If You’re Tired of MacBooks Winning…

Dave2D
26 Mar 202407:22

Summary

TLDRThe script discusses the Windows laptop market's efforts to match Apple's M1 laptops in energy efficiency. It highlights the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips, which promise to improve performance and efficiency, potentially rivaling Apple's MacBooks. The discussion also covers the challenges of software support for ARM-based Windows laptops, the progress in emulation, and the importance of pricing and configuration for market success.

Takeaways

  • 🚀 Apple's M1 laptop sparked a race for energy efficiency in the Windows laptop market.
  • 🌟 Windows devices have since improved in various aspects such as screens, performance, pricing, gaming capabilities, and upgradability.
  • 🔋 Apple maintains a clear lead in energy efficiency, a metric crucial for form factor, battery life, heat output, and fan noise.
  • 💻 The use of ARM architecture in Apple's chips, as opposed to the x86 architecture in most Windows laptops, is a key factor in MacBook's energy efficiency.
  • 📱 Upcoming ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite laptops from Qualcomm are expected to compete well with Apple's MacBooks.
  • 📈 The new Snapdragon Elite chip has impressive benchmark scores, attracting interest from major laptop manufacturers.
  • 🔧 Software support for ARM-based Windows laptops has been a challenge, with limited native ARM apps and reliance on emulation for x86 apps.
  • 🎮 Gaming performance on these new chips is uncertain, with potential issues arising from emulated games across architectures.
  • 💰 Pricing will be critical for the success of these ARM-based Windows laptops, as they need to offer value to compete in a crowded market.
  • 🛠 Configuration options may be limited, with RAM and storage likely being fixed, similar to how MacBooks are designed.

Q & A

  • What has been the impact of Apple's M1 laptop on the Windows laptop space?

    -The introduction of Apple's M1 laptop has led to the Windows laptop space striving to catch up in terms of energy efficiency. Windows devices have since improved in areas such as screen quality, performance, pricing, gaming capabilities, and upgradability. However, Apple maintains a clear lead in energy efficiency, a metric that is crucial for laptops in terms of form factor, battery life, heat output, and fan noise levels.

  • Why is energy efficiency an important metric for laptops?

    -Energy efficiency is important for laptops because it directly affects the device's form factor, battery life, heat output, and noise levels. Energy-efficient laptops can potentially be thinner, have longer battery life, generate less heat, and operate with quieter fans or even be fanless.

  • What architecture does Apple use in its chips that contributes to their good energy efficiency?

    -Apple uses the ARM architecture in their chips, which is different from the x86 architecture that most Windows laptops use. This ARM architecture is a key factor in the high energy efficiency of MacBooks.

  • What is the significance of the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips in the Windows laptop market?

    -The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips are significant because they are ARM-based, like Apple's chips, and are expected to allow Windows laptops to compete with MacBooks in terms of energy efficiency. Major laptop manufacturers are supporting this new chip, which has shown impressive performance in benchmarks.

  • What were the issues with the Surface Pro X, an ARM-based Windows laptop reviewed in 2019?

    -The Surface Pro X had issues with software support and performance. Apps that did run on it didn't perform well, and the chip wasn't powerful enough to attract buyers. This led to a lack of interest from manufacturers in follow-up devices.

  • How has the performance of ARM-based chips evolved since the Surface Pro X review in 2019?

    -The performance of ARM-based chips has significantly improved since 2019. The new Snapdragon Elite chip has caught the attention of major laptop manufacturers with its impressive performance in benchmarks like Geekbench and Cinebench.

  • What is the current state of software support for ARM-based Windows laptops?

    -While there are a decent number of first-party Microsoft apps that run natively on ARM chips, the majority of third-party apps still do not have native ARM versions. This has been a limiting factor for the widespread adoption of ARM-based Windows laptops.

  • How does Apple's emulation strategy, Rosetta 2, differ from Windows' emulation?

    -Apple's Rosetta 2 uses a translation layer that creates unoptimized but native ARM code the first time an app is launched, which results in a smaller performance hit compared to Windows' emulation, which tends to be less efficient when running x86 apps on ARM chips.

