Qualcomm reveals Snapdragon C specs for budget laptops, and Intel could have a serious headache

Qualcomm wants to fix the biggest problem with budget laptops: performance and battery life. In May of this year, the company showed off its entry-tier new Snapdragon C Platform, made for budget laptops starting at $300, promising speed, battery life, and AI smarts that budget shoppers usually have to skip.

Now, the chip giant has just revealed the specs for its latest chip and if what it shows comes true, Intel is going to have a big headache on its hands. But competition is good for consumers, so they will be the real winners here. 

Snapdragon C specifications

What makes Snapdragon C faster than a typical budget chip?

At the heart of the platform sits Qualcomm’s Kryo CPU, which is an 8 core CPU that can hit the clock speed up to 3.0 GHz. Compared to Intel’s N250, a chip commonly found in similarly priced laptops, Qualcomm says Snapdragon C delivers up to 67% faster performance on battery and up to 2.1x better power efficiency. 

Users will greatly benefit from these efficiency improvements in their daily tasks. Streaming Netflix reportedly saves 106% more power, a Teams audio call sips 99% less energy, and even idle apps use 39% less juice. Add a dedicated integrated Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU for AI tasks, and you get a laptop that multitasks smartly without draining the battery by lunchtime.

Who is this new chip built for?

Qualcomm is positioning Snapdragon C for students, families, small businesses, and frontline workers, basically anyone who wants a laptop that just works without paying flagship prices. “Students, families and small businesses need reliable, responsive devices that keep up with their everyday tasks, from browsing and productivity to streaming and video conferencing, at accessible price points,” said Nitin Kumar, VP of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies. 

The issue with Windows on ARM has always been native app support, but the situation has improved drastically. Now, it supports all the popular apps you probably already use, including Chrome, Excel, Instagram, Spotify, and Zoom, so switching over shouldn’t feel like starting from scratch. 

Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo are already lined up to release Snapdragon C laptops soon, so if you’ve been holding off on a budget PC upgrade, it might finally be worth the wait.