Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite running Windows 11 outperforms Intel's x86 'Meteor Lake'

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite could present a significant shake-up for efficient Windows 11 notebooks and laptops. The Arm-based SoC (CPU, GPU, and NPU) is closer to Apple's M3 chip powering MacBooks. Still, as it will power Windows 11 devices, it will directly compete with Intel's new Core Ultra 'Meteor Lake' processors and AMD's Ryzen 'HawkPoint' - two x86 chipsets - especially now, in the year of the AI PC.

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Although a single example, one of Turkey's most well-known tech journalists has put the Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100 28 Watt SoC to the test, comparing it with the x86 'Meteor Lake' Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor. How does it fare? Surprisingly well.

When testing the chip's NPU or AI capabilities, the Snapdragon X Elite leaves the Intel Core Ultra in its wake, scoring 1720 points in the UL Procyon test compared to 476 points for the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H. AI testing is never like-for-like, as the Intel chip in this test used OpenVINO while the Snapdragon X Elite used the Qualcomm SNPE SDK.

Looking at raw CPU performance, the Snapdragon X Elite also easily outperforms its Intel counterpart. However, this data comes from a single Visual Studio code compile test; CPU performance varies from workload to workload. In a 7-zip compression test, both chips performed roughly the same.

It gets really interesting when you look at the GPU. With the Snapdragon X Elite's Adreno 750 GPU going head-to-head with Intel Arc Graphics, both cards deliver identical 3DMark FPS performance running the Wild Life Extreme test, which is surprising.

YouTuber Erdi Özüağ recorded these tests and results at a Qualcomm event during the recent Mobile World Congress, so there's a chance we're looking at cherry-picked results (something all companies like to do). Either way, we'll have to wait for independent reviews to get a clearer picture of what Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite can do - but, as they say - so far, so good.