It’s the dawn of a new era in Microsoft’s eyes as the first wave of Copilot+ PCs are now available as of June 18. This “new class of Windows PCs,” as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describes them, contains hardware designed to run as many generative AI processes locally as possible, rather than having to rely on data centers.
These laptops all have an Arm-based Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm that includes a neural processing unit (NPU) to handle such tasks. Microsoft has stipulated that Copilot+ PCs need to have at least 40 TOPs (tera operations per second) of NPU performance, and 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at minimum. The systems each have a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard and they’re all slated to have strong battery life.
These Copilot+ PCs could really change how we interact with computers, bringing natural language nuance to a bevy of everyday tasks. A new Windows 11 layer includes dozens of deeply integrated AI models. These can handle all manner of processes including automated photo restoration, real-time captioning and translations for live and pre-recorded video, graphics upscaling for games, image generation, text summaries and much, much more.
One highly touted feature will be missing from most Copilot+ PCs at the outset, however. Microsoft has decided to postpone the broad rollout of Recall. The idea behind this feature is to help you find anything you’ve ever accessed on your computer, such as a web page, document, email, chat or image. To make this work, Windows needs to take snapshots of your activity every few seconds and add these to a Recall timeline.
It didn’t take long for privacy advocates to criticize the feature. Microsoft backtracked to a certain degree by making Recall opt-in and adding extra layers of encryption. Just a few days before the public debut of Copilot+ PCs though, Microsoft took a further step back by announcing that recall would only be available in the Windows Insider Program at first. The company hopes to receive feedback from more testers before rolling out Recall to all eligible Copilot+ PCs.
That said, many Copilot+ PCs are now available and Microsoft plans to roll out the announced features gradually in the coming months. Dell, Acer and HP are among the first third-party manufacturers to build Copilot+ PCs, though Microsoft has some of its own. Let’s take a look at the first laptops to carry the new label.
Surface Laptop
The new Surface Laptop was the first Copilot+ PC detailed at a Microsoft event held in May. The updated PC has all of the AI bells and whistles you would expect, as it’s a first-party device. The Surface Laptop’s touch display can hit 600 nits of brightness, with availability in 13.8- and 15-inch options, and there’s a full HD camera integrated into the bezel. Microsoft says the laptop is 80 percent faster than the previous generation, with a battery that can get up to 22 hours per charge. There’s the Copilot key, of course, as well as a haptic touchpad. The Surface Laptop starts at just $1,000.
Surface Pro
Microsoft has dropped its old numerical naming convention for Surface hybrid devices. Based on previous models, the latest version should be called the Surface Pro 10, but it’s called just the Surface Pro. Microsoft says the new Surface Pro is a whopping 90 percent faster than the Surface 9, which was already fairly quick. There’s also an OLED version that boasts a “near-infinite” contrast ratio between deep blacks and brighter colors.
The company also brags that the front-facing camera is the best it has ever created, with fantastic low-light performance. The rear-facing camera can capture 4K video. The new Flex keyboard design works whether or not it’s physically attached to the 2-in-1, so you can position things however you want. Other features include a customizable haptic touchpad, Wi-Fi 7 and increased multi-monitor support. The new Surface Pro starts at $1,000.
Acer Swift 14 AI
This is Acer’s Copilot+ PC spin on its line of Swift-branded laptops. This laptop features a 14.5-inch, 2.5K touch display, Wi-Fi 7, up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. All of this is stuffed into a quite fetching metal chassis that weighs 1.36 kg (3 lbs). Acer is also promising a battery life of up to 26 hours. The Acer Swift 14 AI will be available in July, with a starting price of $1,100.
HP Omnibook X
HP has revived its once-iconic Omnibook line of laptops and updated it for the age of AI. The Omnibook X ships with the Snapdragon X Elite CPU, with up to 12 cores and a top speed of 3.4 GHz. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU powers all of those AI bells and whistles and the Adreno GPU handles the visual side of things. You can spec out this laptop with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of solid-stage storage.
The Omnibook X has a multitouch-enabled 14-inch, 2.2K display, dual speakers with HP Audio Boost technology and up to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. The system is available now for a starting price of $1,150. You can easily spot HP AI PCs thanks to a new helix-shaped logo.
