AMD took the industry by surprise earlier this year with the release of its new series of Ryzen processors. Tech giants noticed, and they are already putting out Ryzen-based desktop PCs, including the likes of HP, Dell, and Acer.
Manufacturers get quite a deal out of choosing AMD over Intel: matching or improving performance at lower costs. Skylake and Kaby Lake processors still dominate most of the market, but the landscape is changing since the arrival of Ryzen.
Enhanced performance make AMD’s latest chips ideal for handling heavier workloads than other consumer-oriented solutions, and particularly appealing as components in gaming PCs. Here are a couple of next-gen desktops that already pack Ryzen.
Dell Inspiron Gaming Laptop – Starting price: $799
Dell’s Inspiron Gaming Laptop debuted at Computex last month as a scalable option for gamers on a budget. Although it starts at $599, you will need to shell out $849 if you want an AMD Ryzen 5 1400 processor on the rig.
From then on, the specs can only go up until topping at $1,249 for a Ryzen 7 1700X chip, 8 GB of RAM (supports up to 32 GB), 256 GB of SSD and 1 TB of HDD storage, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU and more packed in a thermally optimized case with blue LED illumination.
Dell Inspiron 27 7000 All-in-One – Starting price: $999
Dell truly went all in with AMD’s Ryzen processors, since it was responsible for the only all-in-one desktop of this list and currently on the market to sport the chip. Users can choose again between a Ryzen 5 1400 or a Ryzen 7 1700 processor for a premium of $1,799.
What’s interesting about the Inspiron 27 7000 is that it is a full AMD machine. It relies on the Radeon RX 500 series to handle graphics, and users can choose between the 560 and the 580 GPU. The PC also supports up to 32 GB of RAM, 256 GB of SSD, 1 TB of storage, and it has a 27-inch UHD display.
Alienware Area 51 Threadripper Edition – Starting price: TBD
Alienware, which is also a Dell gaming division, is infamous in the gaming community for its extravagant product designs and even more outrageous prices at times. The Area 51 Threadripper Edition surely checks both boxes, and it isn’t even out yet. The standard version starts at $1,699 and can go up to $5,000.
The Triad Chassis of the Area 51 PC has built-in liquid cooling, and it will have a motherboard based on AMD’s X399 chipsets. It will also support the new AMD Threadripper processor at up to 16 cores and 32 threads, as well as 64 PCIe lanes for data throughput when it launches this July 27.
Acer Aspire GX-281 Series – Starting price: $799
The new Acer Aspire GX-281 series of PC towers consists of twelve different configurations of essentially the same computer, and half of them pack AMD Ryzen chips. The GX-281 –UR17 is the base model while the UR14 is the most overpowered at $1,499.
The difference is that they sport Ryzen chips at different ends of the spectrum: the already familiar Ryzen 5 1400 and the Ryzen 7 1700X. Other than that the towers can pack NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX cards or AMD’s Radeon RX 500 series GPUs. They also support up to 16 GB of RAM, 2 TB HDD, and 256 GB SSD.
HP OMEN Desktop – Starting price: $899
HP’s OMEN lineup got a recent refresh with new desktop products aside from the traditional laptops. Out of all the additions, the OMEN Desktop (880-010z) stands out as the only to pack AMD Ryzen processors. Again, gamers can choose between a Ryzen 5 1600 and the Ryzen 7 1800X.
Up to 32 GB of RAM are supported, as well as 2 TB of HDD and 256 GB of SSD storage. The only graphic alternative by AMD available is a Radeon RX 580, while NVIDIA brings everything from the GTX 1000 series including the 1080Ti with 11 GB of dedicated RAM.
