This week we saw the launch of the Copilot+ PC devices – essentially, Windows 11 laptops powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X chips with an NPU (neural processing unit) for particularly sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence). Designed to handle the tasks of
The idea of on-device AI is certainly very interesting (as is the technology behind it) and the benefits are compelling: you don't need an internet connection, and security is much higher because you're not sharing information with the companies that provide the AI. are doing Tools – All these should stay hidden on your laptop.
At the launch of the Copilot+ PC devices, I was skeptical about how revolutionary these new laptops would actually be. It didn't help that Microsoft brought one of the key features — the Copilot AI assistant itself — to Windows 11 already in beta form. While having quick access to an AI chatbot from within the operating system was novel at first, after trying it a few times, I never used it again. I just couldn't see how it could make my everyday life easier.
The fact that Microsoft's other big selling point of Copilot+ PCs, the Recall feature, has been dogged by controversy over privacy concerns — with many people understandably taking snapshots of your PC's activity. Every minute or so, Microsoft is collecting a too big The amount of sensitive information — and the company's past actions — didn't help make people more comfortable about it.
In fact, the negative reaction to Recall was so strong that Microsoft instead launched the feature with Copilot+ PC devices and made it available to Windows Insiders, who could later test it before a wider release.
This led to Microsoft (and later, other manufacturers such as Samsung who also launched Copilot+ PC products) singing about a feature that we all know is the cause of consumer concerns. It has been delayed.
Still, when I went to visit Microsoft for the launch of the Copilot+ PC on Tuesday, the team was upbeat, telling me that the Copilot+ PC is an 'inflection point' in the history of computing and technology, and the first IBM are revolutionaries like The rise of PCs and smartphones.
Bold words, sure, and I wanted to see just how revolutionary these devices are. Since Tuesday, I've been using the new Surface Laptop as my main computer every day, and I've already noticed a big change that could really shake up the laptop industry and make Microsoft a could deliver a device that could really challenge MacBooks again. Nothing to do with AI.
Why AI?
Of course with all the hype surrounding the Copilot+ PC AI features, I wanted to see if they were as important as Microsoft and others have been telling me they are. However, to be blunt, they left me with similar fears about the raw technology, and how it would work.
One of the more interesting implementations is Cocreator, a new AI-powered feature now found in Windows 11's popular Paint app. You can create a simple drawing (for which Paint is usually used), then type in a prompt (such as specifying what the drawing is and how you want the image to look), and the slider. You can adjust how much AI is using Transforms your image – with the results shown in the second panel.
That's undeniably impressive, especially considering it's all being done in a free, basic app, while also using the laptop's built-in NPU to do it all. Is.
But, after that initial impressive impression, I was once again left wondering what it would do for me. It's a fun diversion, sure, but I can't see it being that useful for my day-to-day life. Maybe graphic designers and artists like it, but then I doubt they'll use a basic app like Paint to do the job. And, while the results were impressive when quickly turning a doodle into something more recognizable, the images produced by Cocreator were still clearly created by AI — and most professionals likely like that. Don't want to rely on design.
Copilot also remains a disappointment. It can now be invoked by pressing a dedicated Copilot button that's part of the keyboards that come with Copilot+ PC devices, but even when opening it quickly, I'm at a loss for ways to use it to its full potential. I struggle to think about. It doesn't help that it feels like a separate app rather than integrated with other apps – so it feels like another step to use – complicating tasks rather than simplifying them.
At work we use Slack, an instant messaging app that allows our global team to stay in touch. So, I thought I'd ask Copilot to “Write me a generic hello message to my coworkers in Slack.”
Here's what the copilot responded with: “Hi team! A friendly reminder about our offsite tomorrow. Please dress comfortably. We'll be providing breakfast and lunch. See you at 9am.” !”
Although the tone of the message is broadly the same as what I was after, if anything I wrote to my team in Slack, the fact is that he invented an offsite event and then promised to provide food. Ga means I can obviously. Don't use it – I have to rewrite almost everything in the Copilot app, Then Copy the text to the Slack app to post. How will this save me time?
