Snapdragon X Plus Shows Significant Battery Drain in Cinebench Test Compared to M2

The Snapdragon X Plus is a less powerful version of the pricier Snapdragon X Elite inside the base model Surface Laptop 7 that costs $999 and up. ARM-based notebook in…

By Ishika Setia

June 27, 2024

3 min read

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The Snapdragon X Plus is a less powerful version of the pricier Snapdragon X Elite inside the base model Surface Laptop 7 that costs $999 and up. ARM-based notebook in line with Microsoft against Apple M3-powered MacBook Air. But a big problem was discovered when one YouTuber tested the Surface Laptop 7 with Cinebench and found brutal battery drain on Microsoft’s Windows notebook. It highlights exactly why an OS needs to offer hardware underneath like Apple does, the user benefits from having that hardware and software closely linked.

More About the Battery Issue on Surface Laptop Powered by Snapdragon X Plus

Microsoft finally nailed the price of its Surface Laptop 7 compared to competitors, but that depleted battery is still a hot topic. Now, before we jump into all this, first let’s revisit the performance of Qualcomm’s latest notebook chipset which has surpassed some impressive results.

Cinebench scores show that the Snapdragon X Plus is much faster than Apple’s M2 and M3 chips as well in performance tests done by YouTuber Luke Miani, making it abundantly clear how much better the Snapdragon X Elite is.

Keep in mind this sort of stress test only reveals CPU usage, giving some handy indicators on how much battery life we expect too. The M2 MacBook Air dropped to 90% after running the benchmark for about twenty minutes, while our Surface Laptop with a new Snapdragon X Plus battery wore down to 65%. While the Surface Laptop 7 features a slightly larger, 54WHr battery than the MacBook Air’s 52WHr capacity (exact size not divulged by either company), that wasn’t enough to help it keep up with last year’s M1-powered pass from Apple.

Further emphasizing Apple’s advantage, Luke has owned the M2 MacBook Air for two years, implying potential degradation in battery capacity. Yet, Apple’s last-generation MacBook Air continues to excel in battery performance, likely due to Apple’s meticulous hardware and software integration.

In contrast, while Microsoft uses its own Windows operating system on the Surface Laptop 7, it employs an off-the-shelf Qualcomm chipset. Despite collaboration to optimize hardware, Microsoft cannot replicate Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem, which contributes significantly to the MacBook Air’s performance advantages.

FAQs

What is the Snapdragon X Plus?

The Snapdragon X Plus is a variant of Qualcomm’s chipset used in the base model of the Surface Laptop 7 by Microsoft, aimed at competing with Apple’s M-series chips.

Why does the Surface Laptop 7 with Snapdragon X Plus drain more battery compared to the MacBook Air with the M2 chip?

The Surface Laptop 7 uses a Qualcomm chipset that is ‘off the shelf’, while Apple’s MacBook Air benefits from Apple’s integrated hardware and software, resulting in more efficient power management and better battery performance despite similar or smaller battery capacities.