14 DAY TRIAL // Announced in late 2016 with great fanfare, the Windows 10 on ARM platform is finally ready to power a new generation of devices that Microsoft calls “Always Connected PCs” and which are capable of providing insane battery life.
As part of a partnership with Qualcomm, Always Connected PCs are powered by Snapdragon chipsets and run Windows 10 S, the newer version of its desktop operating system that’s limited to Windows Store apps.
Microsoft says this new generation of PCs is “instantly on, always connected, with incredible battery life,” claiming as much as one week of autonomy per charge. This most likely refers to standby time, as the manufacturers that have already embraced the new tech promise to offer around 22 hours of active use, though it goes without saying that this is impressive anyway.
First devices already announced
Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, says Always Connected PCs are targeted both at organizations and as consumers, who can experience what he calls “a big shift” thanks to huge battery life and the full Windows 10 experience.
“For the last few months, I have been using an Always Connected PC, running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform. In the last week, I watched the movie Moana with my daughter, worked in PowerPoint, browsed the web every day, reviewed budgets in Excel, checked email while waiting to pick up my son from soccer, marked up a few PDFs with Ink, played some games on the plane – all of this without plugging in my power cord all week,” Myerson said at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Sumit.
HP, Lenovo, and ASUS are three of the companies that launch Always Connected PCs, all equipped with the Snapdragon 835 processor that’s also powering high-end mobile devices like the Samsung Galaxy S8.
With Windows 10 on ARM and Windows 10 S, Always Connected PCs should provide an experience that’s very close to the one you get on a full Windows 10 laptop, though it’s worth mentioning that 64-bit apps aren’t supported just yet. Laptops should open instantly and enter standby as you close the lid, offering seamless experience with LTE connectivity available at any given moment.
Microsoft seems very confident that Always Connected PCs will be a hit, and working with the biggest PC makers out there could be a way to make sure this is happening.
