By Windows on Arm seems to be a natural fit for all-in-ones and small form factor laptops, but what about traditional full-sized desktops?
Qualcomm claims that Arm is the next big thing in PC technology, and you have to listen to them when they gush about their new Snapdragon X line of laptop chips. If that is the case, why not also install it on desktop computers? They really will. In a talk at Taipei’s Computex, Qualcomm said it delivers its Arm-based CPUs to “all form factors.”
According to the demo slide that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon showed, this includes typical all-in-ones with built-in screens, tablets, and compact form factor computers similar to the Mac Mini (see above). Additionally, it has traditional desktops that stand alone in full-sized cases. even if the slide glaringly lacked an example. Additionally, he stated that “Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Samsung,” among other major players in the PC market, are all collaborating with Qualcomm, as reported by BestComputerFinder.
It appears that shortly, you will likely have the choice to purchase a Windows computer with a Snapdragon processor in a particular design.
What does this mean for PC users who would rather build their own devices? Not everything is clear. Since Arm CPUs, and the Snapdragon X series in particular, are typically soldered in situ, appropriate motherboards must be delivered with them. However, there is no technological reason why they can not use other user-replaceable parts, such as DDR memory, a variety of cooling and connectivity technologies, and PCIE-standard graphics cards and storage.
It remains to be seen if off-the-shelf parts for PC hardware based on the Arm processor will find a buyer. No matter how popular Qualcomm’s processors become in the consumer market, it would be difficult to convince gamers and power users to switch from the decades-long momentum behind x86/x64 technology. Cristiano Amon, the president, and CEO of Qualcomm, joined executives from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Samsung on stage to discuss the revolution in the PC market that is being facilitated by Copilot+ PCs that run on the Snapdragon X Series.
