Performance benchmark unlocks a new AI experience-Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI R
2024-06-02 / tech
Xiaoxin is an exclusive brand created by Lenovo for young people. This series of notebook products is highly favored by young users for their excellent performance, especially the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro series, which has become a leader in the lightweight laptop market. Entering 2024, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro series has been updated, with the all-new Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition further enhancing its "internal skills" while inheriting the advantages of its predecessor. It is equipped with the second-generation AMD AI PC processor, upgraded to a brand-new internal blower cooling solution, and improvements have also been made to screen specifications, battery capacity, and interface configuration. So, how does the actual performance of the newly arrived Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition?
Product Specifications:
Operating System: Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
Main Screen: 14-inch OLED SSR Super Screen (2880×1800@120Hz, 600 nits)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 8845H (8-core, 16-thread, max turbo frequency 5.1GHz)
Memory: Onboard 32GB LPDDR5x 7500 dual-channel memory
Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 780M (12 cores, 2700MHz)
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Battery: 84Wh (standard 100W gallium nitride adapter)
Dimensions: 312mm×221mm×15.9mmWeight: Approximately 1.46kg (excluding power adapter)
Reference Price: 5599 yuan
Ryzen Strong Core
65W Ultra-Performance Release
As a performance powerhouse, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition has undergone significant internal upgrades and optimizations based on its predecessor, resulting in a qualitative leap in performance. This machine is equipped with the brand-new AMD Ryzen 8040H series mobile processor, which is also the second-generation AMD AI PC processor, featuring three leading characteristics.
Firstly, the AMD Ryzen 8040H series mobile processor is equipped with the AMD Ryzen AI engine NPU, which boasts a computing power of 16 TOPS, a 60% increase compared to the Ryzen 7040 series mobile processor. This means it is more efficient in handling AI tasks, such as significantly faster speeds when running local large language model applications. In addition, the CPU and integrated graphics also have considerable computing power, and combined with the NPU's computing power, the overall computing power of the Ryzen 7 8845H platform can reach 38 TOPS, laying a solid foundation for AI PCs.
Secondly, the CPU of the AMD Ryzen 8040H series mobile processor adopts the innovative Zen 4 architecture, and the GPU part adopts the RDNA 3 architecture. The combination of the two brings it ultra-strong processor performance and graphics performance. According to AMD's official data, the video encoding performance of the Ryzen 8040 series processor has increased by 36% compared to the previous generation, file compression performance has increased by 16%, and graphics performance has increased by 10%. Coupled with Lenovo XiaoXin's performance tuning technology, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition can handle a variety of complex tasks with ease.
Lastly, the AMD Ryzen 8040H series mobile processor uses an advanced 4nm production process, which brings a more outstanding energy efficiency ratio. Moreover, the AMD Ryzen 8040H series mobile processor has better tuning in terms of energy efficiency, so notebook products equipped with this series of processors also have longer battery life.
Specifically, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition we tested is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 7 8845H processor. This processor uses TSMC's 4nm production process, has 8 cores and 16 threads, a base frequency of 3.8GHz, and a maximum boost frequency that can reach 5.1GHz, easily handling both daily tasks and running large games. In addition, its default TDP is 45W, with a configurable power range of 35-54W, and it is equipped with 16MB of L3 cache, further enhancing data processing capabilities.In addition to its powerful processor, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is also equipped with 32GB of LPDDR5x 7500MHz dual-channel memory. We switched the memory to a 7500MHz frequency in the BIOS and used the AIDA64 software to check the memory performance of this machine. The measured memory read speed reached 59103MB/s, the write speed was as high as 104.86GB/s, and the latency was 110.5ns. Such memory performance is outstanding, providing a solid foundation for the overall strong performance and also bringing a smoother multitasking experience for users.
Like its predecessor, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition also has an extremely strong performance release capability. After switching the performance mode to "Geek Mode," the overall performance release of this machine reaches up to 65W. Higher performance release means it can bring a more powerful performance.