  • What are the concerns regarding gaming performance on ARM-based Windows laptops with Snapdragon Elite chips?

    -There are concerns about the smoothness of emulated games on these systems, as past experiences with emulated games across architectures have been problematic. While Qualcomm suggests that existing games should work, the actual performance and compatibility remain to be seen.

  • What are the implications of ARM chips on RAM and storage configurations in Windows laptops?

    -ARM chips in Windows laptops likely mean that RAM and storage drives will be non-removable, as is the case with MacBooks. Users will need to choose their RAM and storage configurations at the time of purchase, as these will be fixed for the life of the product.

  • What is the critical factor for the success of ARM-based Windows laptops with Snapdragon Elite chips?

    -Pricing is a critical factor for the success of these laptops. Despite the potential for excellent battery life and performance, if the pricing is not competitive, consumers may opt for other options, as the market is already filled with many good alternatives.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Windows Laptops Catching Up in Energy Efficiency

This paragraph discusses the efforts of the Windows laptop industry to improve energy efficiency following the release of Apple's M1 laptop. It highlights the advancements in screen quality, performance, pricing, gaming capabilities, and upgradable components of Windows devices. Despite these improvements, Apple maintains a clear lead in energy efficiency, which is crucial for laptops as it affects form factor, battery life, heat output, and fan noise. The paragraph also notes the upcoming release of laptops with Qualcomm's new ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chip, which aims to compete with Apple's MacBooks. It reflects on the past experiences with ARM-based Windows laptops, such as the Surface Pro X, and the challenges faced in terms of software support and performance. The discussion emphasizes the importance of the new Snapdragon Elite chip, which has garnered interest from major laptop companies due to its impressive benchmark scores, although there are concerns about its high TDP and the potential for fanless designs.

05:02

💻 Software and Gaming Considerations for ARM-Based Windows Laptops

The second paragraph delves into the software aspect of ARM-based Windows laptops, noting the progress made since the release of the original Surface Pro X. It points out that while first-party Microsoft apps run natively on ARM chips, many third-party apps still lack native ARM versions, relying instead on emulation. The paragraph acknowledges the improvements in emulation technology, now supporting 64-bit apps and offering performance close to native execution, albeit with a reduction in energy efficiency. The discussion also touches on Apple's Rosetta 2 translation layer, which offers better performance than Windows emulation. Gaming performance on these new chips is approached with caution, as the paragraph expresses reservations about the smooth emulation of games across architectures. Finally, the paragraph addresses the importance of pricing and configuration for the success of these laptops, emphasizing the need for competitive pricing to ensure market viability and consumer interest.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Energy Efficiency

Energy Efficiency refers to the measure of how effectively a device uses energy to perform tasks. In the context of the video, it is a critical metric for laptops, influencing form factor, battery life, heat output, fan noise, and the possibility of having fanless systems. Apple's M1 laptops are highlighted for their superior energy efficiency, which is a key selling point and a challenge for Windows devices to match.

💡ARM Architecture

ARM architecture is a type of processor design that is known for its power efficiency and is used in the majority of smartphones and many tablets. In the video, it is noted that MacBooks use ARM-based chips, which contributes to their excellent energy efficiency compared to the more common x86 architecture used in Windows laptops.

💡x86 Architecture

x86 architecture refers to a family of instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel for their 8086 microprocessor and its successors. It is the most common architecture for desktop and laptop processors and is known for its compatibility and performance but typically uses more power than ARM-based chips.

💡Performance per Watt

Performance per watt is a metric that measures the efficiency of a device by comparing its processing performance to its power consumption. A higher performance per watt indicates that a device can deliver more computing power while using less energy.

💡Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is a new ARM-based chip designed for laptops, aiming to provide improved energy efficiency and performance to compete with Apple's M1 chips. It is expected to be adopted by major laptop manufacturers due to its promising benchmark results.

