Your next Windows laptop might not be powered by an Intel or AMD processor but could be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Windows PC makers have been waiting for a robust solution to take on the Apple Macbook Air, which is one of the most popular laptops in the world. The battle has further intensified since Apple moved entirely to Apple Silicon. In response, Microsoft and Qualcomm have joined forces with PC manufacturers to rethink the Windows PC.
Microsoft is betting heavily on Windows devices powered by Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus as they are the first Co-pilot+ PCs to hit the market. Microsoft has specified the hardware requirements for Copilot+ PCs, which include an NPU capable of at least 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPs), 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and 256GB of UFS/SSD storage. The company announced the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 recently and these devices are available in India as well.
Apart from Microsoft, established laptop manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, and Samsung have launched multiple devices powered by Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus across the world. Honor and Xiaomi are also expected to announce their devices shortly. After a series of initial setbacks and challenges, Windows Arm PCs are finally ready for prime time.
Back in 2021, Qualcomm acquired NUVIA, a Silicon Valley company, founded by ex-Apple engineers which was developing custom CPUs for data centers and servers. Qualcomm subsequently announced that it plans to bring the technology to flagship smartphones, next-generation laptops, and digital cockpits. The new Oryon CPU in the Snapdragon X Elite devices is the brainchild of that acquisition. The X series chips feature between 10-12 CPU high-performance cores, support high speed LPDDR5X RAM, high speed storage, built-in Adreno graphics and a dedicated NPU for AI workloads.
Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED is one of the first devices based on Snapdragon X Elite to launch in India and the highlight is the 15.6-inch 3K
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