For example, in CINEBENCH 2024, this machine achieved a single-thread score of 103pts and a multi-thread score of 947pts. What level is this? Simply put, the 15.6-inch gaming laptop with the same processor we tested before scored 106pts (single-thread) and 990pts (multi-thread) in CINEBENCH 2024. In comparison, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition can match the single-thread performance of other brands' 15.6-inch gaming laptops with the same processor, and there is only a small gap of about 4% in multi-thread performance. The Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is just a 14-inch thin and light laptop, but the performance it unleashes can match that of traditional gaming laptops, showing that its title as a "performance little cannon" is well-deserved.
In CINEBENCH R23, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition also performed well, with a single-thread score of 1799pts and a multi-thread score of 16916pts. Compared to the previous generation of thin and light laptops, this machine leads by about 6% in the single-thread test of CINEBENCH R23 and by about 5% in the multi-thread test.
In the Blender 4.0.0 test, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition scored 56.18 in the "classroom" scene. Compared to the 15.6-inch Ryzen 7 8845H gaming laptop (59.73 points), there is only about a 6% gap. If compared with the Core i7-13620H gaming laptop (49.73 points), the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition has a lead of about 13%. Such results indicate that as a thin and light laptop with integrated graphics, the processor performance of the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is very strong. Whether in theoretical processor performance tests or actual application tests, the power it unleashes can match that of traditional high-performance gaming laptops.
In terms of storage space, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition offers a configuration option of 32GB (memory) + 1TB (SSD), which is considered luxurious in the thin and light laptop market. In the CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 test, the 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD used by this machine has a sequential read speed of 4953.1MB/s and a sequential write speed of 4596.38MB/s, which is quite good. For users, whether copying data or loading creative materials, this machine can bring faster speeds, and the 1TB capacity also provides users with ample storage space.
RDNA 3 Ray Tracing Integrated Graphics
Performance Frenzy
The Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is a thin and light laptop with integrated graphics, using the AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics built into the processor. I believe everyone is familiar with this integrated graphics, which uses the RDNA 3 architecture, is equipped with 12 CU units, 768 stream processors, a frequency of 2700MHz, and supports hardware ray tracing technology and AV1 hardware encoding and decoding.How does the integrated graphics perform? In "Geek Mode", this machine scored 3206 in the DX 12-based 3DMark Time Spy, surpassing the GTX 1650 Max-Q discrete graphics (with a score of around 2900) by 11%. As an integrated graphics card, the AMD Radeon 780M's impressive performance is indeed commendable, and it might not be difficult to enjoy AAA titles with it.
In the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition performed even better, with a graphics score of 9247, leading the GTX 1650 Max-Q discrete graphics (7800 points) by about 19%.
With the AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics, can the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition play AAA games? We tested it with games like "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," "Cyberpunk 2077," and "Overwatch 'Return'" at 1080p resolution. The results show that this thin and light laptop can indeed play the above games at "low graphics" settings. For instance, at low graphics in "Cyberpunk 2077," the machine's average frame rate was 48.03fps, which was slightly choppy and not smooth. However, by simply enabling the "AMD FSR Balanced" option, the average frame rate could be increased to 67.64fps, making the game smooth to play. In "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," the average frame rate at the default low graphics preset was 63fps, reaching a smooth level.
While playing AAA games is not the forte of thin and light laptops with integrated graphics, our tests show that the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition indeed has very strong graphics performance, which is a plus for such products and can highlight its value in certain scenarios: if you are a fan of AAA games and happen to be traveling or on a business trip when a new AAA title is released, and if you don't have a gaming laptop with you, you can still enjoy the game at low graphics with the powerful performance of the AMD Radeon 780M through the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition.
For FPS or online game enthusiasts, the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition allows you to game anytime, anywhere—it achieved an average frame rate of 97.48fps at 1080p and high graphics settings in "Overwatch 'Return'." For online games like "League of Legends," "Teamfight Tactics," and "Valorant," it's even less of a challenge.
