1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,680
If you've been looking for a Windows laptop or tablet, there are actually quite a few systems

2
00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,880
that are now featuring Qualcomm processors.

3
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:12,400
That's right, the same company that probably made the chip that's sitting inside your Android smartphone.

4
00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:18,080
But why the heck are they putting ARM architecture Qualcomm chips in Windows computers

5
00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,840
instead of the x86 architecture CPUs from AMD and Intel

6
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:27,200
that we're all used to? Is this kind of like what Apple's doing with their ARM-based M1 chips?

7
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:32,560
Well, yes and no. So as consumer-grade ARM chips have become

8
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:37,680
more and more capable in recent years, I mean just think about how much more powerful smartphones

9
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,760
are than they were a decade ago. It's become clear that you don't necessarily need

10
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,800
a high-powered x86 chip to handle common tasks

11
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,600
like watching videos, shopping online, or working inside of an office suite.

12
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,600
So Windows on ARM was conceived as a way to give laptop and tablet users

13
00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,800
the full Windows experience they're already familiar with,

14
00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:02,880
but with significantly better battery life as ARM chips tend to use less power than x86 ones.

15
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:09,040
Windows on ARM first appeared in 2018, so we were well into the era of smartphones

16
00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,240
as do-it-all devices by the time it showed up. But it wasn't especially well received.

17
00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,080
Users complained that the Qualcomm-based systems were rather sluggish,

18
00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,480
and it certainly didn't help that the first systems used the Snapdragon 835,

19
00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,520
an already year-old chip that was designed more with phones in mind than laptops.

20
00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:33,040
So while it was cool that Snapdragon gave these laptops 4G connectivity, basically by default,

21
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,200
that wasn't exactly a feature that made up for generally poor performance,

22
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,400
meaning they didn't get off to the rock and start that Apple did.

23
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,240
Another contributor is the fact that Windows for ARM doesn't have the advantage

24
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:49,840
of a vertically integrated company behind it making the hardware and software go hand-in-glove together.

25
00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:56,320
Another issue was that early Windows on ARM machines couldn't support many common Windows programs natively.

26
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,520
Windows itself and apps offered through the Microsoft Store

27
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,080
were specifically written for ARM chips, but other programs had to be emulated,

28
00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:10,560
which is to say basically they had to be translated from x86 instructions to ARM instructions in real time,

29
00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:15,120
which taxed the CPU and resulted in even worse performance.

30
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,840
Making matters even worse, increasingly common X64 applications,

31
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,160
so the 64-bit version of x86, wouldn't run at all,

32
00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,480
as Windows for ARM didn't originally feature an X64 emulator.

33
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,520
So Microsoft's plan wasn't to just leave Windows on ARM running on weak hardware with poor software support.

34
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,360
Qualcomm started to come out with chips like the Snapdragon 8CX,

35
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,480
which was specifically designed for laptops and tablets

36
00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,680
and packed a much bigger punch than the reused phone chips.

37
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:48,320
Microsoft then tweaked the 8CX and created their own version of it called the SQ1,

38
00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,760
which made its way into their Surface Pro tablet lineup in 2019.

39
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,800
Qualcomm then expanded the chip product line to cover more price and performance tiers,

40
00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,760
and while their new lineup still hasn't caught up to Intel or AMD in terms of performance,

41
00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,160
the newest chip set to be released at the time we shot this video had a multi-core performance score

42
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,440
in Geekbench comparable to a Ryzen 5 2000 series.

43
00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,840
So it's definitely nothing to... Excuse me, sneeze at.

44
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,520
Indeed, reviews of more recent devices have noted snappier performance

45
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,280
combined with multi-day battery life, and we should see better compatibility

46
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:27,360
with third-party apps going forward. Windows 11 is finally introducing support for x64 programs,

47
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,120
though the feature has notably been removed from Windows 10

48
00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,640
since Windows 11 came out. Okay.

49
00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:40,720
The way Windows on ARM handles emulation has also been streamlined, with Windows 11 being able to emulate portions of programs

50
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:47,680
that haven't been ported over to run natively on ARM. So developers can actually run combinations of x86 and 64

51
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,920
and ARM code at the same time if they have a program that isn't fully written for ARM yet,

52
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,520
which is super cool. Microsoft has also made more developer tools

53
00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,720
available to programmers, which should encourage more software studios

54
00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,240
to write for Windows on ARM. In fact, Adobe has recently rolled out

55
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:07,520
native Windows on ARM versions of Photoshop and Lightroom with more of the creative suite apps to follow.

56
00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,800
Of course, Windows for ARM isn't a magic bullet for solving the performance versus battery life problem,

57
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,320
especially if Qualcomm is the only one building chips,

58
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,400
and they have been. Microsoft has had an exclusivity deal with Qualcomm

59
00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,400
for Windows on ARM PCs, though that is reportedly ending soon,

60
00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,680
meaning we could see more competition coming down the road.

61
00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:32,880
In fact, it appears the industry may be moving more toward getting chip fabricators like TSMC

62
00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,240
to directly customize off-the-rack ARM designs

63
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:42,000
instead of buying whatever Qualcomm is offering. That way, other chip makers that want to get their hardware

64
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,800
inside Windows for ARM systems can bring their own innovations, maybe resulting in higher levels of performance

65
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,880
and allowing Windows on ARM to become a true rival to Apple's M-Series ecosystem.

66
00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,960
Just be prepared to shell out some money if you want the best performance you can get

67
00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:01,840
on a Windows on ARM device, as these laptops sell for amounts that rival higher-end x86-64 systems,

68
00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,640
but with obviously less performance. But better battery, right?

69
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,320
I mean, who needs a charger? Thanks for watching, guys.

70
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,360
Like or dislike, depending on how you feel. Check out our other videos,

71
00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,480
comment with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe.