These programs are actually quite buggy and noticeably slower than ARM-compiled programs. So, basic things like Google Chrome, Slack, and even more complex games like Portal 2 will run, but not at the full performance of the chip. Microsoft didn't want to launch a computer that can't run most programs, so they do offer emulation of x86 32-bit programs to run on the ARM chip. This means some x86 programs just won't work.

It connects reliably, gets timely notifications, and setup is pretty simple.īecause the Microsoft SQ2 chip from Qualcomm is based on ARM instead of x86, programs need to be built specifically to run on the ARM architecture. I’m not sure if it’s Microsoft’s recent app updates or something with the ARM version of Windows, but I don’t have any major complaints. Plus, the Your Phone app has been working much better for me lately. The only question now is whether this alleged ARM-based Surface Pro 9 will have the same thin profile as its spiritual predecessor or if Microsoft will decide to use the same chassis for both Intel and ARM models.As an Android guy, having access to all my Android apps and data inside Windows is a killer feature.

This is still unofficial, of course, but it won't be a surprise if Microsoft is trying to consolidate its Surface Pro lineup to avoid future confusion. On the other hand, it also makes it easier for Microsoft to simply kill off ARM options now that there's no specific brand for it. On the one hand, the inclusion of an ARM option in its mainline Surface Pro series suggests that it's confident this will succeed where others before it have failed. It is quite interesting that Microsoft is deciding to sunset the Surface Pro X line as a distinct ARM-based device, at least if the leak is accurate. Of course, the exact performance of this silicon is still unknown, but to its credit, Qualcomm has been steadily improving its Compute desktop line of processors every generation. That would be a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 accompanied by a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to power AI capabilities.

The other variant will reportedly instead use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which could have the same processor as the Project Volterra mini-PC.

Surface pro x sq2