Unlocking New AI Experiences
The Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is an AI PC equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI NPU, offering a new AI application experience. The NPU is based on the AMD XDNA architecture, supporting various AI neural networks such as CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks), RNN (Recurrent Neural Networks), LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory Time-Recurrent), and more. It supports advanced data types like Int8/16/32, BFloat16, and the XDNA AI architecture also has real-time multitasking capabilities, capable of handling up to four concurrent spatial streams, which means it can support the simultaneous operation of four different AI computations, such as AI scene optimization during online video conferencing, involving multiple AI model computations like facial recognition, depth recognition, and object recognition.
In terms of performance, the NPU of the Ryzen 8000 series processors has a maximum AI computing power of 16 TOPs, which means it can perform 16 trillion AI computations per second. The Ryzen AI NPU can run AI applications with very low power consumption, whereas traditional CPUs and GPUs require much higher power for AI applications. Therefore, the Ryzen AI NPU has a better energy efficiency ratio, and by offloading AI computations that used to be done by CPUs and GPUs to the NPU, it can effectively reduce system power consumption, extend battery life, and reduce heat generation and laptop fan noise.
On the practical application front, AMD has collaborated with many manufacturers to create a better AI application experience. For example, in cooperation with Microsoft, Windows Studio Effects is used to enhance the camera experience in Windows systems. Specifically, Windows Studio Effects allows users to apply certain filters and effects to the camera and microphone to improve the image and sound during video calls, which requires support from a neural processing unit. Therefore, in the Lenovo XiaoXin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition, we can enable Windows Studio Effects in the system's camera settings, where the options are rich and detailed. Driven by the Ryzen AI engine, native system applications like "Camera" support features such as background blur, eye contact, and auto-framing. Without Ryzen AI support, these features would require additional third-party video conferencing software, which would also require extra processor resource consumption.The well-known HWinfo software currently also supports monitoring the utilization of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU). For instance, as shown in the figure, after enabling Windows Studio Effects, the HWinfo software can display the actual usage rate of the NPU. In addition to enhancing the video quality of online meetings, the NPU is also compatible with mainstream productivity applications, such as Adobe's suite including Photoshop for image editing, Premiere Pro for video editing, Lightroom for batch image editing, and BlackMagic's DaVinci Resolve for video color grading and editing software. Over 100 AI features are now supported to run on the Ryzen AI platform.
Beyond empowering productivity applications, Ryzen AI also demonstrates its value in the realm of gaming and entertainment. The gaming assist tool "Game Plus" has integrated NPU support in many of its AI features, including its "Super Moment," "Peripheral Smart Light Control," and "AI Game Coach" functionalities.
The "Super Moment" feature primarily utilizes AI technology to automatically recognize and record the moments of kills in games, helping players easily save and share these highlights without the need for manual recording. Currently, this feature supports games such as "Eternal Return," "Valorant," "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," "APEX Legends," and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3."
Let's briefly experience the "Super Moment" feature driven by the NPU through the game "Eternal Return." First, in the settings interface, you can see that there are two AI recognition modes for this feature: General Mode and AMD Ryzen AI NPU Mode. In General Mode, implementing this feature requires additional resources from the GPU, while in Ryzen AI NPU Mode, the entire AI inference is completed by the NPU, thus not occupying additional GPU resources. This has a smaller impact on the actual game frame rate, and AMD and game developers have also collaborated deeply in the training of AI models to further enhance the accuracy of AI recognition in this feature.
After enabling the AMD Ryzen AI NPU Mode in the "Super Moment" settings and entering the game, you can see that "Game Plus" hardware monitors the NPU's frequency at 1600MHz, with a 6% usage rate when taking a screenshot, indicating that the NPU is indeed "working." After playing a round, the exciting Super Moment videos will be automatically saved on the computer, which is very convenient.
