Computing has long been a big part of CES, especially when it comes to laptops, which is why AMD took the virtual CES 2021 stage to reveal what's next for its laptop processors and graphics.

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su pulled the covers off two Ryzen laptop processor lines. Both bring Team Red's latest CPU architecture, Zen 3, to both ultraportables and gaming laptops. Expect Asus, Acer, Lenovo, and other hardware makers to all announce AMD-powered laptops this year.

Dr. Su also revealed that laptop versions of the Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards are coming soon, though he gave few details about these. Nevertheless, AMD had a lot to talk about at CES 2021.

It was only a matter of time before AMD would transform its acclaimed Ryzen 5000 desktop chip, based on the 7-nanometer Zen 3 architecture, into a laptop CPU, forming the Ryzen 5000 U series.

The Ryzen 7 5800U offers an octa-core processor capable of running up to 4.4 GHz for thin and light laptops and is "the world's fastest x86 processor for thin and light laptops," according to Dr. Su.

For tasks such as digital content creation, video encoding, and computer-aided design and visualization work, the Ryzen 7 5800U outperforms the Intel Core i7-1185G7 by 18% to up to 39%.

Despite all this power, however, the new Ryzen 7 notebook chip strongly extends notebook battery life; AMD claims it can provide up to 21 hours of video playback.

There is also a Ryzen 5 5600U, a 6-core, 12-thread CPU clocked up to 4.2 GHz but with a thermal design power of 15 W to maximize battery life. This is likely to be an ultra-portable CPU that walks the line between power and price.

The new Ryzen 5000U family also includes a group of Zen 2-based laptop CPUs, but those seeking the best performance may want to look for CPUs with the latest architecture.

Many new Windows 10 laptops from various computer manufacturers this year are expected to feature these Ryzen 5000U CPUs.

Of course, AMD is also focusing on offering processors for gaming. Currently, the company's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs offer class-leading performance for gaming desktops, but CPUs for notebooks have been left a bit behind.

However, Dr. Su has revealed the Ryzen 5000 H-Series lineup, which consists of a family of Zen 3-based processors with up to 8 cores and 16 threads. This new family is led by the Ryzen 9 5900HX and Ryzen 9 5980HX.

Both chips operate within 48W plus thermal design power, so they should not run out the battery in a gaming laptop in an instant. Despite this, the 5900HX and 5950HX can achieve very fast boost clocks of 4.6 GHz and 4.8 GHz, respectively.

These processors apparently help run demanding PC games like "Horizon Zero Dawn," which was ported from PS4 to PC last year, at over 100 frames per second at 1080p resolution According to AMD, the Ryzen 9 5900HX is a CPU overall performance by up to 35% over the powerful Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, according to the company. Dr. Su also promised a smooth 4K experience on these chips.

The remainder of the Ryzen H series consists of processors running at TDPs of 35 watts to 45 watts, with six or eight cores, and maximum clock speeds of 4.2 GHz to 4.8 GHz.

Gaming laptops from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and others will feature these new Ryzen H-Series processors. And with the performance that AMD is touting, Intel will need to show its A-game in the world of CPUs for gaming laptops.

Dr. Su also teased a Radeon RDNA 2 graphics processor for notebooks; at the CES 2021 showcase, AMD showed off "Dirt 5" running at 1440p and 60fps on a gaming laptop. AMD did not mention configuration details, but this is solid performance.

However, Dr. Su noted that a laptop version of the Radeon RX 6000 series will be available this year. This is because Nvidia has announced a lineup of GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards for gaming laptops, and these look very impressive. Therefore, AMD will need to take immediate steps to compete.

That said, many of the new gaming laptops unveiled at CES 2021 combine Ryxen 5000 H-Series processors with Nvidia's new mobile GPUs, such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. In other words, AMD and Nvidia are effectively playing nice despite being graphics rivals. [AMD is in for a very interesting year, especially now that its new Zen 3 Ryzen processors are being adopted by computer manufacturers and its RDNA 2 graphics architecture is being used in the PS5 and Xbox Series X