Copilot+-PC tried out: The un-cool is cool!

I was curious: Can Microsoft do with the new ARM PCs what Apple has been able to do for some time? My conclusion after two days: The really remarkable thing about the new PCs is that there is nothing remarkable about them - they work pretty well within the framework of the promises made by Microsoft. The 13.8-inch Surface notebook easily lasts a long working day without a power outlet with my typical editorial applications. I've never even heard the fan that the device is supposed to have - I've heard it quite differently from all other Windows devices with Intel and AMD processors in my environment.

Undemanding requirement profile

However, my applications do not place any great demands on a PC: Firefox as a browser is available natively for ARM. WireGuard, for accessing the publishing network, is also available in an ARM version. My favorite editor Typora has also been developed as an ARM version. Only the Nextcloud desktop application, i.e. the sync client, is currently only available in a 64-bit x86 version (called x64). However, its integration into ARM Windows works flawlessly, even the context menus in Explorer work, which, for example, allow files to be shared from the Nextcloud directory via a link.

Apart from Nextcloud, one Microsoft program still runs permanently as an x64 binary file (OfficeClickToRun). At system startup and reboot, x86 processes are often active for a short time. All other programs are ARM code. Ah, wait a minute: When I start WinWord from the delivery package, an arm64ec application is also running, which the task manager displays as "Arm64 (x64-compatible)". These are special applications ("emulation compatible") in which developers can deliver optimized arm64 and "old" x64 code in a binary file. They are intended to minimize the porting effort and still open up the opportunity to exploit ARM's special capabilities with optimizations. It is astonishing that Microsoft, of all companies, still delivers such applications as part of its Office package. Well, others aren't any faster: LibreOffice is currently only available as a beta for ARM.

All in all, I may have been lucky with my choice of application. You read in many places that VPN clients are on strike. The suspicion is that this is because they require special drivers. The manufacturer would have to recompile them for ARM. The emulation included in Windows 11 version 24H2, which executes x86 and x64 code on ARM, can only do this for application code. Such instructions naturally also apply to all devices that require their own drivers. If there are no such drivers for ARM and no suitable ones are included with Windows, the device will not work with ARM Windows.

Of course, you can also find a lot of other software that does not run properly on the new ARM devices: games, for example. Incidentally, it is also not possible to boot ARM versions of Linux – colleagues who have tried a number of distributions report that the boot process fails. And, what is colossally annoying, the non-deterministically present AI crutches: Sometimes Copilot is visible in the taskbar, sometimes not. Pressing the Copilot button only ever brings up copilot.microsoft.com. My colleagues have already found out that the button can be assigned differently with the power toys. I don't need that: After two days of trial operation, I'm happy to switch back to my MacBook Air with M-CPU – my curiosity is satisfied and ARM is a promise that Microsoft can keep in my view, if they don't make a complete fool of themselves now.

(ps)