Is AMD's New Ryzen 7 H-255 Just a Rebranded Blast from the Past?

Tech enthusiasts often eagerly anticipate the latest generation of processors, expecting significant leaps in performance. However, recent findings regarding AMD's new Ryzen 7 H-255 mobile processor might temper some of that excitement. Unofficial benchmarks suggest that this 'new' chip performs almost identically to its three-year-old predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7840HS.

The Ryzen 7 7840HS, released in early 2023, has been a solid performer in the mobile segment for a while now.

It boasts an 8-core, 16-thread configuration based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a boost clock of up to 5.1 GHz. While it's not a direct comparison for every metric, the recently surfaced Ryzen 7 H-255 is essentially an update to this line.

The surprising revelation comes from PassMark's CPU Mark benchmark, which shows the Ryzen 7 H-255 achieving a score of 30,737 points.

In stark contrast, the Ryzen 7 7840HS registers a score of 30,229 points. This minuscule difference of just 1.6% is well within the margin of error for such benchmarks and hardly indicative of a new generation's typical performance uplift.

This close proximity in performance raises questions about AMD's strategy.

Is the Ryzen 7 H-255 merely a rebrand with minor clock speed adjustments, or perhaps a binning process where slightly better-performing 7840HS chips are labeled as H-255? For consumers, this could mean that purchasing a laptop with the newer H-255 chip might not offer any tangible performance advantage over a machine equipped with the older, and potentially more affordable, 7840HS.

While the H-255 might incorporate some minor efficiency improvements or slightly higher clock speeds under optimal conditions, the core computational power seems to remain largely unchanged.

This situation isn't entirely new in the tech industry, where manufacturers sometimes release 'refreshed' products with minimal generational improvements. However, it can be disappointing for users hoping for a noticeable upgrade.

Ultimately, prospective buyers should carefully consider these benchmark results.

If performance is the primary driver, the marginal difference between the Ryzen 7 H-255 and the 7840HS suggests that prioritizing other factors like price, build quality, or additional features of a laptop might be more prudent than solely chasing the 'new' processor label.