Copilot+ PCs are a big deal for Microsoft, Windows and the manufacturers that make them. The Snapdragon X Elite chip powering most of the new breed appears to be surprisingly good, and overall our team members who started testing them were impressed.
However, hardware is only part of the equation, and the Copilot+ has had its fair share of bad headlines since its announcement. Maybe it deserves it, but still, Windows Recall isn’t my personal beef with it. This is how Microsoft saw fit to handle its rollout.
Copilot+ is all software, albeit with hardware requirements. But I have a laptop here with a Ryzen 9 CPU and a dedicated NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU inside that can easily run Copilot+ and yet it won’t. It can’t be because of Microsoft’s conscious decision to keep one of the biggest advancements in Windows 11 exclusively for those who decide to spend at least $1,000 on a new laptop.
And it stinks.
NVIDIA will get Copilot+, but we have no idea when
NVIDIA has already announced that its RTX GPUs will be able to power Copilot+ and also that new laptops will be coming to support this feature. The problem is that we don’t know when that will happen, and if it does happen at all in 2024, it will be a surprise. All we know is that it will be a free update “when available”.
There have been rumors of an exclusivity deal between Microsoft and Qualcomm ending this year for ARM chips in laptops, backed by other rumors that NVIDIA is trying to get into the ARM game after 2024. The skeptical brain in my head would say that this deal will also apply to Copilot+, which would indicate that Microsoft has decided to line its pockets by providing services to millions of existing Windows users.
This is all speculation, of course, but there has to be a reason why existing, more than capable hardware is blocked by Copilot+. Let’s face it, money talks, so it’s not hard to believe that could be behind this decision. It doesn’t make it better though.
NVIDIA RTX GPUs crush current NPUs for AI
Another confusing part of this for me is that existing laptops with NVIDIA 40 series GPUs have AI capabilities far beyond the NPUs currently deployed by Qualcomm. Copilot+ requires a minimum of 40 TOPS for local operation. The RTX 4050, the bottom of the list, boasts up to 194 TOPS, while the RTX 4090 I have achieves a staggering 686 TOPS. Both are many times more powerful than the 40 TOPS requirement for Copilot+ and, importantly, are already in the hands of millions of Windows users worldwide.
NVIDIA has risen to the lofty heights of claiming the title of the world’s most valuable company thanks in part to the AI ​​boom. The company’s ceiling is sky-high as businesses of all sizes around the world try to get in on the action. NVIDIA itself has been building its own AI software portfolio for some time, leveraging its hardware in applications such as NVIDIA Broadcast and the latest developments in RTX Chat and RTX Video.
Copilot+ is clearly a big deal, and so clearly a big part of the future of Windows. But only a small subset of Windows 11 users can try it right now. When this free update comes out, will anyone using an NVIDIA, Intel or AMD compatible computer with this feature remember what it is? Or even care?
Mass adoption through marketing
I firmly believe that immediate mass adoption of Copilot+ should have been prioritized over any deal or carefully crafted marketing campaign. And let’s face it, with the Windows Recall debacle, marketing has already fallen flat. There’s too much negative buzz about what should be a huge shift in how we use our computers, and it’s unlikely to dissipate when the vast majority can’t even use it for themselves.
The way to get people on board with Copilot+ is to simply get them to use it first hand. We will do our best to cover the development of Copilot+ through the rest of 2024 and beyond, but it is already difficult. And that’s what we do. Only members Windows Central Those who have been sent Snapdragon X Elite review units from various manufacturers can also contribute to our Copilot+ knowledge base right now.
I want Copilot+ to succeed. Artificial Intelligence is an exciting development in technology and I already use it extensively. But I also firmly believe that you can give your best. The best foot forward would be to expose it and get it into as many hands as possible, and that’s not happening. It’s hard to get excited about a feature no one can use, and even harder to have any control over the narrative when no one can see the product for themselves.
That’s not going to happen, but I’m begging you, Microsoft, to make Copilot+ available to as many people as possible, and as quickly as possible.