Chip giant Qualcomm is launching new Snapdragon silicon aimed at entry-level laptops, right in the midst of a memory supply crunch that will make it very difficult for any vendors to hit the target $300 starting price. The San Diego-based biz is adding to its line-up of Arm-based system-on-chip (SoC) processors with the Snapdragon C platform. This is designed to power entry-tier laptops targeting buyers such as students, families, and small businesses, with a starting price stated as "about $300 or so." Qualcomm started its push into the Windows laptop market a couple of years ago, with its Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus chips. Many of these were priced around $600. It was aided by Microsoft, which was trying to promote the "Copilot+ PC" brand for Windows 11 systems that feature a built-in neural processor (NPU) for AI tasks. The firm unveiled new additions, the Snapdragon X2 Plus chips for budget and mainstream systems, at the CES trade show earlier this year.…