This year’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop really only needed one thing to be a success: they had to work. After more than a decade of overpromising and underdelivering on every possible feature of Windows on Arm, Microsoft needed to prove with these new Qualcomm-powered devices that they could, at the very least, compete with the Intel- and AMD-powered chips on the market.
So far, it looks like good news. In this episode of The Vergecast, we spoke with The Verge’s Tom Warren and Nathan Edwards in the middle of reviewing the new devices. We discussed processor performance, emulation issues, battery life, AI features, and more. The overall takeaway? These new devices may not have transformed PC gaming yet, but they’re well on their way. And that’s just a start.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about a new gadget that’s taking the Internet by surprise: the Boox Palma. Launched last year without much fanfare, the smartphone-sized device, with its E Ink screen and access to the Google Play Store, has been a hit with our readers and those looking for a simpler, less intrusive way to use their favorite apps. We spoke to a few Palma enthusiasts and tried out the device ourselves.
Then, after we talk about Surface, we take questions from the Vergecast hotline (866-VERGE11 or vergecast@theverge.com) about the future of the PC, now that Copilot Plus is going mainstream. Is this the end of x86 and Intel, or is this a new kind of computer that will follow all the others? We have a few thoughts.
If you want to learn more about what we covered in this episode, here are some links to get you started with Boox Palma.
And for the Surface (we’ll update these links when the reviews are published):
