In addition to these features, Copilot+ PCs have proven more than capable of running general business applications such as Microsoft Office products, web browsers, and the like. Their benchmarks outperform similarly priced Intel and AMD laptops most of the time. Battery life is also excellent on Copilot+ PCs in general, thanks to the lower power consumption required by ARM CPUs.
And what’s the catch? What can’t they do?
There’s one small problem with the ARM world. For decades, Windows has been written, rewritten, and rewritten to run on x86 chips. Add to that a new chip architecture, and we have to rewrite the code. That’s not easy when there are thousands of apps on the market.
Application compatibility on ARM is better today than it was five years ago, in part because Microsoft’s Prism emulator can bridge the gaps between code written for x86 and the ARM CPU, but not all of it. So problems persist. Some applications don’t run at all. Some are still in development. Some require emulation, and emulation invariably means a significant performance reduction. There is no canonical guideline on what is supported, but This site It has the most complete list I have seen.
In short, the more you try to do with your computer beyond basic functions, the more likely you are to run into a compatibility issue. Various games and specialized apps like VPNs often don’t work (or don’t work well). Even some core apps like Google Drive for desktop don’t support ARM. Many common Windows-based benchmarks also don’t run on ARM, which can make direct comparisons to x86 machines difficult.
To date, graphics performance has also been uniformly poor on Copilot+ PCs, as the Snapdragon chipset’s integrated GPU isn’t up to par with those from Intel and AMD, and these laptops don’t support more powerful discrete graphics. If you’re serious about gaming or GPU-intensive work like video rendering, a Copilot+ PC might not be for you.
These caveats won’t apply to Intel- or AMD-based Copilot+ PCs once they’re available, as they won’t have ARM-based compatibility issues, though don’t expect the same kind of battery life.
Should you buy a Copilot+ PC?
Today, Copilot+ PCs are ideal for those who want exceptional battery life but don’t want to push their laptops to the limit. Some of the AI features on Copilot+ PCs are useful (the Live Translate feature is truly amazing), while others are little more than novelty. Will a feature like Recall become a must-have, or will it be shunned by those worried about being tracked? Time will tell, and very soon.
In the meantime, consider Copilot+ PCs on their own merits, as performance, features, and price vary more widely than you might imagine.
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