The ECS UP42KP is going to be powered by an 8-core AMD Krackan Point APU, bringing an NPU performance of over 40 TOPS.
ECS UP42KP to Use AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 "Krackan Point" APU, Targeted at Mainstream Laptop Market
AMD's Zen 5-based affordable 'Krackan Point' launch is around the corner. We have seen these SKUs in recent weeks, mostly on Geekbench, featuring up to 8 cores and 16 threads configuration. As per the latest official reports, it looks like the AMD Krackan Point is going to launch alongside other AMD hardware.
ECS, the company that manufactures laptops and other PC hardware, will be bringing AMD Krackan Point-powered laptops at CES 2025. In a recent post, ECS announced that it will bring new motherboards as well as laptops at CES 2025. These motherboards will be Intel's Z890 and B760 series motherboards for Intel's Arrow Lake and Intel's 12th/13th/14th gen CPUs respectively.
On the other hand, for laptops, ECS will announce two editions: the ECS UP42KP and UP42PW. The latter is based on the Snapdragon X Plus processor, but the UP42KP will be powered by the AMD Krackan Point 8-core APU. The only 8-core Krackan Point APU we know of is the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, which we saw on PassMark roughly two weeks ago. It will feature two core clusters: 4x Zen 5 + 4x Zen 5c with hyperthreading enabled. There is another variant, called Ryzen AI 5 340, which will be a 6-core CPU and will be available in lower-end laptops.
The iGPU will be based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, similar to the Strix Point and Strix Halo, but won't be as strong as either of these. This is because Krackan Point is targeted at the affordable mid-range market rather than the premium segment. Not much is known regarding its integrated graphics, but we expect it to be decent enough for light to medium-intensive graphical workloads.
The ECS UP42KP will be a 14-inch laptop that will come with DDR5 5600 MT/s memory and decent connectivity options like Wi-Fi 6 and USB4. As expected, the Krackan Point APU powering it will run in a 15W-54W TDP range, which is similar to the Strix Point APUs. It's not yet confirmed whether the Krackan Point will be powering upcoming budget gaming handhelds, but it's possible since some manufacturers like ONE-NETBOOK and even ZOTAC have started deploying premium Strix Point APUs on their handhelds.
The price and availability of the ECS UP42KP are unknown but will be announced at the CES event, scheduled in Las Vegas from 7th to 10th January.
News Source: ECS
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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