💡Emulation

Emulation refers to the process of running software or systems on a different architecture than the one for which it was originally designed. In the context of the video, it is used to describe how x86-based applications are made to run on ARM-based chips, which can lead to a reduction in energy efficiency and performance.

💡Software Support

Software support refers to the availability and compatibility of applications for a particular hardware platform. In the video, it is a critical factor for the success of ARM-based Windows laptops, as native applications optimized for ARM chips are currently limited, affecting the user experience.

💡Gaming Performance

Gaming performance refers to the ability of a device to run games smoothly and efficiently. It is influenced by the hardware's processing power, graphics capabilities, and software optimization. In the video, there is skepticism about the gaming performance of ARM-based laptops due to the challenges of cross-architecture emulation.

💡Pricing and Configuration

Pricing and configuration refer to the cost and specifications of a product, respectively. In the context of the video, these factors are crucial for the competitiveness of ARM-based Windows laptops against other options in the market.

💡Market Space

Market space refers to the segment or area of the market that a product or service targets. In the video, it is mentioned as a key area where Qualcomm and its partners can make significant progress with the introduction of the new ARM-based chips for Windows laptops.

💡Fanless System

A fanless system is a type of computer design that does not require fans for cooling. This is typically achieved through highly energy-efficient components that generate less heat, allowing for quieter operation and a thinner, lighter form factor.

Highlights

Apple's M1 laptop has spurred the Windows laptop space to improve energy efficiency.

Windows devices have made advancements in screen quality, performance, pricing, gaming capabilities, and upgradable components.

Apple maintains a clear lead in energy efficiency, a metric they emphasize in their marketing.

Energy efficiency in laptops impacts form factor, battery life, heat output, fan noise, and the possibility of fanless systems.

MacBooks' good energy efficiency is attributed to the use of ARM architecture over the more common x86 architecture in Windows laptops.

Upcoming laptops with Qualcomm's ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chips are expected to compete well against MacBooks.

Previous ARM-based Windows laptops, like the Surface Pro X, had limited software support and performance issues.

The new Snapdragon Elite chip has garnered interest from major laptop companies due to its impressive performance in benchmarks.

The Snapdragon Elite chip's performance in GPU benchmarks is noteworthy, though two variants with different power consumption levels were shown.

There is a demand for fanless, quiet devices with good performance, which the new ARM-based Windows laptops aim to provide.

Software support for ARM chips has been limited, with many third-party apps not having native ARM versions.

Windows' emulation layer for non-ARM apps has improved, now supporting 64-bit apps and offering performance close to native.

Apple's Rosetta 2 translation layer offers better performance than Windows' emulation, creating native ARM code for x86 apps.

Gaming performance on the new ARM-based chips is uncertain, with potential issues arising from emulating games across architectures.

Pricing and configuration will be critical for the success of ARM-based Windows laptops, with the expectation of higher minimum specs.

ARM chips in Windows laptops typically do not support removable RAM or drives, meaning users must choose their configurations upfront.

For the ARM-based Windows laptops to succeed, they must be competitively priced against other options in the market.

The speaker expresses renewed interest in ARM-based Windows laptops due to the promising performance of the Snapdragon Elite chips.

