Re: Windows-on-ARM Laptop Is A ?Frequently-Returned Item? On Amazon

CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 2025-03-24 2:41 p.m., Frank Slootweg wrote:

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

On Mon, 3/24/2025 1:19 PM, CrudeSausage wrote:

On 2025-03-24 12:58 p.m., rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 24 Mar 2025 03:30:50 -0400, Paul wrote:
>

And, there is competition.
>
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/ryzen-ai-300-performance-review-

impressive-cpus-even-if-you-dont-care-about-ai/
>
For $1600 it is more than competitive with similarly priced ARM laptops
that might be able to run a full range of software someday. The claimed
'up to 18 hours' of battery life reduces the major ARM selling point.
>
I'm glad to see I'm not alone. I have an Acer laptop with a Ryzen 7 that
has a silvery finish and white backlight that had me asking 'what were
they thinking?'.

>
The one thing those reviews never mention is that by using an AMD
CPU, you're going to be facing fTPM stuttering because none of those
computers come with a discrete TPM chip. For most, it's little more
than a nuisance, but it's one that you can only avoid by using Linux
going forward.

>
IDK. I have a spare computer, with a Zen3 in it, and no stutter to be seen.
Presumably this is with the Secure Boot enabled ? I have another Zen3,
which is the machine reserved for Secure Boot testing, it has no TPM
and uses the AMD fTPM, and no stutter there either. It has booted Linux
Secure Boots and Windows Secure Boots, as part of testing a while ago.
>
Both machines, the BIOS version is the most recent. Both got flashed up.
>
The difference with laptops, is the BIOS support may not be as generous.

 
   AFAIC, this 'AMD stuttering' issue is old and fixed 'news'.
 
   See the January thread 'This Is Why They Say Windows Is A Great OS --
If Your Time Is Worth Nothing' in these groups.
 
   See Andrzej Matuch's post [1] in that thread and my and his responses.
 
   As mentioned in my last response [2], in my case there was a BIOS
firmware update.
 
[1] Message-ID: <z0ldP.24349$DPp5.18068@fx01.iad>
[2] Message-ID: <vl92ie.qp8.1@ID-201911.user.individual.net>

 
Except that it's not fixed. Some manufacturers might have provided a
BIOS to fix the issue, but most have yet to do so on the laptop side. My
model computer, the Zephyrus GA401QM, hasn't had a BIOS update since
2023. Everyone expected that the 415 update would fix the issue since it
was repeatedly mentioned by users, but ASUS never bothered to fix it.
The most likely reason is because they can't.

  In the previous thread, Andrzej references
<https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-acknowledges-ftpm-stuttering-issues-promises-a-bios-fix-in-may>

  From that, I understand that AMD supplies the fix to the manufacturers,
which of course have to integrate it in their firmware. If those
manufacturers - in your case ASUS - fail to do so, that's hardly AMD's
fault. That's the risk of using fTPM, instead of a real TPM.

  As I said, my system was fixed and - as I mentioned in the other
thread - that is a (2022) (HP) *laptop*.