This week a small contingent of journalists got hands-on time with demo laptops powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chipset. I know, we have seen many stories and video demos on social media from MWC, and there have been leaked benchmarks from every corner of the planet. However, this was the first time I got hands-on with one of the demo units.
My focus was on how it performed editing videos, and while using other content creator software. From speedily rendering text to images in OpenVino, to editing 4K videos in Blackmagic’s Davinic Resolve, I left the demonstration thoroughly impressed. On the train ride back to our offices near Bryant Park, Madeline Ricchiuto and I discussed our experiences. Madeline was testing the gaming performance of the Snapdragon X Elite at the event.
As for my thoughts on the Snapdragon X Elite from a content creator’s perspective, keep reading.
Qualcomm X Elite demo
Like most demos, I sit there quietly, very suspicious of internally run benchmarks. Yes, I have seen all the leaked benchmarks and saw some in person at MWC in Barcelona, but I have remained suspicious. Until yesterday I never knew how much RAM was in these demo systems (it’s 32GB), or what kind of displays they were using (2K, 120Hz) and these details are crucial context for test scores and performance.
That said, once the lovely team from Qualcomm shared their slides, and answered our questions, they allowed us access to several demo units. Some were running benchmarks, some were demonstrating the speeds and power of the X Elite by showing how quickly they can turn text into images in OpenVino (superfast btw).
My astute team member Madeline went over to the gaming demo and I walked around until I found the Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve demo. Now, if you didn’t know, Blackmagic went all in with Qualcomm and developed this version of Resolve to run natively on X Elite ARM chipsets. It looks and performs exactly like Resolve on a Mac or other PCs you have used.
Davinci Resolve running natively on X Elite
Where do I begin? Does it work? Is it smooth? How quickly does it render? Yes, yes, and fast! But to dig in a little more, Resolve runs beautifully smooth on the X Elite demo system, smoother than on most MacBook Airs, and lower-spec MacBook Pro M3s I have used. Yup, I said it, I mean it, and I will throw hands in defense of this statement.
The demo unit’s 32GB of RAM is certainly helping, but I will add it is also a smoother experience than the laptops I’ve used with the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (I haven’t used a system with the Core Ultra 9 yet), which continues to improve thanks to driver updates, however, this Qualcomm demo unit, handled these 4K videos like a hot knife through butter.
From masking, audio, color grading, and sliding the frame slider all the way right to go frame by frame for exact cuts, which tends to bog most systems down, that is just not so with this X Elite powered demo system. Rendering was speedy too, mind you these videos weren’t the 6K and 8K footage beasts I normally edit, but I can’t imagine there being much difference in performance. I stood back to take a couple of photos and looked over my right shoulder to watch the OpenVino demo one more time, played with the native Adobe suite, and felt very excited about the future of AI PCs.
AI PCs: The future keeps getting brighter
After what I experienced yesterday, the future of AI PCs, while still in its infancy, looks brighter every day. When Intel launched its Core Ultra CPUs, I was impressed with the two systems I reviewed, especially the MSI Prestige 16. You could see the performance, and battery life in our lab test results and when you used it. It too handles Davinci Resolve smoothly, which should be a wake-up call to Apple, because, with the addition of the X Elite to the AI PC lineups, MacBooks have a major problem.
Maybe Apple has taken its eye off laptops as Tim Cook and the rest of Cupertino pour attention into delivering a fully-baked Apple Vision Pro, for less than the price of a used car or vital organ. Apple’s stranglehold on the creator space may be over, after experiencing Intel’s Core Ultra earlier in the year and these demo units with the X Elite from Qualcomm I have no question what I’ll be recommending in the future.
I am heading to NAB 2024 in Las Vegas to dig even deeper into the X Elite, and Davinci Resolve’s new native editing suite. The creator space is just one area that will feel the impact of Snapdragon X Elite laptops and other AI PCs over the next year, so follow along with us for what should be a game-changing year for laptops.
