We’re now seeing a splattering of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Plus laptops as PC makers try to match the super power and battery life of Apple’s M-Series powered laptops.
With Microsoft Copilot+ on board, Dell has debuted five new laptops powered by the ARM-based chip – XPS 13, Inspiron 14 Plus, Inspiron 14, Latitude 7455 and Latitude 5455.
The XPS 13 leads the way – as it tends to – in the range, promising a mega 27 hours of battery life thanks to its Snapdragon X Elite chip. The chip combines Qualcomm’s brand new Oryon processor, graphics and neural engine for AI. Where it’s going to find maximum use is with Microsoft’s Copilot+ tech as Microsoft takes the fight to Apple for processing and AI supremacy. Copilot+ is effectively a specification for AI PCs, much like Intel did with its Ultrabook specification in the mid-OOs.
Both Inspiron 14 Plus (available in ice blue) and Inspiron 14 (available in titan grey) have the Snapdragon X Plus inside instead, offering 15 hours of battery life. Then there’s Dell’s Latitude lineup as well offering up to 21 hours of battery from the 12 core Snapdragon X Elite and 10 core X Plus.
As CCS Insight’s Geoff Blaber says: “The Copilot+ specification established by Microsoft means all the initial hardware being launched is based on Snapdragon X Series chipsets. This is a huge coup for Qualcomm, an endorsement of the power and performance it has delivered with Snapdragon X Series and gives it a huge opportunity to finally break into an Intel and AMD dominated PC market”.
The challenge for companies like Dell will be to ensure that it can communicate to customers the differences between the Copilot+ PCs and those with traditional AMD and Intel chips.
