AMD Zen 4-Based Laptops Feature New Orange Ryzen Stickers

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All we need now is a catchy jingle

AMD
(Image credit: AMD)

In case you wondered whether it's possible to quickly distinguish between an AMD-based laptop running the latest Ryzen 7000-series CPUs featuring the Zen 4 microarchitecture and notebooks powered by the Zen 2 or Zen 3 microarchitectures, it is. Apparently, systems with the latest Zen 4-based Ryzen 7040/7045-series CPUs inside carry an orange sticker, whereas PCs that use processors featuring previous-generation designs carry a gray sticker, AMD's new marketing deck reveals.

When AMD introduced its latest model numbering system for Ryzen 7000-series processors for notebooks, it disclosed that the new Ryzen 7000 family will include CPUs based on the latest Zen microarchitecture as well as processors powered by the previous-generation Zen 3 and even Zen 2 microarchitecture. The lineup will also include APUs with integrated GPUs featuring the Vega, RDNA 2, and RDNA 3 architectures, making things even more confusing.

(Image credit: AMD)

Truth to be told, the third digit in a Ryzen 7000 model number reveals the microarchitecture, but few buyers will know or remember the model numbering system when shopping for a new PC. So, AMD asked its partners to use new orange Ryzen 7000-series stickers with systems based on Zen 4-based Ryzen 7040/7045-series 'Dragon Range' and 'Phoenix' APUs. Midrange and entry-level laptops will get the existing silver/gray stickers. That will indicate the laptop has a Zen 3-powered Ryzen 7030-series 'Rembrandt' CPUs with Zen 3 and RDNA 2 graphics, or potentially even older Zen 2-based Ryzen 7020-series chips. (Hat tip to VideoCardz for picking up on this first.)

(Image credit: AMD)

While an orange Ryzen 7000 sticker is a nice way to distinguish between systems running AMD's latest technology and PCs featuring previous-generation architectures, many people don't buy their laptops at retail, and not all online stores post accurate pictures of the products they sell. Furthermore, for many, the first digit in the model number is still one of the main indicators that influences their buying decision.

Marketing different generation products in the same product family certainly confuses customers, but OEMs tend to like new product families even if they include rebadged previous generation processors. As a result, both Intel and AMD often include older silicon in brand-new lineups under new model numbers.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a Zen 4 laptop, you want to join Team Orange.

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AMD
(Image credit: AMD)
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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    AMD screwing around with model numbering schemes again. I absolutely despise when companies re-brand old stuff into new-gen-looking model numbers. Pick one digit to consistently represent generation across the entire product numbering scheme's lifespan and stick to it, don't pull that BS where the leftmost digit represents generation for 3-4 years and then randomly decide it doesn't anymore. If I was shopping for a new laptop, that would make me want to skip the entire generation and wait for the next, hopefully clean slate.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    InvalidError said:
    AMD screwing around with model numbering schemes again. I absolutely despise when companies re-brand old stuff into new-gen-looking model numbers. Pick one digit to consistently represent generation across the entire product numbering scheme's lifespan and stick to it, don't pull that BS where the leftmost digit represents generation for 3-4 years and then randomly decide it doesn't anymore. If I was shopping for a new laptop, that would make me want to skip the entire generation and wait for the next, hopefully clean slate.
    Quite the contrary. They're aligning it to how they brand the Radeon GPUs now.

    If you take a look at the Radeon logo in notebooks, it's the same style, except the inner colour is red.

    And to be fair to AMD, while the numbering seems out of whack, is anything but as it has a very good explanation. Unlike Intel's.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    Need more colors to say my product is garbage.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    -Fran- said:
    Quite the contrary. They're aligning it to how they brand the Radeon GPUs now.

    If you take a look at the Radeon logo in notebooks, it's the same style, except the inner colour is red.
    My comment had nothing to do with sticker color, it was about how AMD decided to redefine the first digit from product generation to product year and put the family generation at the 3rd position instead. So now you could have a Zen 2 CPU branded as a Ryzen 7620.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    InvalidError said:
    My comment had nothing to do with sticker color, it was about how AMD decided to redefine the first digit from product generation to product year and put the family generation at the 3rd position instead. So now you could have a Zen 2 CPU branded as a Ryzen 7620.
    And it'll be clear in the name it's such a part, yes.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • suryasans
    I believe Zen 3+ Rembrandt SoC die contains DDR4 memory controller, but the CLA with Intel forced AMD to wait for two years to implement it on AM4 socket motherboard.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    -Fran- said:
    And it'll be clear in the name it's such a part, yes.

    Regards.
    And a Ryzen 8620 will appear to be better than a 7640. Year-model doesn't mean anything for CPUs, architectural generation does. Thankfully us enthusiasts can know better than before, but ordinary folks will be misled by the numbering scheme.
    Reply
  • mitch074
    Depends on what - a Zen 2 core is smaller than later iterations and has few drawbacks compared to Zen 3 when in a quad core. So, for Athlon and low power R3 processors, it's actually quite good.
    Same for Zen 3 compared to Zen 4, you may not want AVX512 taking up power and die size on a R5 U chip.
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    InvalidError said:
    My comment had nothing to do with sticker color, it was about how AMD decided to redefine the first digit from product generation to product year and put the family generation at the 3rd position instead. So now you could have a Zen 2 CPU branded as a Ryzen 7620.

    Blame the Retail Vendors, they don't want to sell older products that have older numbering.

    If you plan on selling older products, then the best way is to include them in the same Portfolio Year (Basically aligning it with DeskTop CPU Iteration).

    So everybody has a 7000 series CPU to sell.

    When Zen 5 hits, the DeskTop numbering scheme will iterate to 8000.

    Then the LapTop Portfolio will iterate to 8000.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    -Fran- said:
    And it'll be clear in the name it's such a part, yes.

    Regards.
    AMD has a very descriptive naming scheme, but unless you know what it means it can be misleading and we're already seeing that. The 7735HS vs 7640HS is a great example of this where the latter is likely the better choice across the board, but the name would imply otherwise. If AMD keeps doing 3+ generations of CPU and GPU for their mobile SKUs this is just going to get worse.
    Reply