With prices starting at $999, some of these new types of PCs may seem like outrageous deals, whether for you or someone heading back to school this fall. But after testing Microsoft's Surface Laptop and Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7x, one thing seems clear: The reasons AIPC might suit you have nothing to do with AI.
Here's what you should know about them before jumping in.
What is an AI PC, exactly?
Basically, it's tech industry lingo for a computer with a processor that has a special part called an NPU, or neural processing unit, designed to run artificial intelligence features directly on your computer. .
Think of it this way: Imagine you're back at school and you desperately need help with calculus. You can try to power through it, but the smart move is tapping a math-savvy friend to help you crunch the numbers. In this case, that friend is the NPU, except to help with differentiation, it's doing calculations that help create strange images on the fly.
Although they may not look it, Microsoft's current batch of Copilot+ PCs are completely different from the Windows computers you're used to. That's thanks to an interesting chip choice: These PCs use processors from Qualcomm rather than Intel or AMD, which means they run a bit differently. This is mostly a good thing, but there are some downsides – more on those later.
What can this AI do for me?
Here's what you have to look forward to, ranked from my most used to least.
Studio effects for your webcam. Some Windows 11 PCs already have these, which you can use to blur your background during video calls. Microsoft has tweaked the feature for Copilot+ PCs to include a tool to make your eyes look like you're staring straight ahead, even as you read your notes out loud. Looking at the side.
Scary? Possibly, but I don't think anyone on the other end of my Zoom calls has caught on yet.
A chatbot companion. Microsoft's Copilot chatbot is already part of Windows 11, but now you can press a dedicated button on it. Your keyboard to start talking to him. The catch? It's really no different than talking to him on a website. And in some ways, Copilot is actually less competent here than before.
On Windows 11 PCs that don't have these fancy new chips, you can ask Copilot to interact with some of your computer's settings — like switching to dark mode or setting a timer. That's completely gone with Copilot+ PCs, which is great for anyone hoping that their parents can ask their PC to adapt instead of calling an AI. over and over again.
Live captions and translation. Like Studio Effects, some Windows 11 PCs can already generate live captions for whatever audio is playing. The feature will now translate audio in 44 languages into English – or at least that's the idea. At its best, the translations are a little choppy, and the captions pop up late enough to make it hard to follow. And at worst, well, they don't make sense.
AI art support. If your MS Paint skills are as poor as mine, you can now use the Paint app's co-creator tool to help — just describe what you want to see, and let the AI guide you with custom brushes. And use colors. It's really neat, and I'd love to see a kid get to know it, but it's not necessary.
You can completely turn things into AI with the ImageCreator feature – except you have to be connected to the internet and have a Microsoft account to do it. You can also ask ChatGPT to do this for you first.
Remembering The tool, which takes screenshots of everything you do on your PC so AI can help sharpen your memory, was considered the flagship feature of these Copilot+ computers.
Oops it's not here yet. An uproar from security researchers who found that the feature was both turned on by default and potentially stored sensitive data forced Microsoft to pump the brakes.
Are these AI PCs really worth it?
They can be, even if the AI stuff is disappointing.
Because of the chips you'll find in these Copilot+ PCs, you can expect to see very good battery life. Take the Surface Laptop ($999+) I'm testing: After putting it through a full day of writing, video calling, trying out games, and editing photos, it often gets 20 minutes before it shuts down. The charge was between 30 percent. Cover for the night.
On days spent mostly in a web browser, meanwhile, I could use the laptop for eight hours without hitting the 50 percent mark.
It's fantastic for a Windows-only laptop, and I can't say enough about how nice it is to get your work done without fearing the battery. And that's especially true considering my test machine — a high-end Surface Laptop model — felt snappy and responsive through almost everything I threw at it.
I say “almost” because some of the things I tried didn't work.
Add an interesting chip quirk. All the apps you've used on a Windows computer were designed around a basic foundation, or “architecture,” but Qualcomm's chips use a different one. And that means the apps you want to use sometimes won't work.
In my case, it's mostly playing: they see a processor they don't expect and refuse to start. Thankfully, these PCs are smart enough to “translate” older apps to run on newer chip architectures, but this can leave you with bugs and extra power drain.
If you primarily live in a web browser, you don't have to worry too much. But if you rely on any Windows apps or utilities — especially older ones that can't be updated — you'll want to hold off on Copilot+ PC until you're sure that The software works the way it needs to.
Apple went through similar app growing pains when it switched its computers to Apple Silicon chips in 2020, and on the other hand it's doing just fine. Microsoft and its partners are now in a similar position: even without great AI tools, these so-called AI PCs are undeniably good at important things — and they stand to get better over time.