AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops are right around the corner, but that doesn't mean the leaks and gossip have stopped. In fact, we just heard some whispers that a secret Ryzen 9 chip could be coming.
Over on Lenovo's German website, a listing for the upcoming Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 - the laptop AMD used to show off its Ryzen 4000 platform at CES 2020 – suggests that it comes with up to a Ryzen 9 CPU. Here's the trick, though – there is no announced AMD Ryzen 9 processor for laptops.
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Now, this leak was spotted by the folks over at Wccftech, and when we went to go check it out on Lenovo's German website ourselves, we totally expected the listing to change - it hasn't. However, over on the US Lenovo page, the laptop is listed as coming with "Up to 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 7 4700U."
It's possible that the "Up to AMD Ryzen 9" on the German website is simply just wrong, then. If the US page is only listing up to the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U - which isn't even the most high-end processor that's been announced - it's hard to believe that it means that the Ryzen 9 chip exists.
If it does exist, we won't know until AMD actually puts it into a laptop and tells us about it. Until then, the most powerful thin and light processor in AMD's wheelhouse will be the Ryzen 7 4800U.
Let's speculate anyway, though
For the first two generations of Ryzen desktop processors there was no Ryzen 9 processor – that didn't show up until the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X. That processor also marked the moment that AMD absolutely destroyed Intel in terms of desktop performance.
It is entirely possible that AMD will announce a Ryzen 4000 9-series processor for the best Ultrabooks, especially if you take the recent performance leaks into perspective. Right now, there are leaks that suggest that the AMD Ryzen 7 4800U will outpace the Intel Core i7-9700K, which will be huge if true.
If an AMD Ryzen 9 processor does hit the streets, we could potentially see a thin and light laptop take on much thicker and more powerful gaming laptops when it comes to CPU performance. Think about it – a thin and light machine that you could easily carry in your backpack that you can do some heavy video editing with. Now, here at TechRadar we're just writers and photo editors, but we imagine that folks that need to do some heavy duty work would appreciate something along these lines.
Now, we just have to wait to see if it ever happens. And even if it doesn't, the performance that the Ryzen 4000 processors we know about promises is more than enough to get us excited for the traveling professionals in our lives.
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