During the CES 2022 activities, AMD revealed the new Ryzen 6000 Mobile Processors series for the laptop, the first processor series in the world to contain Microsoft's new Pluton security chip.
Microsoft had announced over a year ago (on November 17, 2020) that it would bring this chip, which has been introduced in Xbox One consoles since 2013 and in Azure Sphere, to the PC to achieve maximal security in devices running Windows 10 at the time, before the announcement of Windows 11, which seems can benefit from this chip as well.
The new Pluton chip will replace the TPM security chip found in most current computers and will adopt a more effective protection method as it is built directly into the processor.
A TPM is a hardware component that is used to help securely store keys and measurements to verify system integrity. TPMs have been supported in Windows for more than 10 years and power many critical technologies such as Windows Hello and BitLocker.
And since the TPM segment is isolated from the processor, there is a communication channel between them - which is usually a bus interface - in which this sensitive information is transferred and shared between them, so attackers can target and attack this communication channel to steal or modify information during in-transit, especially If the attacker manages to steal the computer or gain access to it temporarily, which is called a physical attack.
Pluton's design eliminates the possibility of this communication channel being attacked, by building security directly into the CPU.
Windows computers using the Pluton architecture will emulate a TPM that performs the same roles and specifications as the current TPM, enabling users to take advantage of traditional TPM-based Windows features such as BitLocker and System Guard, but with more enhanced security.
Windows devices with Pluton will use the Pluton security processor to protect credentials, user identities, encryption keys, and personal data so that none of this information can be removed from Pluton even if the attacker installs malware or has complete physical possession of the computer.
This new Pluton security chip will help to improve hardware protection present in current personal computers and will contribute with the help of existing protection programs and applications that protect the operating system and programs installed in the computer in giving Windows devices a higher level of security than the current one, and it may contribute to reducing the gap Between the protection provided by Apple in Mac devices and between Windows devices.
The AMD Ryzen 6000 Series mobile processor series consist of more than 20 processors, divided into three categories: the U Series for entry-level devices, the H Series for gaming and creator laptops, as well as the Ryzen PRO 6000 Series processors that will power the new premium business laptops.
New AMD processors provide support for new technologies such as the DDR5 RAM, PCIe 4.0 and USB4, AI noise cancellation to filter background noise, and Wi-Fi 6E.
Built with TSMC 6 nm process technology, these processors series comes with the new Zen 3+ architecture and the graphics based on AMD RDNA 2 Architecture-Based Graphics, up to 8 cores, 16 threads, and up to 5.0 GHz boost clock speed.. They offer 11% more single-threaded performance, 28% multithreaded performance, and up to 2x more graphics performance Compared to the Ryzen 5000 series.
The first laptops powered by AMD Ryzen 6000 Mobile processor Series are expected to be available by AMD’s OEM partners, such as Asus, Dell, and HP, from February 2022, according to AMD. Over the year, the company expects a wide availability of more than 200 consumer and business laptops in 2022.
Despite that, the first PC with an AMD Ryzen 6000 series mobile processor with Microsoft Pluton Chip, already presented at CES 2022, which is two Lenovo ThinkPad Z Series premium business laptops.
Lenovo introduced two computers with this series of processors, the ThinkPad Z13 (AMD Ryzen PRO U-Series processor or AMD Ryzen PRO 6860Z processor) and the ThinkPad Z16 (AMD Ryzen PRO H-Series processor).
- ThinkPad Z13 will be available from May 2022, starting from $1549
- ThinkPad Z16 will be available from May 2022, starting from $2099