Sometimes, it takes a bit more time and an additional effort to realize a big-picture vision, particularly when it comes to tech-related products. That's certainly the case with an AI-led concept of how Windows-based personal computing with Microsoft-branded PCs is playing out.
This time last year, with great hype and fanfare, the company introduced the Copilot+ PC concept and the first Surface Copilot+ PCs. Reality, however, didn't live up to those high expectations. Microsoft and its partners discovered that while the initial market reaction was ok, the devices didn't exactly set the world on fire - in part because many of the originally promised AI features in Windows 11 weren't available.
However, in addition to the lack of AI features, over the course of the last year, there was a re-evaluation of what really mattered to most people. As a result, on May 6, Microsoft announced a refined and reinvigorated vision for AI-powered features in Windows and a revised lineup of powerful, but less expensive Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Surface laptops. Notably, while the company is still certainly talking about AI capabilities on these new machines, the primary focus has shifted to battery life and performance. Plus, with lower prices (in spite of potential tariffs), they'll appeal to a wider audience.
On the hardware side, the new 13" Surface Laptop, starting at $899, and the 12" Surface Pro tablet, starting at $799 (plus $149 for the optional keyboard and $129 for the pen), both feature high-resolution touchscreen displays and performance that, according to Microsoft, can top Apple's M3-powered MacBook Air. In addition, both machines feature extra-long battery life - up to 23 hours of video playback and 16 hours of active web browsing on the Surface Laptop, and 16 and 12 hours, respectively on the Surface Pro tablet.
The performance on the new Surface laptops is due to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus processor. The X Plus offers 8 CPU cores (versus 10 or 12 in the more expensive Surface devices introduced last year) but has the same NPU (neural processing unit) AI accelerator, rated at 45 TOPS (tera operations per second - a benchmark used for measuring potential AI performance). Another big benefit over last year is greatly improved software compatibility, particularly with many popular games.
The Surface Pro 12" tablet also features a new keyboard design that offers a larger trackpad and a new 360-degree hinge design that lets you rest the keyboard completely flat against the back of the tablet. Both devices also offer important advances in sustainability, with batteries that feature 100% recycled cobalt.
Microsoft also used the Surface launch to talk about new capabilities coming to Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11. Interestingly, most of them are AI-powered, but instead of the flashy and controversial Recall feature (which can record all the activities you do on your PC for easy, well, recall), they're focusing on less sexy, but arguably more practical new features. The new semantic search, for example, can finally help you find the files, documents or photos that you might not remember the exact name of, but that you do know what they include.
In other words, you can just type in "last summer's vacation," and it can find things like documents, itineraries and even photos from the trip. As simple as it sounds, the improved search can be incredibly useful. Microsoft is extending that kind of usefulness to many other capabilities in Windows 11 as well. The new settings feature, for example, will let you enter things like "adjust the screen brightness" or "how do I control my PC via voice," and it will do exactly what you want (with your permission, of course) via a new built-in AI-powered agent.
Speaking of voice control, another upcoming feature will let you temporarily hold the Copilot key and speak to your PC, either for giving it a command or for voice input into emails, documents, messaging apps, etc. Several of these features are tied to what Microsoft calls Click to Do, which are essentially in-context actions that you can take while you're working on your PC. If, for example, you have a photo open, you can hold down the Window key and click on it then select from actions such as automatically highlighting an object, removing a background, etc.
You'll also find lots of new creative options coming to Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11, such as the ability to create stickers in the Paint app by simply describing what you want. On a more practical side, a new phone companion app will be available off the Start button in an upcoming Windows 11 update. This will give you easy access to either iPhones or Android phones for transferring photos, sharing contacts and much more.
Underneath the hood, a lot of this is being powered by new Microsoft AI models (in particular, one called Phi), which serve as an AI engine running on the PC that these and other applications will be able to tap into. It's one of the unheralded but important parts of these latest Windows updates that are bound to become much more valuable over time.
Collectively, all these tools start to finally deliver the kind of intelligent PC experience many of us have been longing for. As "smart" as PCs are supposed to be, they certainly often feel pretty dumb to people who run into the kind of frustrations that common sense tells you ought not to be that hard.
All these Windows enhancements won't guarantee a perfect PC experience. In conjunction with the refined hardware, however, Microsoft seems to finally be getting closer to offering something in which we can be less aware of the hardware we're using and more focused on what it is we're trying to get done. And that is a great step in the right direction.
USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst ofTECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter@bobodtech.