Microsoft announced two new laptops on Monday, just a day ahead of its Build 2024 developer conference. The new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro are powered by Snapdragon X Elite or the X Plus ARM processor, and these are the company's first set of personal computers shipping with the Copilot+ feature. At the event, Microsoft also announced that original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners like Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung will launch some of their Copilot+-powered PCs in select markets starting June 18, with a starting price of $999. According to Microsoft, the new 13-inch Surface Pro is up to 90 per cent faster than the previous Intel-based model. The Surface laptop is available in two sizes, featuring either a 13.5-inch or a 15-inch display, which is stated to be 80 per cent faster than the previous generation model. Microsoft says, "Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built. With powerful new silicon capable of an incredible 40+ TOPS (trillion operations per second), all-day battery life and access to the most advanced AI models, Copilot+ PCs will enable you to do things you can’t on any other PC." Copilot+ PCs can easily find and remember what a user has done on the PC by taking screenshots. These PCs also come with new on-device generative AI capabilities, such as generating and refining AI images via Cocreator. They are also said to be capable of translating in real time via live captions from over 40 different leagues to English and vice versa. To enable new experiences such as Copilot+ capabilities, Microsoft has introduced an all-new system architecture capable of combining "the power of the CPU, GPU, and now a new high-performance Neural Processing Unit (NPU) together". According to Microsoft, Copilot+-branded PCs will deliver these experiences by leveraging large language models (LLMs) running on the cloud (Azure) along with small language models (SLMs). The Copilot+-branded PCs, powered by the Snapdragon X Elite or the X Plus processor, are claimed to outperform the 15-inch MacBook Air in sustained multithreaded performance. They are also said to deliver all-day battery life, offering either 22 hours of video playback or 15 hours of web browsing on a single charge, which is reportedly 20 per cent better than the 15-inch MacBook Air M3. Besides, Windows 11 is also said to be optimised for native ARM64 experiences, which include first-party and third-party apps from top developers such as Teams, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Chrome, Spotify, Zoom, WhatsApp, Blender, Affinity Suite, DaVinci Resolve, and many more. Every Copilot+-branded PC is equipped with a Microsoft Pluton Security processor and offers personal, private control options. One of the new features coming to Copilot+-branded PCs is "Recall Instantly," which uses a photographic memory-like capability to quickly find a specific file or task. This feature can also be disabled. Another app available on Copilot+ PCs is "Cocreate," which is backed by generative AI and can transform a simple illustration or sketch into a photorealistic picture. Copilot+-powered PCs will be available for pre-order in the US starting this Tuesday. The initial devices will be based on the Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus platform. Microsoft has confirmed that Copilot+ PCs, which will be powered by Intel and AMD CPUs and NVIDIA graphics, will be coming to the market soon.
