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Corrections & Clarifications: Due to a production error, an earlier version of this article mistakenly featured the wrong byline. It has been corrected.
If you’re thinking about buying a new laptop for this semester or as a gift for the holiday season, you’re faced with a big decision: Should you buy a next-generation AI-powered Copilot+ PC? But a recent flurry of announcements from laptop OEMs and the chip providers that power them has made that decision almost false.
What is Copilot+ PC and why do I need it?
Copilot+ PCs are a new breed of laptops with significant on-device (generative) artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. To earn this designation from Windows provider Microsoft, a laptop must meet or exceed certain minimum AI processing requirements. For the tech-minded, the requirement is to have a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with at least 40 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of processing power. Copilot+ PCs offer full-day+ battery life, lightning-fast performance, an enhanced user experience, and an incredibly thin, light, and sleek design.
Today, most AI processing happens in the cloud, meaning all information is sent to the cloud, whether you’re interacting with ChatGPT or using one of our many tools to create text-to-images. But with Copilot+ PC, most of that processing happens on-device, meaning your data stays private and stored securely on your device. Plus, on-device AI is more accurate, personalized, relevant, and nearly free. If you want to learn more about this, check out my articles here and here.
Even if you don’t plan on using AI, you should still buy a Copilot+ PC. It’s the best laptop on the market today, the most secure, the best looking, and even outperforms Apple’s MacBook.
Not all Copilot+ PCs are the same
Copilot+ PCs come in many variations across chip platforms, different configurations of those platforms, numerous OEMs, price and performance tiers, etc. It all started when smartphone technology giant Qualcomm partnered with Microsoft and numerous PC OEMs to launch the first Copilot+ PCs based on the Snapdragon XElite and XPlus platforms in May this year, which set a new bar for laptop performance.
Following Qualcomm, personal computing giants Intel and AMD announced their Copilot+ PC platforms, Intel’s platform is called Core Ultra 200V (project name Lunar Lake) and AMD’s platform is called Ryzen AI300. At the recently concluded European consumer trade show IFA, many OEMs announced laptops with these platforms.
There are some key differences between the Qualcomm platform and the Intel/AMD platforms. The Qualcomm platform is designed using technology from the British company Arm. This technology has been used in smartphones for over 20 years and is known for its excellent power efficiency. Qualcomm has brought it to the PC platform, setting the bar for other vendors, to deliver breakthrough battery life and thin, light, sleek designs. Because this is new, the Arm for Windows app ecosystem is still developing. Nearly all essential apps are supported, but some apps, especially some games, may not be supported yet.
Intel and AMD platforms are based on X86 technology that’s been around for over 30 years, so app compatibility isn’t an issue, but the Core Ultra 200V and Ryzen AI300 are newer designs and their performance is yet to be proven.
So, when choosing a Copilot+ PC, users should also pay attention to the platform used by those PCs, in addition to price, features, etc. For reference, here is a review of Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7x.
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Why is now a good time to buy?
Technology is like waves in the ocean: by the time one wave hits the shore, another is right behind it. If you want to take full advantage of the latest technology, you need to get in when it’s mature and there are enough options in the market. That’s where Copilot+ PC is right now.
Currently, almost every PC OEM offers Copilot+ PCs, including Lenovo, Dell, HP, Samsung, Microsoft, Asus, and Acer. These are available in both consumer and enterprise segments at every price point. For example, PC market leader Lenovo offers ThinkPads for enterprise, Yogas for premium consumers, and IdeaPads for the mid-range/budget segment. Each segment has different variants to suit every consumer and business need. Other PC OEMs are also offering similar products. At IFA, Qualcomm announced a new platform targeted at laptops in the $700 range.
Microsoft offers many Copilot+ AI features and applications that enable improved video calling, live captioning in multiple languages, text to image conversion, etc. While AI is still in its early stages, it will continue to evolve and deliver more AI apps and features that will be innovative and improve user experience.
One key factor common to all Copilot+ PC platforms is that they all have the same AI capabilities across all tiers. For example, Qualcomm’s XElite and XPlus have the same AI processor. This means that no matter which Copilot+ PC you choose, you’ll get great performance for years to come. In summary, if you’re looking to buy a laptop this year, consider a Copilot+ PC.