The first system we’ve heard of using AMD’s Ryzen 8040 series processors is the Nitro V 16 gaming laptop, which Acer has revealed some details about. The system, which will retail for $999 or €1,199, will go on sale in North America in March 2024 and in other markets in April.
Very little is known about the 8040 series “Hawk Point” chips other than the fact that the Nitro 16 will be upgraded to a new Ryzen 7 8845HS processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, according to the Acer announcement. AMD changed its naming scheme in 2022, so the 8845HS’s first eight indicates a 2024 model, while the third number, “4”, indicates that it is running on the same process node as the most sophisticated AMD processors from the previous year.
The laptops will use Ryzen AI technology, which is similar to that of the 7040 series, as Acer and AMD are pointing out. The news is released right before Intel unveils its first-ever neural processing unit-equipped “Meteor Lake” chips on December 14.
Up to an RTX 4060 graphics card from Nvidia will be paired with AMD processors. With refresh rates up to 165 Hz, the 16-inch, 16:10 screen panel will be available in resolutions of 2560 x 1600 or 1920 x 1200. Additional specifications include a maximum of 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage and up to 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM.
There are several ports available, including HDMI, a microSD card reader, USB 4 Type-C, and two USB 3 Type-A ports.The laptop is compatible with Wi-Fi 6E for wireless.
An Acer representative stated via email that “we do not have any final US or Canadian models/configurations to share at this time.” Even though we are aware that everything is scheduled to begin in March, it might take some time before we find out the specifics. It could be that Acer and AMD are saving that for January’s CES.
