PSA: It doesn't matter if your computer runs on ARM, all of your apps will work on Windows 11

[Windows Central]

Windows devices running on Arm processors from Qualcomm and Microsoft can run x86 and x64 apps in Windows 11 with a clever trick that means your productivity isn't negatively affected.

PSA: It doesn't matter if your computer runs on ARM, all of your apps will work on Windows 11 : Read more

 

[Dholzer]

This has been hyped greatly. But what is the use case here? It is basically a cheaper M3 Pro laptop. Which is fine, but all the hype is going to make people excited for an experience that is likely going to let them down. As the article mentions, there are driver incompatibility issues, and there are also lots of issues with games (at least with Apple silicon with Windows on ARM).

 

[nop]

I'm waitn for the ARM-powered consumer ver of the Surface Pro 10

 

[Ben Wilson]

This has been hyped greatly. But what is the use case here? It is basically a cheaper M3 Pro laptop. Which is fine, but all the hype is going to make people excited for an experience that is likely going to let them down. As the article mentions, there are driver incompatibility issues, and there are also lots of issues with games (at least with Apple silicon with Windows on ARM).

I wouldn't expect to game on a Surface Pro to be honest, and I'm finding I use it every evening since picking one up second hand. The battery life alone is hilariously long, so if Qualcomm delivers better performance than an M3 chip on top of that, I'm all in.

It's not pretending to be a gaming laptop, but neither is a MacBook, they're just consequential apps.

 

[vascro]

There's a typo/incorrect information in the article; the surface pro 9's processor is identified as the SQ1, this is incorrect. The SQ3 is the process or in the SP9 5G. The SQ1 was in the original surface pro X.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Very excited to see the next generation of Windows on Arm.

 

[Ben Wilson]

There's a typo/incorrect information in the article; the surface pro 9's processor is identified as the SQ1, this is incorrect. The SQ3 is the process or in the SP9 5G. The SQ1 was in the original surface pro X.

Aha! Nice catch, I'd been staring at my Pro X too long. Fixing.

 

[naddy69]

Yes, Windows Arm has come a LONG way since Windows 10 on a Surface Pro X. I had an X a few years ago, which was 16GB and 512GB storage. About the only MS software that was Arm native was Edge. But even the background Edge Update Service was Intel. How lame was that? Notepad, Windows Media Player and everything else was still Intel code.

I am running Windows 11 Arm in a VM on this MacBook Pro. Everything I have that is still Intel runs fine. And fast. Even a game I wrote 15 years ago, which is X86 code.

BTW I sold the Pro X on eBay after only a few months. The hardware was GREAT, but the software just was not there yet. Way too much Intel code was running in (bad) emulation, which killed both performance and battery life.

Windows 11 Arm ’s Intel emulation is WAY better. Plus much more (all?) of Windows is running Arm native code now. That was not the case with Windows 10 when I had the Surface Pro X. Not to mention that I am running on an Apple M2 Pro Arm CPU that is also WAY faster/better than the Arm CPU the Pro X had.

 

[Ben Wilson]

Yes, Windows Arm has come a LONG way since Windows 10 on a Surface Pro X. I had an X a few years ago, which was 16GB and 512GB storage. About the only MS software that was Arm native was Edge. But even the background Edge Update Service was Intel. How lame was that? Notepad, Windows Media Player and everything else was still Intel code.

I am running Windows 11 Arm in a VM on this MacBook Pro. Everything I have that is still Intel runs fine. And fast. Even a game I wrote 15 years ago, which is X86 code.

BTW I sold the Pro X on eBay after only a few months. The hardware was GREAT, but the software just was not there yet. Way too much Intel code was running in (bad) emulation, which killed both performance and battery life.

Windows 11 Arm ’s Intel emulation is WAY better. Plus much more (all?) of Windows is running Arm native code now. That was not the case with Windows 10 when I had the Surface Pro X. Not to mention that I am running on an Apple M2 Pro Arm CPU that is also WAY faster/better than the Arm CPU the Pro X had.

That's basically what I was expecting but so far the native Arm library has covered almost everything except Skype, Clipchamp, and, funnily enough, the Surface Diagnostic Tools app!

 

[CadErik]

Makes me wonder if future Xbox ARM handhelds are possible. These devices might be first gen of solid ARM devices that will finally compete with Apple but I'm excited to see what will be coming in terms of battery efficient devices. I think it will be a game changer because these chips could also power cloud servers.

 

[ShavedMonkey]

l have been using the Surface Pro 9 ARM for over a year and hands down has been the best experience l have had on a Windows PC (with 3 previous Intel Surface devices). Battery life is amazing, to the point that it has never had the opportunity to go below 20% once since I have owned it. It' runs cool, and totally silent - like a phone or iPad. All the Apps, printers, devices I use all just work. I even run MAME (emulator being emulated, then emulated!) perfectly. In Task Manager over 95% of the entire running services, and apps are reported as ARM native, so a lot of work has also already been done. Don't do any hard core gaming on it - but who does on a standard Surface or laptop.

Next Windows device will definitely be ARM based.

 

[ShavedMonkey]

This has been hyped greatly. But what is the use case here? It is basically a cheaper M3 Pro laptop. Which is fine, but all the hype is going to make people excited for an experience that is likely going to let them down. As the article mentions, there are driver incompatibility issues, and there are also lots of issues with games (at least with Apple silicon with Windows on ARM).

Not hype, have been using Surface ARM for over a year. For me the best Windows PC I have ever owned (this is my 4th Surface). p.s. if you just want 'hardcore' gaming, still stick to a dedicated PC with dedicated GPU.

 

[moocher720]

I look forward to testing these out when they are on the market. Windows 11 sprang new life into my aging Surface Pro X - SQ1.

Here are the items I'm interested in testing:

COM port connectivity
With respect to software development, will it be able to have seamless COM port connectivity?

Emulation
While emulation works now for most software, I have run into a few cases where it just won't work. Example: ProtonVPN standalone software does not work with emulation. It will run, and try to connect but just spins in endless loop trying to connect. (My workaround was to install OpenVPN and connect that way to those services). So will these new devices be able to emulate ANYTHING that is not designed to run on ARM???