PC Magazine - USA (2020-02)

RESIST THE TEMPTATION

While we don’t yet know how much 8c- and 7c-powered 5G laptops will

cost, they’re likely to be much cheaper than the $1,000 Surface Pro X.

According to Qualcomm, the new Snapdragon 7c is designed to power

extremely inexpensive laptops, maybe even in the range of $300. So

legions of price-sensitive consumers who would otherwise consider an

Intel Celeron-powered Windows laptop or a Chromebook will suddenly

be able to gaze fondly upon a similarly priced Snapdragon 7c laptop that

also can connect to nascent but very buzzworthy 5G networks. The many

educational institutions that currently use Chromebooks will, too.

For many of these price-sensitive laptop buyers, there’s actually nothing

wrong with springing for the 7c-powered system. A Celeron-powered

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processing power, so Qualcomm’s decision to go after this market with

cheaper versions of its ARM-derived chips actually makes a lot of sense.

The company says that the 8c will come with a 4G LTE modem by

default, but it can be paired with an X55 modem for 5G connectivity.

If you want a 5G-capable laptop that can hold its own with the best-

performing circa-$1,000 ultraportables available today, though, it’s

probably worth waiting to see what the Intel-MediaTek combination has

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dud, it’s almost certain that laptop makers will pair 5G modems from

Qualcomm or other companies with Intel processors. And this is before

you factor in the spotty availability of both the 5G networks and plans

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Ultimately, it’s quite possible that Snapdragon-powered laptops will

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2021. That’s more than a year away, which is an eternity in the personal
      tech world. But that’s also about the same amount of time that the
      current crop of Snapdragon laptops have been around, and their
      capabilities so far have left us unimpressed.

TOM BRANT

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