

[@AldoJames]

Complete definitely, you could always go for a usb-c dock but I wouldn't say the pen is necessary with the laptop

[@Meraj_am]

What about battery life

[@addomi]

Is the Intel variant better than AMD in terms of fan noise and heat

[@AldoJames]

AMD all they way!

[@AlucardFeb85]

Yea. You should do a battery and thermal test. Intel usually RAMP up the CPU to boost benchmark at the expense of Battery and Heat.

[@AldoJames]

I couldn't find any software that would let me get the temperatures of the devices, do you know any that would work? Would love to do this test

[@stateoftheart657]

@@AldoJames Try out HWMonitor

[@zionmarks9834]

What gen ryzen??is this 4000 series

[@Andras889]

yes

[@AldoJames]

It's a custom build 4000 series specific to Surface Laptop, I believe it has more cores and high clock than their standard counterparts

[@pedrocosmerx82]

And that's with battery plugged in, amd cpus lose almost half the power when on battery unlinke intel that stays the same

[@AldoJames]

Should I redo the test with battery power?

[@pedrocosmerx82]

@@AldoJames I think it’s a very relevant thing to keep in mind since these laptops are meant to be used on the go and will be unplugged 70% or more of the time, I didn’t think much of it at first and was going for an amd but went on a deeper dive and this changed my mind into intel for sure. So if you want to make a video about it (not necessarily these 2 laptops but some others in the future for example) would be very informative. Don’t know if it applies to all amd cpus but I’m guessing it might be. Thanks for replying btw appreciate it :D

[@esausassociate3826]

yeahhhhh

[@AldoJames]

😆😆😆

[@virmandigiman288]

music too loud speach to quite in comparison

[@cybermatstrikes7557]

It would have been interesting to see this done on batteries for comparison.

[@AldoJames]

I know! I thought about this after but I haven't had a chance to get both devices again

[@jandrex007]

Amd Ryzen better battery I saw it in another channel

[@GroteGlon]

kinda sucks they used an old AMD cpu against the newest of new mobile i5

[@AldoJames]

What do you think about the AMD being such a strong contender through against an 11th gen i5?

[@GroteGlon]

@@AldoJames great for the consumer

[@ImInYourBrains]

If only the surface laptop came with current gen AMD Ryzen...

[@AldoJames]

I would actually like to put this Ryzen against the current gen Ryzen, as this is a 'Surface Edition' chip I would like to see how it does compare, I don't think there' would be that much difference

[@Sabumnim666]

Intel is 21% higher cost is it actually 21% better? Only if you use a single core. If value is the most concerning then no doubt its Ryzen if you only do the basics its intel.

[@AldoJames]

Hi David, thanks for your comments :) For me, Ryzen wins on a three main fronts, power to performance, battery life and fan noise but whichever laptop 4 someone gets, I'm sure they'll love it

[@Sabumnim666]

@@AldoJames Yep

[@umizoomi0097]

So which one is better

[@AldoJames]

I'd go AMD

[@umizoomi0097]

@@AldoJames ok thanks

[@demonfox2882]

I’ll have whichever one you’ll give me

[@AldoJames]

Sounds fair…might be hard to use without disposable human thumbs

[@hard2bear3110]

@@AldoJames disposable 🤣

[@paulsim7589]

Hmm still no Battery life video 3 Months later :(...

[@AldoJames]

I really do want to make it...I'm just having a hard time getting my hands on both laptops again

[@paulsim7589]

@@AldoJames yea understandable. There not cheap.

[@Tiralful]

Jesus, neither of these are even close to my M1 MacBook Air with a thermal pad mod and it doesn't even have a damn fan.

[@AldoJames]

Apple has done so well with the M1 it's unreal power/watt ratio

[@ragingsilver]

I'm surprised the AMD did better than the intel 11th gen. AMD version is also the cheaper variant too.

[@AldoJames]

I’m loving the AMD variants

[@wichad3]

that ssd test was shit. They aren't the same ssd. Looks like the AMD one only had a 256gb one vs the intel which had a 500gb ssd.

[@pb4920]

Amd all day

[@AldoJames]

Such a good CPU, thoughts on ARM?