In addition to these features, the Copilot+ computers have proven to be more than capable of running general business applications, such as Microsoft Office products, web browsers, and the like. Their benchmarks often outperform similarly priced Intel and AMD laptops. Battery life is also great across the board on the Copilot+ computers, thanks to the lower power consumption required by the ARM processors.
So what’s the catch? What can’t they do?
There’s a slight problem with the ARM world. For decades, Windows has been written, rewritten, and rewritten to run on x86 chips. Add to that a up-to-date chip architecture, and you’ll have to rewrite your code. That’s not basic when there are thousands of apps on the market.
ARM app compatibility is better today than it was five years ago, partly because Microsoft’s Prism emulator can fill in the gaps between x86 and ARM code, but not all of it. So problems remain. Some apps won’t work at all. Some are still in development. Some require emulation—and emulation invariably means a significant performance penalty. There’s no canonical guide to what’s supported, but this page has the most complete list I’ve seen.
In low, the more you try to do on your PC beyond the basics, the more likely you are to run into compatibility issues. Various games and specialized apps like VPNs often don’t work (or don’t work well). Even some popular apps like Google Drive for Desktop aren’t supported on ARM. Many popular Windows-based benchmarks won’t work on ARM either, which can make comparing PCs to x86 machines arduous.
Graphics performance has also been uniformly faint on the Copilot+ so far, as the Snapdragon chipset’s integrated GPU isn’t up to par with Intel and AMD — and these laptops don’t support more powerful discrete graphics. If you’re sedate about gaming or GPU-intensive work like video rendering, the Copilot+ might not be for you.
These warnings will not apply to Intel or AMD-based Copilot+ computers when they become available, as they will not have compatibility issues with ARM processors. However, don’t expect the same battery life.
Is it worth buying a Copilot+ computer?
For now, Copilot+ computers are ideal for anyone who wants exceptional battery life but doesn’t push their laptop to its limits. Some of the Copilot+’s AI features are useful—Live Translate is amazing—while others are little more than novelties. Will a feature like Recall become a necessity or will it be rejected by those worried about being tracked? Only time will tell, and soon.
In the meantime, it’s worth considering the Copilot+ computers on their individual merits, as performance, features, and price vary more than you might think.
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