Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 7c and 8c compute platform chipsets that fall nicely below the flagship Snapdragon 8cx. While the performance of ARM-based chips is still behind Intel's 10th Gen Core processors, it's clear Qualcomm is always pushing forward to compete with Santa Clara's best. Pricing for the Snapdragon 7c and 8c is going to be critical as, so far, Windows 10 on ARM has mostly been in the premium-tier category. Reported pricing though states that the Snapdragon 7c could hit sub-$400 laptops and that's a big deal for a few reasons. Pentium Gold? No thanks Intel struggles at the low-end

I've been quite bullish on Intel's recent moves in for its 10th Gen series of mobile processors. Performance, heat, battery life, and things like building in Thunderbolt 3 have solidified Intel as the go-to chip for premium Ultrabooks. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more Intel's Project Athena – where it works closely with manufacturers – is resulting in some outstanding laptops. Both of HP's newest Ultrabooks – the Spectre x360 13 and Elite Dragonfly – push quoted battery lives of 20 or more hours. Even accounting for OEM overestimating real-world 10+ hours is doable while still running a quad-core Core i7 processor. That's magic. Intel and Microsoft also did a fantastic job with the improved Instant On abilities of Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3. Both devices turn on instantly and seamlessly even now beating Qualcomm ARM-based PCs. But Intel is still terrible on the low-end. Years of sub-par Atom processors and even last year's odd Pentium Gold have done nothing to slow Apple iPad sales and have had only moderate success at stemming the rise of Chromebooks in U.S. schools. While the Surface Go looked the part its mediocre performance, and battery life resulted in it being a fun, but still flawed experience. So close, yet so far. It's more than the US 4G LTE, PCs, and emerging markets