Transcripts

00:01

ever since Apple came out with that

00:03

first M1 laptop the entire Windows

00:05

laptop space has been trying to play

00:07

catchup on Energy Efficiency like at

00:09

this point Windows devices have better

00:11

screens they have better performance

00:13

they have better pricing they have

00:14

better gaming capabilities they have

00:15

upgradable components there's so much

00:17

stuff that's better when it comes to

00:18

Windows devices but when it comes to

00:20

Energy Efficiency Apple has the very

00:22

clear lead and this is the metric that

00:24

Apple leans in on right even when they

00:26

first launched the chip that was their

00:27

whole thing performance per watt year on

00:30

year it's like the thing that they lean

00:31

on for their marketing material because

00:33

it's really good now the reason why it's

00:36

so important is because Energy

00:37

Efficiency defines so much stuff when it

00:39

comes to a laptop it defines like the

00:41

form factor your battery life your heat

00:44

output your how loud your fans are maybe

00:46

you can even have a fanless system if

00:47

it's energy efficient enough and one of

00:49

the main reasons why MacBooks have such

00:51

good Energy Efficiency is because they

00:52

use the arm architecture in their chips

00:55

instead of the x86 architecture that the

00:57

vast majority of Windows laptops use now

00:59

very soon like in a matter of weeks we

01:01

are going to be seeing a whole slew of

01:03

laptops that contain a new chip from

01:05

Qualcomm the arm-based Snapdragon X

01:07

Elite and these laptops are supposed to

01:09

be able to properly compete against

01:11

Apple's MacBooks across the board now

01:14

you might be thinking Dave arm-based

01:16

Windows laptops aren't anything new how

01:18

do we know that this one won't suck like

01:21

all the other ones of the past I

01:23

wondered the same thing so uh in 2019 I

01:26

did my first review of a arm-based

01:28

Windows laptop the Surface Pro X and my

01:30

review of that device was it was

01:33

lukewarm at best you know what I can't

01:35

even call lukewarm I said that thing

01:36

sucked because they just had bad

01:38

software support and even for apps that

01:40

did run on it it just didn't have great

01:42

performance the chip wasn't special

01:43

enough for people to be for people to

01:46

buy it and because people weren't

01:48

purchasing this thing I don't even think

01:50

manufacturers were that interested in

01:51

doing follow-ups of that device but this

01:54

time it's really different because if

01:56

you look at this new chip the Snapdragon

01:58

Elite chip almost every major laptop

02:00

company is going to be on board for this

02:02

launch because the performance of this

02:04

chip has caught their eye it seems to be

02:06

really good in geekbench and cin bench

02:08

now granted these are synthetic

02:10

benchmarks running native versions of

02:11

those benchmarks so it's like best case

02:13

scenario but very impressive numbers

02:16

Apple does have their M3 Max but that's

02:18

just a completely different class of

02:19

Chip and also if you look at some of the

02:21

GPU benchmarks it's quite impressive

02:23

there is one thing to note here if you

02:25

look at those benchmarks there's two

02:26

variants that they showed a 23 watt

02:28

version and then an 80 watt version an

02:30

80 watt TDP is fairly high for a laptop

02:33

23 to 30 is probably kind of like your

02:35

average thin and light 14inch device I

02:38

am a little bit disappointed that they

02:40

didn't showcase some kind of like 10 to

02:42

15 watt performance metric because if

02:44

they had shown that that to me would

02:45

have been like there's going to be a

02:47

fanless version right CU I think on a

02:48

fanless device you kind of need to keep

02:50

it below 15 watts TDP I think in general

02:53

we're going to be seeing devices that

02:54

are much quieter compared to an Intel or

02:56

an AMD system right now but still having

02:59

awesome performance now the second thing

03:00

I want to talk about is software so all

03:03

the benchmarks that you saw right there

03:04

were done on apps that were built

03:06

specifically for arm chips now right now

03:09

in 2024 there's a decent amount of like

03:11

first-party Microsoft apps that run

03:13

natively on arm chips but the vast

03:16

majority of thirdparty apps still do not

03:18

have versions that are natively compiled

03:20

for arm chips it's been like 4 years

03:22

since I did my review on the original

03:24

Surface Pro X and since that time I

03:26

would have imagined there'd be way more

03:27

developers that have gone on board with

03:28

this whole native arm stuff it's still

03:31

fairly limited now it does make sense

03:33

like from the perspective of developers

03:35

unless there's an actual demand for this

03:37

