Is Windows on Arm Finally Ready for Prime Time Thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X CPUs?

Windows on Arm: A 12-Year Journey Culminates in a Viable Platform, But Challenges Remain

After a decade-long struggle, Windows on Arm has finally arrived. For years, Microsoft toiled to make their operating system function on Arm-based processors, facing hurdles like limited app compatibility, unreliable emulation, and insufficient performance for even basic workloads. However, with the release of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, a new era of Windows on Arm laptops has begun, challenging the status quo and prompting even Intel and AMD to play catch-up.

This article delves into the reasons behind this shift and examines the performance of the first wave of Snapdragon X laptops, comparing them against competition from Apple Silicon, Intel Core Ultra, and AMD Ryzen processors. While app compatibility is rapidly evolving, this analysis provides a valuable insight into the current landscape and where Windows on Arm still falls short.

A New Focus on Power Efficiency

For several years, laptop manufacturers have prioritized power efficiency to extend battery life without sacrificing performance. This led Apple to abandon Intel processors in favor of their own Arm-based chips, citing Intel’s struggle to improve power efficiency at a sufficient rate.

Arm architecture offers inherent advantages in power efficiency compared to the x86 set found in Intel and AMD CPUs. Arm’s smaller, more optimized instructions allow for faster processing while consuming less power, a key reason why smartphones predominantly rely on Arm processors. Microsoft’s 12-year journey to bring Windows to Arm was initially hindered by insufficient chip speeds, preventing Windows from running smoothly while emulating incompatible x86 apps. However, the Snapdragon X chips have finally achieved the necessary performance, making Windows on Arm a viable option.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Series: Powering the New Frontier

Qualcomm currently offers four Snapdragon X chips: three under the “X Elite” brand and one under “X Plus.” While all share the same Adreno GPU, 45 TOPS NPU, and support for LPDDR5X memory up to 8448MHz, their core counts and clock speeds vary across the lineup. The most powerful chip boasts 12 cores, a 3.8GHz top speed, and a 4.2GHz dual-core boost, while the least powerful has 10 cores, a 3.4GHz top speed, and no dual-core boost.

A notable departure from previous Qualcomm laptop chips is the homogeneous architecture of the Snapdragon X Elite series, where all cores can handle both intensive and light workloads, eliminating the need for a hybrid core design.

The Best CPU Performance Windows on Arm Has Ever Seen

Using benchmarks like Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024, which are compatible across Windows, macOS, Intel, AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm chips, we observed a significant leap in CPU performance on Windows on Arm.

Single-core performance reveals that Apple’s M3 chips still lead the pack, but Qualcomm’s higher-end X Elite chips surpass the M2 Max chip in the 2023 MacBook Pro by around 2-3 percent. These chips also outpace the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H by up to 24 percent and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS by up to 17 percent. While the bottom-tier X Elite and X Plus lag behind, they still achieve impressive scores and marginally outperform most Intel-based laptops.

Multicore performance showcases the Snapdragon chips’ strength, surpassing most competing CPUs, with the exception of Apple’s M2 Max and M3 Max. The M3’s lower core count compared to the Snapdragon chips explains its lower scores, while the 16-core M3 Max and the 12-core M2 Max, due to their higher core counts, still lead the pack in Cinebench 2024 multicore performance.

Power Profiling: Consistency Across Power Modes

Testing revealed no significant performance differences between AC and battery power on Snapdragon laptops, provided the same power profile is used. While the Surface Pro 11 experienced performance drops of 7.5-16 percent with the recommended power setting, the Dell XPS 13 and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge saw slight performance increases in balanced mode.

Snapdragon Falls Behind in GPU Performance

Qualcomm has positioned Snapdragon X laptops as productivity machines, not gaming or workstation PCs, aligning with the limitations of their integrated GPUs. While sufficient for casual tasks, gaming, 3D rendering, and other graphically demanding workloads face limitations.

Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs fall behind Intel and AMD’s higher-end integrated GPUs in initial benchmarks. Intel Arc is around 29-39 percent faster than the Snapdragon X chips in Geekbench 6 GPU, while the AMD Radeon 780M showcases a 17-29 percent lead. The MacBook Air 15 exhibits a 39 percent disadvantage.

While the Snapdragon laptops marginally outperformed Intel and AMD counterparts in PugetBench Adobe Photoshop due to the native Arm64 version of Photoshop, the MacBook Air 15 still holds a significant 42 percent advantage.

Gaming on Arm: A Risky Venture

Despite not being marketed as gaming laptops, Snapdragon X laptops can run games, albeit with caveats. The limited availability of native Arm64 games necessitates reliance on emulation. While Microsoft’s Auto SR (similar to Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR) aims to boost frame rates, it doesn’t always improve performance and sometimes degrades visual quality.

Gaming on Snapdragon X laptops requires a "game at your own risk" attitude, with many games crashing or running at subpar frame rates. The compatibility situation is constantly evolving, requiring careful research and careful selection of graphics settings.

Emulation: Fine for Lightweight Tasks, But Heavyweight Apps Struggle

While Microsoft’s Prism emulator boasts faster performance than Apple’s Rosetta 2, it still falls short when dealing with resource-intensive programs.

Testing Blender with an emulated x86 version and an alpha build with native Arm64 support revealed that neither version detected the Adreno GPU, resulting in the CPU performing all the work. While the native version performed 40 percent faster, rendering times still significantly lagged behind comparable Apple Silicon offerings.

This emphasizes the crucial need for developers to create native Arm64 versions of their software, particularly for programs designed for heavy workloads.

Battery Life: A Stronghold for Windows on Arm

Microsoft boldly claims that their Copilot Plus PCs offer 20 percent longer battery life than the latest MacBook Air 15-inch. While testing did not reach the 18-hour mark achieved by the M3 Air, most Snapdragon laptops still surpassed comparable Intel and AMD counterparts, with battery life spanning 14-16 hours.

The Unmentioned NPU: A Promising Future

While the Snapdragon X chipsets include an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) designed for AI, testing its performance has proven challenging. Currently, most Copilot Plus AI features feel like gimmicks rather than practical tools, and Microsoft has delayed the release of its Recall app due to security concerns.

However, the presence of NPUs across Intel, AMD, and Arm platforms indicates a future where apps will increasingly leverage this processing power. Expect NPU performance benchmarks to become more relevant as the landscape evolves.

More for Less… More or Less

Snapdragon Copilot Plus PCs offer attractive value propositions, with starting prices of $999 and configurations exceeding $2,500. They provide features comparable to other laptops in their price range, including stunning OLED displays, high storage capacity, long battery life, fast processors, metal chassis, and even Wi-Fi 7 compatibility.

These Snapdragon laptops are often priced more competitively than their Intel or AMD counterparts but face competition from Apple Silicon Macs with lower entry-level prices, especially considering the storage upgradeability of Windows PCs.

The Future of Windows on Arm: A Promising Landscape

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips have delivered a pivotal moment for Windows on Arm. For the first time, it’s a viable platform for productivity-focused users, boasting competitive performance and battery life. With widespread adoption among major Windows manufacturers, the stage is set for developers to embrace Arm64 development, further increasing the appeal of Windows on Arm.

However, the future is not without challenges. The imminent arrival of Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Ryzen AI chips, each with their own unique features and performance capabilities, will force Qualcomm to maintain its lead.

The journey of Windows on Arm has taken a decisive turn. With the emergence of powerful Snapdragon X chips, Windows on Arm has finally emerged as a credible alternative for users seeking efficient and capable computing solutions. But, as Intel and AMD respond with their own advancements, the battle for the future of laptops will intensify. The coming months will undoubtedly witness an exciting evolution in the laptop landscape, with each platform pushing the boundaries of performance and efficiency.

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