For as long as I can remember, Microsoft and Intel have been inseparable partners: Intel made the x86 chips that were the heart of PC motherboards, and Microsoft developed the Windows operating system that ran on those PCs. In fact, the two brands were so perfectly suited that industry analysts combined them into one word: Wintel.
Over the past 30 years, rivals have briefly challenged Intel’s dominance at the CPU top, with most of their market share so small it’s impossible to measure. Can you name a PC with a Via processor? AMD, the most successful challenger, has Achieved a PC market share of approximately 20% By appealing to gamers and performance-conscious buyers.
We also got to see the future of AI firsthand at Qualcomm HQ, and Copilot+ PC was just the beginning.
But the introduction of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series has the potential to completely flip the gameboard.
In our review of the least expensive Surface Pro 11 configuration, we summed it up in four words: “This machine is absolutely amazing.” I’m writing this article on the same Surface Pro 11 described in that article, and I have no plans to go back to my older Intel-based machines.
Lest you think I’m a heretic, let me share with you some of the reviews my colleague published of the new Snapdragon X PCs.
Zach Bowden reviews the Surface Laptop 7 Windows CentralHe called it “the best clamshell laptop on the market,” adding that the battery life of the high-end 15-inch model he tested was “nothing short of phenomenal.”
Chris Hoffman at PC World It’s called the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X. “Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite hardware showcase.” He, too, highlighted the “incredible battery life” made possible by the Arm architecture.
And after testing HP’s OmniBook X Copilot+ PC, I nearly became a believer in Windows on ARM.
And over at Engadget, Devindra Hardawar sounded clearly relieved in his review of the Surface Pro 11. Microsoft’s latest model is “the best Surface tablet yet,” he wrote, adding that “Microsoft has finally made an ARM-powered Surface tablet that you don’t want to throw out the window.”
These are all experienced, slightly dispassionate reviewers who aren’t afraid to point out when Microsoft is screwing up. And they’re not saying anything of the sort.
In fact, the only negative reviews I found about these next-gen Windows PCs were: WiredThere, Christopher Null called the Surface Pro 11 “horribly expensive,” but praised the device’s “great battery life.”
Initial benchmark tests also provided strong backup for Qualcomm’s hardware. Tom’s Guide A detailed overview was published “Snapdragon X Elite laptops offer great performance and (potentially) long battery life,” it concluded. [I]”It’s fair to say Qualcomm has sent a warning signal to Apple and Intel,” they said, noting that gaming is the only weak spot.
Also, how to test laptops on ZDNET in 2024
If I were an Intel executive, I’d be sweating. ARM-based designs are clearly superior on the desktop, and are becoming mainstream in the data center, where they offer significant power consumption advantages that make them attractive in the AI era. Intel can coast for a while, but the Snapdragon X processors will expose Intel’s weaknesses in a way we haven’t seen before on the PC side.
If you’re thinking, “Hold on, I’ve seen this movie before,” you’d be right.
This is the same terrible split that happened to Intel four years ago when Apple introduced its new MacBook line with M1 processors. There, too, Apple’s new Arm-based laptops won huge praise for their battery life and performance, but some reviewers, like the folks at Macworld, were still skeptical and balked in spectacular ways. “Should I buy an M1 Mac?”
Apple has been quite vocal in its criticism of the performance of its Intel-based machines on its website, and while you might still be able to find Intel-based Macs on Apple.com, I couldn’t find any when I looked.
Also: Best Laptops of 2024: Tests and Reviews
Of course, Apple had one big advantage when it decided to divorce Intel: it was the sole supplier of hardware on which MacOS runs. The PC market is much more diverse. If you tried to explain its relationship with Wintel today in social media terms, you’d simply say “it’s complicated.”
And that will ultimately be Intel’s lifeblood on the Windows side. Qualcomm will take a big chunk of market share away from Intel, but the notoriously conservative corporate buyer base will likely steer clear of the untested Qualcomm platform with its questionable compatibility. All those legacy apps designed to run on Intel hardware will be a strong motivator for corporate buyers. Gamers will also likely remain loyal to the older platform and its guaranteed high frame rates.
But the pressure is certainly on for Intel: they haven’t faced a serious competitor in decades, and we’re not even talking about what will happen if Nvidia decides to add an SoC to its GPU hegemony yet.
Also, the best 2-in-1 laptops for work that I’ve tested aren’t from Lenovo or HP.
In a Slack chat last month, my colleague Jason Perlow predicted that x86 won’t go away, but the architecture has certainly reached the end of its production lifespan. The question now is whether Intel has the technological muscle to innovate with Arm, because if they can’t produce a “Qualcomm killer” soon, it’s game over.
Just ask anyone with a recent MacBook.