A few days later I was sitting in a presentation and had a good idea how CoPilot could help me – so I asked it to transcribe the presentation using the Surface Laptop's microphone, which I had every time. Can save you from typing nonsense trying to note things down. being said.
Unfortunately, Copilot was unable to help, telling me that it can't transcribe, and can't even capture live audio. He suggested that it might take. mine Take notes and summarize them for me – that won't be very helpful.
Instead, I used a feature in Microsoft Word to record the audio and transcribe it. I then copied and pasted the transcript into the copylet to summarize – a clever solution to get what I needed… or so I thought. Instead, the copilot told me that the text was too long, so I could only summarize some of the presentation. The result was good, but since it couldn't transcribe an entire presentation at once, it was useless – not to mention I was once again copying and pasting text between Copilot and various apps, while Was also typing the cue for the AI to follow.
It all felt like more effort than it was worth, the opposite of what was promised. Since then, I've barely used it, other than asking what the standard door size is in the UK (long story), which I could have googled anyway.
So, are Copilot+ PC devices like the Surface Laptop a colossal failure? Definitely not – I have a lot. Really Loved things about the Surface Laptop — but Copilot isn't one of them.
ARM is a game changer.
Much has been made of Snapdragon X chips – both Elite and Plus variants – and thanks to their NPUs reaching 45 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) they can handle the most demanding AI tasks with ease – but the Surface Using a laptop powered by a 12-core Snapdragon X X1E80100 chip, I was very impressed with the other advantages this ARM-based chip offers the Copilot+ PC devices they have.
Most impressive of all is the increased battery life of these chips. I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the poor battery life of even the best Windows laptops. Not only do they seem to drain battery life faster, but they are quite vulnerable to draining battery life even when not in use. Many times, I've picked up my work laptop to go to a meeting, only to find when I open it that the battery is dead – even though there was plenty left the last time I used it. was
Because of this I use MacBooks almost exclusively these days. Thanks to their ARM-based chips (M1, M2, M3), the best MacBooks can last much longer than Windows 11 laptops, while retaining their charge even when not in use for a while – But with Copilot+ PC, it's all possible. Change
I charged the Surface Laptop about two and a half days before writing this, and during that time I've been turning it on and off throughout the day, including testing AI features, participating in (many) video calls, recording and transcribing. to do A presentation and general internet browsing. With many Windows laptops in the past, I probably had to charge at least once a day. Even if I didn't need to, past experience makes me nervous about traveling without pre-charging my work laptop. Yes, range anxiety doesn't just affect people with electric cars – Windows laptop users get it, too. With the Surface Laptop, not only did I not have to charge it for days, but it still held more than 30%.
This is an absolute game changer for me, as battery life has improved massively, but it hasn't come at the expense of performance. So far, I've been able to run any Windows 11 app – thanks to Microsoft apparently figuring out how to get apps designed to run on Intel and AMD chips to run on ARM. Can work on chips.
The power efficiency of the Snapdragon X chips also means that the Surface Laptop is thinner and lighter – and importantly, it doesn't heat up quickly which means there's no fan noise. The laptop has been essentially silent while running, again a big change from Windows laptops I've used in the past.
This, more than any of the AI features, has made me seriously consider switching back to a Windows laptop. You're getting build quality and performance that matches MacBooks, with great battery life. And, for all the grief I give Microsoft about some of its more outrageous choices when it comes to Windows 11, I still feel more comfortable using that operating system than macOS. . Sure, Apple's OS is better than Microsoft's, but I've been using Windows since the days of Windows 3.1, and that means I know how the OS works, and how to fix errors and needs. The work method is to be used when falling. I'm less used to macOS and its sometimes weird way of working. Oh, and the Surface Laptop comes with a touchscreen, something Apple seems to be refusing to bring to its MacBooks, despite spending time using my iPad Pro (M4) and Magic Keyboard. passed that proved a touchscreen MacBook could work. Instead of waiting for Apple to agree, I can just use a Surface Laptop.
So, despite Copilot's importance in Microsoft's eyes, that's not the most impressive thing about Copilot+ PCs — it's the hardware. These devices could change the laptop market, just not in the way Microsoft thinks.