Furthermore, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro 14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition, with the synergy of CPU, GPU, and NPU computational power, can also easily handle popular AI-generated content (AIGC) applications, such as Stable Diffusion, or run Ryzen AI assistants based on open-source large models like BaiChuan, ZhiPu QingYan, and TongYi QianWen. Taking the Stable Diffusion Web UI as an example, with a 4GB memory setting, this machine generates an image with a resolution of 512x512 using GPU acceleration in just 43 seconds. This efficiency can meet the daily use or fresh experience needs of groups such as new media operators and creators for AIGC.
We have deployed several mainstream large models on this machine using the Ryzen AI assistant, to briefly experience the charm of local large models in an offline, unplugged environment. These large models include QianWen 14B-Chat, BaiChuan 2-13B-Chat, ChatGLM3-6B, and BianQue 2, among others.
The QianWen 14B-Chat model has the highest parameter specifications among them, ensuring the accuracy of its answers. When running the QianWen 14B-Chat model, the CPU usage rate of this machine is around 52%-65%, and this model operates in a disconnected, unplugged state. From the test results, the accuracy of the QianWen 14B-Chat model is very high, capable of clearly "understanding" and answering user questions.
Additionally, when running the ChatGLM3-6B model, the CPU usage rate is around 50%-60%. This model also supports operation in a disconnected and unplugged state, and compared to the QianWen 14B-Chat model, ChatGLM3-6B responds more quickly, although its answers are more concise.The Chinese processing capabilities of the Baichuan 2-13B-Chat large model are also very powerful, and it does not make mistakes when answering common literary questions. Moreover, after being deployed locally on a notebook, the entire usage process does not require an internet connection. It can maintain a fast response speed even when using the notebook battery, and the AI assistant can basically provide answers within a few seconds.
The CodeGeeX2-6B large model is a lightweight open-source code generation model that can automatically generate code for multiple programming languages. It has strong capabilities in code generation and completion, adding comments, code translation, and technical Q&A. After being deployed locally on a notebook, it can accurately answer questions like "implement a simple greedy algorithm in Java" even in an environment without an internet connection or power supply. Both the text-to-image generation and AI conversational assistants based on large models demonstrate that the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition can easily handle popular AIGC applications with the coordinated computing power of CPU, GPU, and NPU.
Thermal and Battery Life Test
The cooling system of the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition has also been upgraded. It adopts an improved "Extreme Wind God Cooling System" with a brand-new cooling airway design—Quad Vortex Frost Airway—based on the original dual-fan and dual rear exhaust design. Lenovo has opened two new exhaust outlets towards the center of the PCB core area and added two high-speed airways through the motherboard core PCB area to achieve additional cooling effects for the internal PCB and components of the motherboard. In addition, Lenovo has introduced the "Ice Sense Key Area" design, which refers to the auxiliary air intake design through the keyboard, reducing the temperature of the core high-temperature area in the center of the C-face keyboard area, expanding the low-temperature range of the overall keyboard, and ensuring comfortable and cool fingertip control even when the performance is fully loaded. So, how does this machine actually perform in terms of heat dissipation?
In an environment of 20.4°C, we conducted a single-burn test on this machine using the AIDA64 software. After 30 minutes of burning, we observed the highest temperature on the front surface of the machine to be 46.3°C at the left hinge exhaust outlet on the C-face using a FLIR infrared thermal imager. The temperature in most areas of the middle of the keyboard was around 37°C, which did not feel hot to the touch, only slightly warm. The temperature at the wrist rest position was maintained at around 24°C.
The upgrade of the battery and power adapter on the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is commendable. This machine is equipped with an 84Wh large-capacity battery, which physically ensures long battery life. Moreover, this machine also supports 100W PD fast charging and Lenovo's 140W super fast charging technology, allowing for a quick "recovery" even when the battery is depleted.
