During an AI-focused event at the company’s headquarters on Monday, Microsoft announced a new line of laptops called Copilot Plus PCs. In addition to introducing two of its own Copilot Plus PCs, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed that its partners Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung are all working on their own laptops with the same branding.
Microsoft calls these AI computers “the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built.” Copilot Plus PCs will each feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, all-day battery life, and access to the latest and greatest AI models.
Taking a few surprising shots at Apple in the press release, Microsoft says its Copilot Plus PCs outperform Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air by up to 58% in sustained multithreaded performance and offer up to 20% more battery in local video playback.
In order to achieve these results, Microsoft EVP Yusuf Mehdi revealed that Copilot Plus PCs will have minimum specification requirements, including at least a 256GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and an integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU).
“Every Copilot+ PC comes with your personal powerful AI agent that is just a single tap away on keyboards with the new Copilot key,” Microsoft added. “Copilot will now have the full application experience customers have been asking for in a streamlined, simple yet powerful and personal design. Copilot puts the most advanced AI models at your fingertips. In the coming weeks, get access to the latest models including GPT-4o from our partners at OpenAI, so you can have voice conversations that feel more natural.”
Microsoft also took the opportunity to pull back the curtain on a new AI-powered feature dubbed Recall, which makes it easier to find files, images, or emails by showing you a lengthy timeline of snapshots of virtually everything you’ve done on your computer.
Microsoft says that the first Copilot Plus PCs will launch on June 18th, starting at $999. Two of the first models will be a new Surface Laptop (13.8-inch and 15-inch displays) and a new 2-in-1 Surface Pro with an optional OLED display. You can read more about the AI-centric laptops from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung on Microsoft’s blog.
