Microsoft Says Windows Laptops With Snapdragon X Elite Will Be Faster Than M3 MacBook Air

[MacRumors]

Microsoft will advertise that its upcoming Windows laptops with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor are faster than the MacBook Air with Apple's latest M3 chip, according to internal documents obtained by The Verge.

"Microsoft is so confident in these new Qualcomm chips that it's planning a number of demos that will show how these processors will be faster than an M3 MacBook Air for CPU tasks, AI acceleration, and even app emulation," the report says. Microsoft believes its laptops will offer "faster app emulation" than Apple's Rosetta 2.

Introduced in October, the Snapdragon X Elite has Arm-based architecture like Apple silicon. Qualcomm last year claimed that the processor achieved 21% faster multi-core CPU performance than the M3 chip, based on the Geekbench 6 benchmark tool.

There are a few caveats here, including that Microsoft and Qualcomm are comparing to Apple's lower-end M3 chip instead of its higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. MacBooks with Apple silicon also offer industry-leading performance-per-watt, while the Snapdragon X Elite will likely run hotter and require laptops with fans. Since being updated with the M1 chip in 2020, the MacBook Air has featured a fanless design. Apple can also optimize the performance of MacBooks since it controls both the hardware and macOS software.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Apple's competitors are making progress with Arm-based laptops. Microsoft plans to announce laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Elite later this year, including the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 on May 20.

Article Link: Microsoft Says Windows Laptops With Snapdragon X Elite Will Be Faster Than M3 MacBook Air

 

[akfgpuppet]

Good for them

 

[weezin]

The benefits of Apple Silicon are performance combined with energy efficiency. It's not impressive to just beat Apple in the performance metric, you have to also do it in the performance efficiency metric. Otherwise, who cares?

 

[Arsenikdote]

It seems "the writing is on the wall" for Intel as more and more MFG's move to ARM based systems

 

[jz0309]

Of course the geeks will care, the average consumer doesn’t give a cr&$* … and for as long as these chips have been available, sure seems to take a long time to actually see products… and, the ones to watch for these are Intel and AMD…

 

[alchemistmuffin]

Microsoft will advertise that its upcoming Windows laptops with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor are faster than the MacBook Air with Apple's latest M3 chip

🤣🤣🤣​

By the time it comes out, it’ll already likely going to be outpaced by the M4 chip.

 

[erikkfi]

I hope so! Competition is good.

 

[Arsenikdote]

🤣🤣🤣​

By the time it comes out, it’ll already likely going to be outpaced by the M4 chip.

I think you must have not read the original article. They are debuting these next month. Still doesn't make it a good comparison, but M4 won't be out by then.

 

[lewchenko]

The difference with Apple is that software developers are actually releasing Apple silicon versions of their apps. On Windows nobody is releasing Arm versions of their apps. Microsoft’s emulation isn’t quite to the level of Rosetta2 that Apple provides either. The net result is a mixed bag for Windows on Arm with few advantages to using it.

 

[icanhazmac]

Good, the more Microsoft invests in Windows for ARM, the closer we are to getting bootcamp back.

 

[arduino]

will it though? maybe synthetically but not real world.

I'm sorry, but I never trust what Microsoft says

 

[Art Mark]

So there is no Windows for ARM? It's all emulation?

 

[CalMin]

Be interesting to see how they handle the compatibility layer. I use Windows ARM through Parallels and there is some legacy software that just won't run. If they can crack that in the way that MacOS handles x86 Intel apps through Rosetta2 then these will be very compelling products for Windows users.

 

[Santabean2000]

Awesome. Competition is good. And I hope all these Windows laptops come with at least 512gb SSD and 16gb of RAM

 

[vegetassj4]

"Snapdragon X Elite will likely run hotter and require laptops with fans."

meh....

 

[Lucasof]

... even if without translation layer and software supported its useless... microsoft being microsoft.....

 

[Arsenikdote]

The benefits of Apple Silicon are performance combined with energy efficiency. It's not impressive to just beat Apple in the performance metric, you have to also do it in the performance efficiency metric. Otherwise, who cares?

It feels like you are just being an Apple spokesperson here and ignoring a much larger context. Just because Apple focuses on performance per watt does not mean that everyone wants a computer whose focus is that. If that is the entirety of how a computer is judged than "who cares" makes sense. But if there is more factors than that, then "who cares" is just a dismissal.

Also, any other company who wants to sell a laptop has no choice other than to look to solutions that aren't Apple since Apple won't sell their chips to anyone. Therefore everyone else will focus to build the best machines they can. If they can't put together a laptop with a processing unit that is an efficient as Apple should they just not build computers anymore? Or perhaps they can distinguish themselves in other ways for users who don't want / can't get an Apple laptop for the hundreds of reasons that make a lot of sense?

 

[coffeemilktea]

Qualcomm last year claimed that the processor achieved 21% faster multi-core CPU performance than the M3 chip

And conveniently, not a single word regarding battery life. 🤔

Oh well, if people use their 21% faster Qualcomm-powered laptops while plugged in all the time, I guess poor battery life doesn't really matter...?

 

[Windoes]

Still it will run Windows, so no worries. Make ‘em all faster

 

[Arsenikdote]

Be interesting to see how they handle the compatibility layer. I use Windows ARM through Parallels and there is some legacy software that just won't run. If they can crack that in the way that MacOS handles x86 Intel apps through Rosetta2 then these will be very compelling products for Windows users.

I hope if this segment works well for Microsoft they develop an ARM version of Windows. Tools such as Rosetta2 work so well that as you said, if MS cracks their version of that, it could allow MS to approach the ARM space. If they do that well, they might even have a shot again at being in the mobile market and having iOS, Android, AND MS in that space would make it even more competitive and good for everyone!

 

[sunny5]

Huh?

Snapdragon X Elite consume way more power, has more cores, and not even 3nm. Such a terrible comparison and it should be compared to M2,3 Pro chips instead.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

Just because Apple focuses on performance per watt does not mean that everyone wants a computer whose focus is that.

Laptops and computers are two different animals. I'll take a joint focus on performance AND efficiency all day long in my laptop. That said, even if Microsoft were beating Apple in both metrics, I'd still choose the Apple laptop, as I prefer the MacOS to Windows.

 

[coredev]

Several points to note here.

• Multicore performance is 21% better than the entry level M3. What about single core performance? And how is the performance measured against the Pro / Max / Ultra versions of Apple Silicon?
• Is the Performance per Watt even remotely comparable? If not, then simply overclocking the M3 would easily even the playing field, and the entire argument is moot.
• If a buyer wants a Windows based machine, they will never buy a Mac. Likewise, a Mac user will not be interested in this Snapdragon Windows device. So it's good publicity for Microsoft comparing to Apple Silicon, but it will matter very little in actual consumer decisions.

 

[JPack]

And it supports three external 4K displays.

Apple put so much focus on M3 ray tracing, they didn’t leave enough silicon for CPU performance.

 

[roncron]

I'm happy that Apple silicon will have some real competition. More competition is better.

But most people who buy the MB Air aren't looking for the fastest processor or the best performance.

Also, I wonder what % of people who own a MBA or want to buy a MBA would consider a Windows laptop instead? I can't find data on that.