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AI PCs Aren't Good at AI: The CPU Beats the NPU

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486 points dbreunig | 6 comments | 16 Oct 24 19:44 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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jsheard ◴[16 Oct 24 20:16 UTC] No.41863390[source]▶
These NPUs are tying up a substantial amount of silicon area so it would be a real shame if they end up not being used for much. I can't find a die analysis of the Snapdragon X which isolates the NPU specifically but AMDs equivalent with the same ~50 TOPS performance target can be seen here, and takes up about as much area as three high performance CPU cores:

https://www.techpowerup.com/325035/amd-strix-point-silicon-p...

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ezst ◴[16 Oct 24 21:13 UTC] No.41863905[source]▶
I can't wait for the LLM fad to be over so we get some sanity (and efficiency) back. I personally have no use for this extra hardware ("GenAI" doesn't help me in any way nor supports any work-related tasks). Worse, most people have no use for that (and recent surveys even show predominant hostility towards AI creep). We shouldn't be paying extra for that, it should be opt-in, and then it would become clear (by looking at the sales and how few are willing to pay a premium for "AI") how overblown and unnecessary this is.
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renewiltord ◴[16 Oct 24 21:42 UTC] No.41864134[source]▶
I was telling someone this and they gave me link to a laptop with higher battery life and better performance than my own, but I kept explaining to them that the feature I cared most about was die size. They couldn't understand it so I just had to leave them alone. Non-technical people don't get it. Die size is what I care about. It's a critical feature and so many mainstream companies are missing out on my money because they won't optimize die size. Disgusting.
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1. nl ◴[16 Oct 24 22:04 UTC] No.41864304[source]▶
Is this a parody?

Why would anyone care about die size? And if you do why not get one of the many low power laptops with Atoms etc that do have small die size?

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2. throwaway48476 ◴[16 Oct 24 22:19 UTC] No.41864414[source]▶
Maybe through a game of telephone they confused die size and node size?
3. thfuran ◴[16 Oct 24 22:25 UTC] No.41864462[source]▶
Yes, they're making fun of the comment they replied to.
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4. tedunangst ◴[16 Oct 24 22:29 UTC] No.41864496[source]▶
No, no, no, you just don't get it. The only thing Dell will sell me is a laptop 324mm wide, which is totally appalling, but if they offered me a laptop that's 320mm wide, I'd immediately buy it. In my line of work, which is totally serious business, every millimeter counts.
5. singlepaynews ◴[17 Oct 24 03:47 UTC] No.41866239[source]▶
Would you do me the favor of explaining the joke? I get the premise—nobody cares about die size, but the comment being mocked seems perfectly innocuous to me? They want a laptop without an NPU b/c according to link we get more out of CPU anyways? What am I missing here?
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6. michaelt ◴[17 Oct 24 08:57 UTC] No.41867686{3}[source]▶
It has been the norm for several decades to have hardware features that go unused.

The realities of mass manufacturing and supply chains and whatnot mean it's cheaper to get a laptop with a webcam I don't use, a fingerprint reader I don't use, and an SD card reader I don't use. It's cheaper to get a CPU with integrated graphics I don't use, a trusted execution environment I don't use, remote management features I don't use. It's cheaper to get a discrete GPU with RGB LEDs I don't use, directx support I don't use, four outputs when I only need one. It's cheaper to get a motherboard with integrated wifi than one without.