Microsoft is apparently setting a number of new minimum specification levels for AI PCs that it has yet to broadcast through official channels. We’ve heard from our sources that AI PCs will raise the bar on minimum RAM configurations, and TrendForce has heard the same thing and says 16GB should be the minimum RAM configuration for Windows AI PCs. will Meanwhile, both our own sources and TrendForce agree that new Windows PCs will need at least 40 TOPS of compute power to make the grade for labeling as AI PCs.
“Microsoft has set a baseline of 16GB for DRAM in AI PCs,” TrendForce said in a press release about Microsoft Copilot on Wednesday. Thus, Windows will once again play an important role in driving the development of minimum acceptable memory capacity in new PCs. Desktop users with easily accessible upgrade options may shrug, but those who buy laptops and discover they can’t upgrade because of soldered RAM are now dealing with memory-starved systems. No need to filter – just search for AIPC.
Memory makers should be happy with the increase in the number of PCs being sold with more memory as standard. Last year we reported on some major players in the industry cutting production to limit supply and get better prices. This appears to have hurt Samsung and SK Hynix’s earnings during 2023, but the damage was partly self-inflicted.
As mentioned in the introduction, this will not be a one-size-fits-all change to PC system requirements. Expecting a new PC to run smart and responsive with Microsoft Copilot AI support also depends on adequate native acceleration. A minimum of 40 tops computational power is decided by Microsoft HQ. This can be provided by a discrete GPU, but PC processors are now ready to build nearly all efficient NPUs that can meet or exceed this compute performance goal.
We said ‘almost’ above, and that’s an important caveat, because the combined CPU, GPU, and NPU power within Intel’s current Meteor Lake chips reaches 34 tops at best. TrendForce speculates that Intel Lunar Lake AI will address this fundamental performance weakness for PCs. Intel itself has said that Lunar’s AI performance will be three times that of its predecessor, Meteor Lake.
Other Windows PC processor makers such as AMD and Qualcomm are not far behind. The AMD Ryzen 8000 series (Strix Point) is expected to be capable of 45 TOPS. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite platform is also thought to deliver 45 tops. It will be interesting to see if Qualcomm’s ARM architecture processors are as competitive using other performance metrics.
There is a lot of speculation about the coming wave of AI PCs, as the industry seems pretty excited about the hardware refresh cycle they think it will encourage. When the Windows Copilot key was unveiled, we thought a device with just about any minimum specs might be needed. However, it turned out that even modern entry-level PCs without onboard NPUs were given the green light to be equipped with this key. Perhaps, Windows 12 will come with stricter AI PC labeling and minimum specs in the summer, we thought. Now, perhaps, we have at least a partial answer to the AI ​​PC and Windows 12 minimum specs: a system must have at least 16GB of RAM and a processor that can achieve at least 40 tops of AI compute. .