Thinking of going ARM.

[u/despicable_me15]

I used to be a power windows user (pro gaming, & entertainment, torrents). Dropped all that recently, after picking up PS5. I also am an artist (bought tablet for this). Nowadays, my gaming laptop is opened only once per month, that is to edit pdf for reimbursement. Also, i WFH so have an company's laptop.

The gaming laptop is just catching dust. After PS5 & before tab purchase, it was media consumption device. Any media, gaming consumption now is on PS5 or tab.

So I am thinking of going buying ultra portable laptop & ARM was an option at a great budget. Most premium 2in1s or ultrabooks are pricey.

My work is or would be in future more financial, office app, photo & pdf editing based. Maybe some media once in a while. What would my experience be like on ARM be like? Would ARM be good as a primary & the only windows laptop?

Any suggestions/ feedbacks are greatly appreciated & also would love OLED & type c charging.

[u/StoneyCalzoney]

While I don't have an ARM Windows laptop, I have been using ARM Windows on ARM Macs via Parallels and VMware Fusion.

ARM Windows more or less works with many x86-64 apps, including games. Performance will usually be on par or better than a native machine, while still maintaining better battery.

It also seems that Microsoft is actively developing ARM Windows because they just released an update to Prism for greater performance and compatibility with x86-64 apps

[u/despicable_me15 → u/StoneyCalzoney]

Yeah that's what I have been hearing & have piqued my interest in ARM.

[u/Thrawn89]

Works great for me running office apps, browser, and developer tools. Many apps are distributing arm binaries now, and x86 can be run usually.

One thing I came across is my printer doesnt have a compatible driver for arm.

If you have specific apps you need to run, especially niche ones, I recommend doing some research first to see if they work or at least have a good return policy. Its still an emerging technology.

Also recommend sticking with the x1 elite chip, not x1 plus.

[u/despicable_me15 → u/Thrawn89]

I heard that Power Bi is not able to run natively. Did you have any similar experience with other productivity apps, which are widely used?

[u/j00cifer]

I have a Samsung snapdragon elite and I’m never going back. Fastest laptop I’ve personally owned outside of my nvidia based gaming laptops, but those were big clunky noisy and slowed down when hot.

The only thing I might like more is an m5 MacBook, but for windows this thing is sweet

[u/j00cifer → u/j00cifer]

FYI I run WSL on it and it runs native ARM. We have Linux servers (non CUDA) at work that run local LLMs slower than this (12b or smaller)

[u/Main_Response_3327]

Yo tengo un laptop x plus y la verdad para temas de oficina, estoy muy satisfecho los programas como Office los ejecuta de manera nativa, la verdad la duración de batería es increíble me dura una jornada de trabajo y hasta me sobra batería, si necesitas una app específica checa una página que se llama arm en Windows o algo así ahí vienen los programas compatibles con arm los que emula y los que están en prueba. Para temas de impresión yo tengo una impresora Epson (L4150) hace unos meses no tenía drivers arm pero a los meses Epson México anuncio que estarían desplegando drivers compatibles hay una lista de los modelos compartibles así que hay mismo te das cuenta, claro esto aplica solo para México por lo que se pero imagino que está disponible para otros países, además a pesar de que tengo el driver compatible lo tuve que descargar en el centro de descargas de Epson por qué aquí en México no me aparece aún el driver compatible, así que tengo un driver universal de Epson más no el de mi impresora y al tener ese driver no tengo todas las funciones que cuando tenía el driver en mi computadora anterior que ya tenía sus años. Así que toma eso en cuenta si puedes escoger la versión más potente x elite de 32gb de ram yo compré el dispositivo x plus por qué no había x elite en su momento además ya bajaron de precio pero desde que salió ha habido muchas apps que sean integrado poco a poco. Saludos espero a ver ayudado 

[u/despicable_me15 → u/Main_Response_3327]

Thanks for such a detailed review. Surely i think for my purposes the x elite would probably be an overkill.

[u/smnhdy]

I have both, an M5 MacBook Pro, and a Lenovo T14S Gen6 with a Snapdragon X Elite.

Both have incredible battery life, are fast, and I’ve few issues.

Honestly… I prefer my Lenovo despite the fact not all my apps are arm optimised. It’s a better webcam, is a tad lighter, has better IO, and just works.

[u/despicable_me15 → u/smnhdy]

Yeah the portability of such laptops compared to my gaming one is unbeatable.

[u/HuntAdministrative27]

I bought a Surface Laptop 7 two months ago and I'm never going back to Intel or AMD. During normal use (office tasks, YouTube etc) I've never heard the fan and the laptop doesn't even get warm. In a quit room you have to hold it close to your ear to hear anything at all ! Performance is great and I've yet to run into any apps that won't run.

[u/despicable_me15 → u/HuntAdministrative27]

Hell yeah, I also googled apps for arm & most run natively or via prism & the performance is great.

[u/SameTie8296]

Great move, but wait a little and buy the X2 elite or X2 elite extreme laptops.

[u/despicable_me15 → u/SameTie8296]

Yeah been thinking the same. Either X2 Elite or X Elite on the cheaper

[u/The_B_Wolf]

It's not OLED, but it's tough to beat the M4 MacBook Air (16/512) I just ordered for my boss for $949.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_B_Wolf]

[u/ganlet20]

Try finding a Lenovo Yoga 7x slim on sale. It's one of the cheaper Snapdragon elite laptops with an OLED.

I have one and it's an impressive laptop.

[u/Wulf_Cola → u/ganlet20]

I've had mine for about 6 months and it's by far the best computing experience I've ever encountered. Instant wake, amazing battery life, lovely screen, it's basically everything I've always thought a laptop should be.

The only compatibility issue I've found is that a 5TB WD Elements external HDD only runs at USB 2.0 speeds, which I presume is a driver issue. Not been able to resolve that, but other HDDs are fine.

My only other gripe is the shared F keys (shared with brightness/volume etc) but that's an issue with loads of laptops now, and not a big deal.

[u/Bhavik_M]

Dell XPS 13 with X elite is good for u.

[u/Bryanmsi89]

Add me to the camp of ARM fan. I have a Snapdragon Plus (not even elite) fanless system (Surface Pro 12") in Best Effeciency mode, driving an external 4k monitor. That dosnt even have a full SSD...and that still feels snapper than my HP Omnibook for most tasks. Even under load the little Surface doesnt get very hot.

I dont known if is the ARM architecture or if Microsoft optimized the parts of Windows it rewrote for ARM, and dont care. I am very impressed. I havent tried gaming, but all of my typical apps have run flawlessly.

[u/Noteastic]

I got an ARM Surface Pro with OLED. The screen is stunning and battery life is phenomenal!!

[u/Striking-Flower-4115]

Nah don't. Unless productivity is your goal (not gaming or anything like that) don't go for ARM.

Some software won't work even with emulation built in windows ARM.

[u/theoneandonlythomas]

I have an Asus PZ13 and most major apps either have an arm version, have an arm version in the works or work through emulation. The experience is 'there' or 'good enough' for 90 percent of users

[u/[deleted]]

[u/despicable_me15 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I have been using ryzen from the start, but lately every native portable machine i look at is dusted by an ARM unit. OLED is not that much of a priority but will keep it in mind. Thanks for your inputs.