kind of stuff you're not going to put

03:38

the resources in time that's required to

03:40

maintain another version of your app but

03:43

I do think that with this new hardware

03:44

Snapdragon Elite it pushes customers

03:46

towards it because it's attractive and

03:48

consequently developers come with but

03:51

for the apps that are still

03:53

x86 you still need to run emulation to

03:56

be able to run it on these arm chips now

03:58

back in 2019

04:00

because those chips weren't super

04:01

powerful emulation was bad also the

04:04

emulator only supported 32-bit apps at

04:06

launch so that was also awful but now

04:08

it's actually pretty decent it supports

04:10

64-bit apps and emulated performance is

04:12

pretty close to Native but there is a

04:15

noticeable reduction in Energy

04:16

Efficiency when you run emulated apps

04:18

and that's just the nature of real-time

04:20

emulation Apple does handle their

04:22

emulation differently like technically

04:23

it's not even emulation it's a

04:24

translation layer so it actually creates

04:26

this unoptimized but native arm code the

04:29

first time we launch it so it's not as

04:30

big of a performance hit the point I'm

04:32

trying to make though is that Apple's

04:33

Rosetta 2 is like it's going to be

04:36

better than what Windows has in terms of

04:38

the emulation SL transation however

04:41

because of these chips being as powerful

04:44

as they are I think they can just brute

04:45

force it I think that you throw in an

04:48

x86 app on these new Snapdragon chips I

04:50

think it just has the power to just push

04:52

it out and be like it just works not as

04:56

energy efficient but it'll work now

04:58

qualcomm's also talked about gaming

04:59

performance on these new Chips I have my

05:01

reservations like the idea of emulated

05:03

games on these systems the chip is good

05:06

it's similar to like an RTX 3050 let's

05:07

say in terms of just raw performance

05:09

capabilities now qualcomm's telling

05:11

developers that existing Games should

05:13

just work but there's so much stuff that

05:16

goes wrong when you emulate games on

05:19

across architectures like I I can't

05:21

imagine it coming out smoothly at least

05:23

that's what it's been like in the past

05:24

so if there's any difference this time

05:26

I'd be pleasantly surprised um okay last

05:28

thing I want to talk about pricing and

05:30

configuration so uh we've seen well

05:34

these are these are arm chips and when

05:35

it comes to arm chips you don't tend to

05:38

not have removable Ram it's not like you

05:39

just like swap out Ram modules kind of

05:41

like MacBooks but also I think that

05:44

there won't be removable drives like I

05:46

think that the drives will be baked onto

05:48

these systems the same way that MacBooks

05:50

are so you're going to be stuck with

05:52

deciding and choosing your RAM

05:54

configuration and storage configuration

05:56

for the life of the product now because

05:58

this is Windows I really don't think

06:01

they're going to have like 8 gigabyte

06:03

RAM options and 256 storage options like

06:06

that to me I don't think Windows would

06:08

allow that I really don't so I think

06:09

they'll be like 16 and 512 at a minimum

06:13

but it's all baked on now the other

06:15

thing is pricing in order for this

06:16

product to matter I really think pricing

06:19

is like absolutely critical because if

06:21

everything lines up if they do have an

06:23

awesome chip with awesome battery life

06:25

with great emulation support like if

06:28

it's super expensive

06:30

none of this video matters this entire

06:32

product is dead to me if the pricing is

06:34

horrible because it's so competitive at

06:37

this point yes nothing can match the

06:39

power efficiency of apple and yes these

06:41

devices are theoretically the ones to be

06:43

able to do it but if the pricing sucks

06:46

there's just a million other really good

06:48

options that people are going to pick

06:50

instead of a super expensive arm-based

06:52

Windows laptop I just hope that Qualcomm

06:54

recognizes kind of the scenario they

06:56

have at hand here it's awesome

06:58

opportunity to make some real Headway in

07:00

like Market space and just awareness of

07:02

this type of product but please don't be

07:04

super expensive that would suck um okay

07:07

there you have it I really think these

07:09

Windows laptops will be I think they'll

07:11

be cool I think they'll be the first

07:13

time I've been interested in a Windows

07:15

like an arm-based Windows laptop in four

07:17

years it's been a

07:21

while

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Verwandte Tags
ARM-laptopsEnergy-EfficiencyPerformance-BenchmarksQualcomm-SnapdragonSoftware-CompatibilityEmulation-ChallengesGaming-PerformancePricing-ConcernsTech-InnovationWindows-ARM
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