Dell’s G5 SE will be AMD’s only SmartShift laptop in 2020 – Here’s Why

AMD’s SmartShift technology is one of the most innovative technologies to hit the Notebook market in recent years. SmartShift allows system integrators to save precious battery power and reduce the thermal stress on their systems by dynamically shifting power to the components where it will have the most impact. 

Right now, AMD is the only company that can offer this technology in the truest sense, as they have the ability to create dedicated CPU and GPU hardware which can achieve this feat in a way that its competitors cannot.    

While SmartShift is an innovative feature for AMD, only one notebook will feature it in 2020, Dell’s G5 15 SE, a system which combines AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors and AMD’s Radeon RX 5600M graphics card. In a recent Tweet, AMD’s Frank Azor, the company’s Chief Architect of Gaming, stated that Dell “jumped on it (AMD’s Smartshift technology) first” and that AMD “ is working hard on having more options ASAP for 2021.”

Why will there be no more Smartshift Laptops in 2020? 

To answer this question, the best answers can be found on PC World’s “The Full Nerd” podcast, where AMD’s Frank Azor was a recent guest. During the podcast, Azor noted that laptop roadmaps are made at least a year in advance, and that design choices by manufacturers are based on the needs of customers and the claims of manufacturers.  

Before the release of AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series of Zen 2-based mobile processors, OEMs were unsure of AMD’s potential. Yes, AMD promised a lot more performance/watt, but would it be a genuine high-end offering? Beyond that, would OEMs want to combine AMD CPUs with Radeon graphics and invest in an entirely new system of power/performance management? 

With AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series of mobile processors, AMD has proven to its customer that it has what it takes to compete within the high-end notebook market. With this in mind, AMD can expect to see more OEMs invest in high-end AMD-based notebook designs in the coming years. With Smartshift, Dell made a huge bet on AMD, betting that its Ryzen 4000 Mobile processors would be worth using and that investing in a Ryzen+Radeon setup would be worthwhile for its customers. So far, that bet seems to have paid off. 

With RDNA 2 graphics cards releasing in later this year and the proven performance of AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series of mobile processors, 2020 is looking like it will be a great year for AMD in the gaming notebook market. That said, this could depend on how soon AMD can release mobile-oriented RDNA 2 series graphics cards, and how they compare to Nvidia’s future offerings.