I was thrilled when my Surface Laptop pre-order arrived two days ago, eager to explore the new Copilot Plus PC, powered by the Arm-based Snapdragon X chipset. This device promises to combine the best of smartphone efficiency with the performance of high-end laptops. However, after 48 hours, my excitement has waned.
Office Use: A Bright Spot
For everyday office tasks, the Copilot Plus PC performs admirably. As I write this, the battery shows impressive stamina, with 76% remaining after 2 hours and 36 minutes of use. The battery life is indeed rock solid, delivering on its promise.
Emulation Woes
Performance issues arise when running non-native applications. Windows on Arm has been around for seven years, yet many essential apps still require emulation through Microsoft’s Prism emulator. Major applications like Libre Office, Lightroom Classic, Discord, Asana, and any Steam game rely on emulation, and the performance is inconsistent. For instance, while Lightroom Classic runs smoothly during photo editing, exporting files can severely slow down the system. Other apps like Asana and Discord experience frequent freezes and performance hiccups.
Native App Performance
On the positive side, native Arm applications like Photoshop, Slack, Spotify, and Zoom run flawlessly. However, I encountered issues with Edge when using GPU-intensive pages, leading to black screen glitches not seen in Firefox.
AI Features: Underwhelming So Far
The AI capabilities, a key selling point, are currently underwhelming. The much-anticipated Windows Recall feature is on hiatus due to privacy concerns. Without Recall, Copilot is the primary AI feature, but it feels similar to AI on regular PCs. The dedicated Copilot button is handy but hardly revolutionary, and other AI features like Live Captions and Cocreator in Paint are more gimmicky than practical.
Gaming and AI Upscaling
Surprisingly, the Snapdragon X Elite handles some AAA games reasonably well, thanks to AI Super Resolution, which boosts frame rates by upscaling lower resolutions. However, the list of supported titles is limited, and configuring these settings is not user-friendly.
The Bigger Picture
Despite the promising hardware and battery life, the Copilot Plus PC feels unfinished. Emulation issues and the underwhelming AI integration make it hard to justify the high price. Hopefully, these devices will spur more developers to create native Arm applications, improving the ecosystem. For now, the compromises outweigh the benefits.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the Copilot Plus PC shows potential, it currently falls short in key areas like app performance and AI integration. As we await more native Arm applications and refinements, the current experience feels more like an unfinished product than a revolutionary device.