More importantly, the standard power adapter for this machine has also been upgraded. It comes with a 100W gallium nitride fast charging adapter, which can not only charge the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition but also charge other devices such as smartphones and tablets. This is very convenient for users of thin and light notebooks who often travel. Even better, the standard power adapter for this machine has been upgraded to a three-port design, which enhances grounding safety compared to most two-prong adapters, and the three-prong plug is also more stable when charging in places like hotels and airport VIP lounges.
Finally, we tested the battery life of this machine in "Power Saver" and "Best Battery Life" modes, with 50% screen brightness and in flight mode using PCMark 10. Ultimately, this machine achieved a test score of 15 hours and 8 minutes in the "Modern Office" scenario of PCMark 10. Such performance is excellent, meaning that under medium office workloads, whether it's taking long-haul flights or working outdoors all day, the ultra-long battery life of this machine can meet the usage needs of most users.
New SSR Super Screen OLED Edition
The design of the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition continues the classic style of the previous generation, with the body made of Lenovo's self-developed silk aluminum metal material and a sandblasting process that gives the surface a matte texture, simple and elegant. In terms of details, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition also has minor adjustments, such as the addition of a newly designed Xiaoxin logo in the upper left corner of the A-face, and the Lenovo logo has been moved to the lower right corner of the A-face to serve as a decorative element.The Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition has received a comprehensive upgrade in its screen, now offering a brand new 14-inch SSR Super Display OLED version. It features a Samsung E4 panel with a 120Hz high refresh rate and a resolution of 2880x1800. The screen has a response time as low as 0.2ms, supports a color depth of 10.7 billion colors, reaches a peak brightness of 600nits, and has passed the VESA Display HDR True Black 500 certification, supporting Windows HDR. It must be said that the OLED screen specifications have improved significantly in every aspect compared to the previous generation's IPS version, truly delivering ultimate picture quality and visual experience for users.
In terms of color performance, according to our tests, the screen of this device covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut, 93.3% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, and 99.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. This indicates that the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition has an excellent screen quality, capable of meeting users' daily needs for watching movies, office work, and design.
For audio and video experience, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition also features a 1080p full HD infrared smart camera, which, combined with Windows Studio Effects, can achieve intelligent background blurring, automatic facial correction, and smart beautification. The camera also has a physical privacy shutter to protect user privacy by physically blocking the camera. Additionally, the device supports IR+ToF facial recognition unlocking, which can automatically turn on the screen when a person approaches and lock the screen when they leave. The two-way noise reduction and Dolby Atmos sound effects also enhance the user experience of this machine.
The Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition features a full-size keyboard with monochromatic backlighting, and the keycaps are designed in the style of Lenovo's notebook series, offering a very comfortable typing feel. Even long periods of typing are easy and less tiring. With a large touchpad, Lenovo has also designed many shortcut keys to improve convenience, such as the classic Fn+Q to switch performance modes and Fn+R to switch screen refresh rates.
This machine has a full set of interfaces, meeting the needs of most users. It is equipped with one USB4 port (supporting PD charging, video output, and 40Gbps data transfer), one full-function USB-C port (supporting PD charging, video output, and 10Gbps data transfer), two USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports, one HDMI 2.0 port, one SDXC UHS-I card reader slot, and a 3.5mm audio interface. For users of thin and light laptops, such interface specifications are very comprehensive.
In summary, considering hardware parameters, overall performance, screen specifications, and battery life, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is a true challenger that transcends its class. Building on the previous generation, it has achieved a "full-blooded" 65W performance through internal upgrades of core hardware and optimization of the cooling system. The upgrade of screen specifications and storage space, along with the implementation of AI applications brought by AMD Ryzen AI technology, further enhance the overall user experience of this machine. All these factors make the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition a high-performance thin and light laptop in the market, and for users of thin and light laptops who pursue ultimate performance and advanced AI experience, the Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro14 2024 AI Ryzen Edition is a choice worth considering.
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