So when it comes to buying a Windows laptop in 2025, the first thing you need to choose is the right processor. You can either go with an x86-based system powered by an Intel or AMD CPU or even something with an Arm-based processor from Qualcomm.
That sounds simple enough, right?
But the problem is that the actual naming conventions of those processors have become increasingly and confusingly complicated over the years. Especially those from Intel and AMD, with terms like “Core Ultra”, “Ryzen AI Max”, and “Copilot+ PC”, only adding to the confusion. Even the new guy on the block — Qualcomm — has a pretty confusing naming scheme if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.
So what do these names actually mean? And how can you filter out the one that fits your exact computing needs? In this article, I’m gonna help you break down the latest processor lineups from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm so that you can choose the best one for your next Windows laptop.
How to choose the best Windows laptop processor in 2025?
1. Intel
Okay.
Starting with “Meteor Lake” processors that launched in late 2023, Intel almost completely changed the way it names its CPUs. The “Core i” branding has been replaced with just the word “Core”, while Intel also has “Core Ultra” processors in its portfolio. And instead of the generation-based umbrella term — like 12th Gen, 13th Gen — Intel’s Meteor Lake chips are referred to as “Series 1” products.
Intel then followed it up with its “Series 2” chips in 2024, which includes two lineups.
- “Lunar Lake” for ultraportable thin-and-light laptops
- “Arrow Lake” for high-performance laptops.
a. Intel “Lunar Lake” Core Ultra 200V series
Here, Intel’s Lunar Lake lineup marks a major evolution in processor design for thin-and-light laptops. With a much-needed focus on efficiency, battery life, and much better integrated graphics performance. It is built on TSMC’s 3nm process node, there’s integrated memory for better efficiency, while Intel even got rid of hyperthreading this time.
Intel is also going all-out on AI with Lunar Lake by including a powerful NPU (Neural Processing Unit). As AI applications become more mainstream, this dedicated hardware ensures better performance in tasks like AI-assisted image processing, video editing, and intelligent workload distribution.
Whereas the “Xe2” integrated GPU is arguably one of its biggest upgrades as well. It delivers a substantial leap in graphical performance over its predecessor, thanks to more execution units (EUs), improved ray tracing, and AI-driven upscaling technology (XeSS 2).
Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V): Who is it for?
So, these CPUs are for those who need excellent battery life and powerful CPU, GPU, and NPU performance on a thin-and-light laptop.
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Image: Intel
Just so you know, all Lunar Lake processors have “Intel Core Ultra” in the name and a “V” suffix. While the last digit in the name actually determines the amount of integrated memory. For example, Intel Core Ultra 7 256V and 258V are practically the same, except that 256V has 16GB memory and 258V has 32GB of memory.
b. Intel “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 200U/H/HX series
On the other hand, Arrow Lake processors are mostly for power users and can be found on beefier notebooks, gaming laptops, and creator laptops. I say “mostly” because it also consists of low-power “U” series processors, which is just refreshed “Meteor Lake” chips on a denser Intel 3 node, by the way.
Arrow Lake-U (Core Ultra 200U): Who is it for?
Like Lunar Lake, these processors offer a balance between performance and efficiency. Making them a nice fit for general productivity applications like web browsing and such.
Then there are the more powerful “Arrow Lake-H” and “HX” lineup of Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 processors. And as you’d expect, they’re geared toward more demanding applications, including gaming and other high-performance tasks, which makes them stand out for users in need of robust performance.
Arrow Lake-H (Core Ultra 200H): Who is it for?
You can think of these as the next upgrade of those “U” series processors with more core count and higher power limit besides everything else. They’re usually found in midrange laptops with/without discrete graphics for a balanced performance.
Arrow Lake-HX (Core Ultra 200HX): Who is it for?
