Remember the Mac transition from Intel to Apple’s M1 processor? Now, it’s Windows’ turn with introduction of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite ARM processors featuring an inbuilt NPU for AI tasks and Copilot. Here’s the full story.
It was at Computex 2024 that Qualcomm announced these windows based ARM CPUs. Starting with a partnership with seven different OEMs, Qualcomm claimed these AI PCs would have higher performance, lower power consumption, and improved stability compared to Intel or AMD-based systems. While it challenges Intel’s efficiency, mostly with its 14th Gen processors, there are several factors to consider that make the Snapdragon X Elite laptops much better than Apple’s M1.
#1 – Battery Life
Battery life is a major concern for many users. But the Surface laptop, which quotes 23 hours of battery life once fully charged – shows us a massive improvement.
This means that I can write blogs all day, with full brightness, and YouTube, Spotify opened in the back, without changing my laptop and when I reach home – it’ll be around 40%, that’s how efficient and powerful Snapdragon X Elite is – it even outlasts the M1 Macbook Air on some benchmarks.
And that’s actually the major benefit of ARM being Reduced Instruction Set processors over x86 being Complex Instruction Set CPUs. Previously used in places like AC remotes, TVs and others – ARM CPUs boost efficiency to extreme within the power limit in laptops. Imagine the performance when this will be introduced as a desktop CPU without power limit! – Faster processing, improved compatibility and ability to handle heavy loads.
#2 – Performance
In single core, the new Snapdragon X Elite gives a head-on competition to ever CPU in the market, it’s actually equal to the 14900K . The laptop delivers top-notch performance for everyday tasks. Especially when the Microsoft Office suite is considered or web browsing, it handles everything
However, there’s a catch! This laptop is not built for high-end gaming. The integrated GPU with Snapdragon X Elite makes it more than enough for general use but not gaming or any other 3D intensive tasks. For gaming & 3D, our recommendation will still be to get a Custom PC with your specific use case so you deliver on time, work on time, and enjoy your time – the smoother way.
#3 – App Compatibility
It was around 2020 when Apple switched from Intel to Apple’s M1 chip. Guess what happened? Half the apps were unstable, and the remaining half unusable.
The same is happening with these laptops now. Native apps like Photoshop, Lightroom CC, Google Chrome, Spotify, etc run smoothly. But on the flip side, if you use apps such as Lightroom Classic, you will notice a lag. For the rest – like Google Drive and VMware, they don’t work.
We know this is a transition and Qualcomm having a conversation with the software developers to make it compatible will take time. Till then, despite the Snapdragon X Elite great performance, recommending it to use it as main system, especially for professionals will not be a wise decision.
#4 AI and Copilot Features
The Biggest USP (according to Qualcomm) is its integration with Microsoft’s Copilot. With a dedicated button on the keyboard for accessing Copilot on the go, consumers have access to AI features like studio camera effects (background blur and artificial eye contact) and Copilot Recall (which remembers your entire browsing history).
This is possible due to it’s incredible NPU – Now, in Desktop PCs, the GPUs itself have tensor & CUDA cores which can handle AI tasks, but for laptops and especially ARM chips, a dedicated NPU is required, and Qualcomm’s NPU is pretty solid with 45 TOPS of performance. Easily beating every other laptop chip in the market.
So to conclude, the Microsoft Surface laptop with Snapdragon X Elite chip takes laptops to extreme heights. Offering excellent battery life but unstable.
But imagine the performance when this will be introduced as a desktop CPU without power limit! – Faster processing, improved compatibility and ability to handle heavy loads.
And in case you’re looking for a PC that is compatible with all your needs, whether gaming or content creation, creating LLMs or Servers to handle any data – we have stores in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Mumbai with our configuration experts helping you do the same. You can visit them – or you just click themvp.in and we schedule a one-to-one call for you.
