Mircrosoft copilot plus surface laptop

So, you want a new laptop, and you might have stumbled upon Microsoft's Copilot laptops. What's new in them? Well, the latest rebranding of Microsoft's Copilot signifies something cool: AI chips are now embedded in this line of devices.

What Does Microsoft's Copilot Laptops and PCs Do? 

The Microsoft Copilot PCs and laptops are a new category of devices built in with AI processing. It has an NPU, different from the regular CPUs or GPUs in standard PCs and laptops. By that, it means Neural Processing Unit. It powers on-device AI capabilities, meaning even intense tasks such as advanced camera functions don't need an internet connection.

Essentially, a Copilot device processes questions and generates answers locally using its NPU, thus avoiding connecting to a remote server.

Key AI Features for Copilot Laptops and PCs

1. AI Image Generation: These are the artificial images generated by Copilot laptops and PCs, all done on the device. Local machines may enable software with this work—i.e., Midjourney or Stable Diffusion—and usually through a strong GPU. In a Copilot device, it is possible to create AI images without needing a high-end GPU or access to the internet.

2. Increased AI Integration for Apps: With time, Copilot devices will have increasing support for various AI features within applications, all because of the NPU. For example, substantial AI assistance is expected in Adobe software, along with the complete Windows Studio Effects package, which offers a range of AI framing effects and more, all for free.

The Microsoft Recall Feature

Not all AI features have been welcomed. For example, the recently launched Microsoft Recall was designed to take screenshots of an individual's desktop activities throughout the day for a more accurate and comprehensive AI experience. This would enable users to ask their Copilot device to find specific information based on these shots. But in light of privacy concerns, Microsoft got pushback and now makes this an opt-in feature.

Copilot Specs: What You Will Get

There are a few hardware requirements needed to ensure your Copilot device is optimized at its best. Microsoft has outlined the minimum requirements below that a device must have to count as a Copilot: 

  • Processor: Processor or SoC that is supposed to work with the integrated NPU, having performance values of at least 40 TOPS (Tera Operations per Second). The latter stands for how many trillions of operations the NPU can do every second; the larger the number, the higher and better the performance.

  • RAM: A minimum of 16 GB DDR5/LPDDR5; it is recommended to bump it up to 32 GB for improved performance.

  • Storage: 256GB SSD at least.

Currently, Copilot laptops are equipped with either Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus SoC. With Intel and AMD also due to launch Copilot spec hardware, the options for Copilot laptops and PCs are set to expand imminently.

Should You Buy a Copilot Laptop

Microsoft's Copilot laptops, on the other hand, have been quite successful after being released at the end of June 2024; most users highly praised the extraordinary battery life, which lasted over 20 hours, remarkable processing speed, and resistance to wear-and-tear. There were only some problems with the first generation of the Copilot laptops.

Teething Problems

  • ARM-based Hardware: The current laptops for Copilot use Qualcomm's ARM-based hardware and not the typical x86 architecture that people may be used to. This, therefore, makes many of the conventional applications run via an emulation layer, thus being notably slow in some apps.

  •  Native Apps Limited: There still aren't enough native Windows on ARM apps, which makes the Copilot launch appear a little premature. With AMD and Intel both lining up to launch Copilot-spec hardware with x86 processors shortly, it might be wise to hold on before picking up a Copilot laptop. Even if Intel and AMD's Copilot devices don't deliver the battery life of their Qualcomm equivalents, they promise better compatibility with the everyday software we use, which could be a big deal. 

Conclusion

Copilot laptops are the next big step when it comes to incorporating AI into consumer devices. With a few early teething problems and new, better-matched hardware from AMD and Intel, it could well pay to hang fire before pulling the trigger on purchasing a Copilot laptop. Perhaps as technologies mature, these will become devices people cannot do without for their AI-driven work, which will otherwise compromise performance or compatibility.