Whereas Arrow Lake-HX represents Intel’s most powerful lineup of mobile processors right now. So if you want a powerful gaming/creator laptop with an Intel chip, this is it. They’re configurable with up to 24 cores and have a power envelope between 55W and 160W. And since these HX CPUs are usually paired with equally powerful discrete graphics like NVIDIA’s RTX 40 or RTX 50 series, their integrated Arc graphics aren’t that powerful.
2. AMD
Like Intel, AMD has also revamped its mobile processor lineup for 2025. There are a few incredibly interesting AMD CPUs to look out for this year, but like Intel, AMD has made it quite difficult to decode its lineup of processors. So, let’s go through them one by one.
a. AMD “Hawk Point Refresh” Ryzen 200 series
Here, the Ryzen 200 is just a rebranded Ryzen 8040 “Hawk Point” lineup. As the name itself suggests. And here’s a fun fact: the Ryzen 8040 series was already a rebrand of the older Ryzen 7040 “Phoenix” lineup. So, while it’s still based on:
- older “Zen 4” CPU architecture,
- older “RDNA3” GPU architecture,
- and the older “XDNA” NPU architecture, it still offers a decent balance between power and efficiency for everything from thin-and-light to everyday laptops.
AMD’s Ryzen 200 series features up to 8 cores / 16 threads CPU and up to 16 TOPS of NPU for AI-driven features such as real-time background blur in video calls, noise reduction, and other productivity-focused applications. It also has a pretty powerful integrated GPU (iGPU), with up to 12 cores on the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 models.
Hawk Point Refresh (Ryzen 200): Who is it for?
So all in all, these AMD processors are ideal for those who want a fast, efficient laptop for work, school, and entertainment without worrying about battery life or overheating. Whether you’re editing documents, streaming videos, or playing some casual games, these processors offer a great balance of power and efficiency.
b. AMD “Strix, Krackan Point” Ryzen AI 300 series
Unlike the Ryzen 200 series, the Ryzen AI 300 lineup actually brings architectural upgrades across the board. The new “Zen 5” CPU architecture has a 16% better IPC (Instructions Per Cycle), while its RDNA 3.5 GPU boasts up to 32% better graphical performance than its predecessor.
As expected, AMD had big eyes on upgraded AI performance as well. Which is why the new XDNA 2 AI Engine has been optimized for generative AI workloads with up to 55 TOPS of performance on the flagship Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. That’s more than 3x the AI performance of AMD’s older XDNA architecture, by the way.
But just to make things confusing, AMD has two codenames for its Ryzen AI 300 lineup of processors. The Ryzen AI 5 and Ryzen AI 7 CPUs fall under the “Krackan Point” lineup, while the more powerful Ryzen AI 9 processors are dubbed “Strix Point”.
Strix, Krackan Point (Ryzen AI 300): Who is it for?
Just like the Ryzen 200 series, AMD’s Strix Point and Krackan Point chips are an excellent choice for those who want a thin-and-light laptop with great CPU, GPU, and NPU performance. But because of how versatile this lineup is, I’d be happy to see it on a relatively high-performance device as well.
c. AMD “Strix Halo” Ryzen AI Max series
On the other hand, Team Red’s “Strix Halo” is easily one of the most exciting lineups of mobile processors we’ve seen so far. It has the same “Zen 5” CPU, “RDNA 3.5” GPU, and “XDNA 2” NPU, but what’s interesting is that it’s actually configurable with up to 40 “RDNA 3.5” GPU cores. Which is just unheard of in the x86 world! And according to AMD, you can expect its performance to be anywhere between a mobile RTX 4060 and RTX 4070!
All that power from an iGPU… I told you Strix Halo was something special! It’s so special that Framework actually built a portable desktop PC around this platform. But, of course, all that power doesn’t come cheap.
And laptops with one of these processors, like the Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025) or HP’s ZBook Ultra 14 G1a, start at around USD 2,000!
Strix Halo (Ryzen AI Max): Who is it for?
