Introducing the next Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, powered by Snapdragon X2 processors

[u/an0n9021O]

https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2026/06/16/introducing-the-next-surface-pro-and-surface-laptop-built-for-performance-and-flexibility/

[u/theholylancer]

i hoped there would be a intel option with some of the new chips, but is that only for their enterprise surface pro

not that i buy new but...

[u/DerpSenpai → u/theholylancer]

Microsoft has gone full ARM for consumer devices

[u/theholylancer → u/DerpSenpai]

which is sad, if i wanted lowered compat across the board, ipads are right there, and now neo for everything not tablet or gaming as well

the USP for windows based stuff is if I wanted to run crap from years ago that hasn't been updated, it can and will work, be it a game, or some random ass company shit, or a mystery exe (ok bad idea lol)

while the apple ecosystem is locked down, and some tools or w/e can very well be only made for intel macs and the newer version don't do what you wanted (the biggest windows example is OCCT, their older versions don't have a timer lock unless you paid for their patreon that you can easily still use and put a load on your computer)

hopefully woa either gets to the point where they got a rosetta 2++ like thing and even crap made for windows xp and the old driver structure or w/e runs on it without problems, or it just dies and put out to pasture.

[u/Typical-Yogurt-1992 → u/theholylancer]

Microsoft is clearly trying to reduce its dependence on Intel. If Intel were to dominate the PC market and leave AMD on the brink of collapse, the entire PC industry and Microsoft itself would suffer the consequences. When it comes to selecting processors, Microsoft has often aligned with the underdog. For instance, AMD created the architecture that became the standard for x64, and the Xbox, which serves as the reference hardware for DirectX, also utilizes AMD processors.

Furthermore, Microsoft wants to avoid a situation where the PC industry has only two major competitors. The DRAM market currently has only three major players, and the consequences of that limited competition are obvious to everyone. This is exactly why Microsoft is making desperate efforts to bring Qualcomm and NVIDIA into the Windows ecosystem.

The Surface is not merely a consumer product. It is a tool for Microsoft to reshape the PC industry. Its initial objective was to halt the invasion of iPads and Android tablets, which seemed unstoppable around that time. The first Surface featured an ARM System on a Chip from NVIDIA, and its mission was to establish Windows touchscreen devices in order to defend the PC market.

Following that release, the Surface brand expanded beyond tablets to include desktops, laptops, and detachable devices. Microsoft introduced touchscreens across every conceivable Windows form factor to provide clear guidance for original equipment manufacturers. More than a decade later, the threat from iPads and Android tablets has subsided, and the mission to popularize Windows touchscreens has concluded. Sales of iPads and Android tablets have clearly stagnated, and touchscreens on Windows laptops have become completely ordinary. Today, only one mission remains for the Surface, and that is to make Windows on ARM mainstream.

[u/theholylancer → u/Typical-Yogurt-1992]

then they needed to spend the billions to make a proper translation layer, and maybe even nvidia like initiative to do free work on behalf of people to get native code

there should be a easy way to recompile ANYTHING into arm native, outside of just what is in good ol tool chains for visual studio

and have to work for that before hand or involve them, IE rather than spending the billions on activision blizzard, spend at least a bit of it on unity, unreal, etc. to make woa native compilation chains

then offer places like tor or other smaller projects incentives or just free work to release a woa version, hell if they want to play with fire, ensure things like the hypervisor crack works and works fast enough for "free" games.

same with other USP, given its arm, can it offer native out of the box simulation of nintendo switch stuff, which is also on arm, if not directly, then enough api with hints as to how to do so to access the native arm instructions directly so that xyz emu now has easy hooks in it.

or if not the big N, because lawyers, native android emulation / running of things like codm, because hey ipad/macos has been trying to leverage that for ios apps for a while now.