It’s happening. No, really, for real this time. And yes, I know this has been said every year for the past decade. And that there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical that ARM-powered Windows machines will ever go mainstream.
But this week, a few really important announcements reports came to light that are clearing the path for a transition to ARM that is more than just overambitious hype. This time, it really could work.
Qualcomm was hosting its annual Snapdragon Summit this week, and included in the announcements was the Snapdragon X Elite, a serious PC chip that is claimed to be faster than both Intel and Apple. This is far from Qualcomm’s first rodeo when it comes to PC chips, but according its claims, it might be the first that really matters. The Snapdragon 8cx chips of the past few years received very lackluster support from PC manufacturers, despite every attempt by Qualcomm to make it happen.
The problem with adoption was always twofold: performance and app support. Qualcomm’s claims with chips like the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 was always that it was competitive with Intel’s mobile chips, but never that it offered a serious advantage. It was always battery life and 5G connectivity that it had to lean on. It had no solution for high-performance laptops, where Intel continued to dominate with its H-series chips, even as Apple’s MacBook Pros seemed to compete with no problem, despite also being based on ARM processors.
The second hurdle is with app support. The gap in compatibility for important applications that people rely on every day made switching to one of these Qualcomm laptops a huge challenge — even for those who were interested in the benefits of them. Famously, Google Chrome was an application that didn’t have a native app compiled for the ARM system architecture when the Surface Pro X originally debuted. Emulation of these apps has been notoriously sluggish, and getting developers to properly port them over has been difficult. It’s a chicken-or-egg problem, of course, but Microsoft has hedged its bets since the disaster of Windows RT, opting to quietly provide resources, but not apply pressure to developers.
The result has been a little to no momentum in making Qualcomm’s ARM chips a viable alternative to Intel or AMD — let alone Apple.
If the hope for a larger transition from x86 to ARM solely relied on Qualcomm, I would remain skeptical. But a report came out this week stating that both Nvidia and AMD were developing ARM-based chips made specifically for Windows machines. This is where things really get interesting. Because as impressive as Qualcomm’s new chips look, allowing existing players in the game is essential if Microsoft and laptop manufacturers who want the trend to take off.
According to the report, Qualcomm had an exclusivity deal with Microsoft, preventing other competitors from building ARM-powered chips for Windows. But with that deal ending in 2024, we’re finally going to see the other big chip companies get in on the action. With multiple chip manufacturers making ARM chips, I’m hoping Microsoft will feel far more confident in enticing developers to ARM.
We’re already seeing progress in this regard. As part of Qualcomm’s launch event, we learned that popular video editing software DaVinci Resolve would run natively on ARM in Windows. Of course, Resolve was already compiled for Apple Silicon, but it’s another good sign for the future of Windows on ARM. Some other important creative software, like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, are already available for Windows on ARM.
And based on what we’ve seen from Apple’s startling success in the Mac world, you can probably see why just about every company (except Intel) would want to push for ARM on Windows. The extreme efficiency shown by the M1 and M2 chips allows for previously unheard of battery life and performance per watt. It’s allowed Apple to make laptops like the M2 Max MacBook Pro that can compete with discrete graphics with all the heat. Just imagine a thin, proper gaming laptop that doesn’t make your palms sweaty or spin up like a jet engine.
I’m not saying Windows on ARM is going to overtake x86 over night. It may take many, many years. But I can see the way now, and in the long run, that’ll be a very good thing for Windows PCs.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.