Thanks to its incredibly powerful iGPU, Ryzen AI Max processors are perfect for everyone from gamers to photo/video editors, 3D artists, and data scientists who want all that power in a compact, thin-and-light form factor. And since you can pair it with up to 128GB of high-speed, high-bandwidth LPDDR5x memory, it’s also perfect for running large AI models locally.
d. AMD “Fire Range” Ryzen 9000 series
Finally, the “Fire Range” series represents AMD’s most powerful lineup of CPUs. Just like what the “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 200HX lineup is for Intel. It’s got up to 16 “Zen 5” CPU cores, but since these Fire Range processors will naturally be paired with powerful discrete GPU (like NVIDIA’s RTX 40/50 series), AMD hasn’t blessed it with the latest RDNA 3.5 GPU.
And the real exciting thing is that this lineup also has one special CPU with AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology: the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D! Without going too much into detail, this technology basically stacks multiple layers of L3 cache on the CPU die. As a result, the CPU can access in-game elements in its own cache memory instead of the much slower system memory. Making it the perfect CPU for gaming!
Fire Range (Ryzen 9000): Who is it for?
So if you’re looking for a beefy gaming/creator high-performance laptop with zero sacrifice in performance, you’ll definitely wanna check out AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series of mobile processors. Whereas if top-notch gaming is all you care about, make sure you get a laptop with that 3D V-Cache thing ’cause there’s nothing like it in Intel’s portfolio.
3. Qualcomm
Then we have Qualcomm. The company is a perfectly familiar name in the world of smartphone chips, although Qualcomm hadn’t quite been able to crack the laptop/PC segment. Until it announced the “Snapdragon X” lineup of processors with custom “Oryon” CPU cores.
And while Intel and AMD use x86 architecture, Qualcomm makes Arm-based processors for better power efficiency. Just like Apple’s “M” series chips.
Arm vs x86: What’s the difference?
So one of the main reasons why Arm chips are so efficient is because of its “Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)” CPU architecture. Compared to the “Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) architecture of x86 processors, it uses a smaller set of simpler instructions for better efficiency.
With this, Qualcomm claims that the flagship Snapdragon X Elite processor has up to 2x faster CPU and up to 80% faster GPU performance over different Intel and AMD processors. All the while using anywhere between 68 – 80% less power!
But…
The only problem is that since Windows itself hasn’t been fully optimized for the Arm platform like x86 has, a bunch of apps you use may not work properly on Snapdragon laptops.
Microsoft has done a pretty good job with its “Prism” emulation engine to run x86 apps on Arm chips, although you will come across some heavy performance penalty if the app you use doesn’t have a native Arm version available. Whereas one of the biggest drawbacks of Snapdragon laptops is that most games simply refuse to run on this platform so far. And this was all too apparent when I tested the Asus Vivobook S15 (review) with a Snapdragon X Elite chip.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X: Who is it for?
So, based on everything I’ve discussed so far, it’s clear that Snapdragon laptops are for those who want thin-and-light laptops with great performance and equally great battery life. While these chips aren’t as powerful as the best Intel and AMD have to offer, they’re perfect for everyday tasks like web browsing, media consumption, and light office work.
And depending on your computational needs and budget, you can shop between three tiers of Snapdragon laptops. One with “Snapdragon X Elite”, one with “Snapdragon X Plus“, or one with “Snapdragon X” processor. But besides this name, you’ll also need to look into their specific codenames since they can differ in terms of CPU core count and clock speeds.
Final words
Alright. I hope you now have a clear idea about how to choose the best processor for your Windows laptop in 2025. Both Intel and AMD have a wide range of CPUs to choose from, depending on your computational needs.
But if you’re looking into a Snapdragon laptop for its excellent blend of power + efficiency, just make sure that all the apps you use are compatible with Windows on Arm in advance.
- Meanwhile, watch our comparison between the M4 MacBook Air and the Asus Zenbook S 14 OLED