HP EliteBook Ultra G1q
The Omnibook X isn’t the only Copilot+ PC that HP has announced. The company also unveiled the business-focused EliteBook Ultra G1q. This laptop also uses the Snapdragon X Elite CPU, along with an NPU capable of more than 40 TOPs. That means it should whiz through AI tasks at a rapid clip. The new EliteBook Ultra can do all of the typical chatbot/digital assistant stuff, but the Poly Camera Pro software now runs on the NPU, so you won’t draw power from the CPU when using tools like background blur and virtual backgrounds during video calls.
This PC also includes premium endpoint security to defend against phishing attempts and malware attacks at the firmware level. There’s a 14-inch, 2.2K touch display and a battery that charges to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. You’ll be stuck with 16GB of soldered-on RAM, however, and the storage maxes out at 1TB. The EliteBook Ultra G1q is available now and it starts at $1,700.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x features the Snapdragon X Elite chip, and a 14-inch screen that covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and delivers up to 500 nits of brightness. The bezels are thin, there’s a quad-mic setup and it has a starting weight of 2.82 lbs. Lenovo even managed to fit in cooling fans. There’s also a 70Wh battery that should easily last a full work day (unless you’re playing games or editing a lot of video). The Yoga Slim 7x starts at $1,300.
The company has another AI PC coming, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. This also features a beefy NPU processor for AI tasks.
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge Series
The Galaxy Book series is getting an AI-centric refresh. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge series comes in a few varieties, with screen sizes ranging from 14 inches to 16 inches. They all feature AMOLED display panels with 3K resolution, with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The systems run on Snapdragon X Elite processors. Each version also includes a HDMI 2.1 output, two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. In addition, the 16-inch model boasts a USB-A port, a microSD card reader and a number pad.
There’s a pro version available with the most powerful, 3.8GHz Snapdragon X Elite variant and 1TB of storage (rather than 512GB), though only if you opt for the 16-inch format. These laptops start at $1,350.
ASUS Vivobook S 15
This ultrathin 15.6-inch laptop is powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor and includes a collection of AI-centric apps developed by ASUS. The AiSense camera feature detects when someone is in front of the display and dims the screen when they look away to preserve juice. This is also used to automatically lock and unlock the computer. This Vivobook is also the first ASUS laptop to feature StoryCube, which is a proprietary AI assistant that helps to “manage all digital assets.”
As for standard specs, it has a 15.6-inch OLED display, with a 3K resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. There’s a Harman Kardon-certified audio system with multi-dimensional Dolby Atmos sound, a solid array of ports and a 70Wh battery with the promise of over 18 hours of use on a single charge. You can outfit these laptops with up to 1TB of internal storage and up to 32GB of RAM. It’s surprising the company didn’t have a Zenbook ready to go here, given last year’s model went pretty hard for AI.
A Whole Bunch of Dell PCs
Dell is diving in head-first here, as it has already lined up at least five Copilot+ PCs. First of all, there’s an AI-centric refresh of the XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite chip. This laptop includes a sleek, minimalist design with a machined aluminum exterior. There’s a touch function row that toggles between media controls and function keys, and an option for a 3K touch display. You can stuff up to 2TB of SSD storage and 64GB of memory into this model. The latest XPS 13 starts at $1,300 and it’s available now.
The company has also refreshed its Inspiron line of laptops. The Inspiron 14 and Inspiron 14 Plus both feature Snapdragon X Plus processors. The Inspiron 14 Plus looks to be a bit more powerful on the CPU side of things, with 10 cores and speeds up to 3.4GHz. The latest Inspiron 14 Plus starts at $1,100. Dell will release pricing and availability information for the standard Inspiron 14 Copilot+ PC in the coming months.
For enterprise customers, Dell will have the Latitude 5455 and the Latitude 7455, which are offshoots of the current Latitude 5450 and 7450 notebooks. The big change here is that both new models will be powered by Snapdragon X Plus chips, with the 7455 offering an option for the flagship Snapdragon X Elite. The 7450 features a 360-degree 2-in-1 design and is being touted as the “thinnest Latitude laptop ever.” We’ll get pricing and availability informaton on these later this year.
What about other PC companies?
These are all of the big hardware announcements from May’s Microsoft Surface and Copilot event, but they’re only the first batch of Copilot+ PCs. More are certain to be on the way. This is, after all, the decade of AI… so they say.
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