There are a lot of really great headphones out there, but for us, none compare to Sony's WH-1000XM5 model. We're excited to say our favorite wireless headphones are now on sale, down to $328 from $400 — an 18 percent discount. While this isn't a record-low deal, it is the cheapest we've seen them available for yet this year.
Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones came out two years ago, yet they're still an amazing choice. We gave them a 95 in our initial review thanks to features like incredible crisp and clear sound quality with a punchy base. The M5, which offers active noise cancellation, also doubled the number of microphones and processors while adding an optimizer to ensure you can truly block out the rest of the world. The headphones also have up to 30 hours of battery life, and you can get another three hours with just three minutes of charging.
Despite the upgrades, the M5 is actually 0.14 ounces lighter than its predecessor and has better weight distribution, making for a more comfortable experience. The entire look is sleeker, though one of the few negatives of the M5s is that they don't fold, so they can be a bit bulky to carry around.
Microsoft couldn’t wait until its Build conference today. It just revealed a bunch of new hardware and plans for Windows. Copilot+ PCs were the big announcement, designed to run generative AI processes locally instead of in the cloud. Of course, Microsoft had new Surface devices to showcase these features, but the usual PC suspects also have new laptops that meet the spec requirements — and include Copilot+ in their name for added chaos. The company also claims Copilot+ PCs are 58 percent faster than the M3-powered MacBook Air.
The new Surface Laptop is a redesigned PC with thinner bezels in 13.8- and 15-inch sizes and Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chip. Microsoft says this is the brightest display it has ever shipped, at 600 nits, and the new Studio Camera is now in the bezel, so no visible notch.
Will the Snapdragon X Elite give better performance? Expect potent battery life. Microsoft claims the 15-inch model will run for up to 22 hours on a single charge while playing videos locally and up to 15 hours while actively browsing the web. We’ve got some hands-on impressions right here, but we’ve got reservations. Devices like the Surface Pro 9, which ran Windows on Arm, still didn’t feel as fast or responsive compared to their more traditional x86-based counterparts.
There’s also a new emulator for running older Windows apps.
Microsoft says it has rebuilt core components of Windows 11 to better support Arm-based hardware and AI. That includes a new kernel, compiler and, most importantly, an emulator named Prism, for running older x86 and x64 apps. Thanks to a powerful new Neural Processing Unit (NPU) in the Snapdragon X Elite chips, Copilot+ PCs can run more than 40 trillion operations per second, a measure of a chip’s AI performance, more than four times the performance of today’s AI PCs.
The new AI-powered feature is like a photographic memory of everything you’ve done.
This sounds very good. Microsoft also announced Recall, a new feature to make local Windows PC searches as quick and effective as web searches, tapping into AI to add more contextual search parameters. Microsoft product manager Caroline Hernandez gave the example of searching for a blue dress on Pinterest using a Windows PC with Recall. She can search the Recall timeline for ‘blue dress’ (using her voice), which pulls all of her recent searches, saving her from having to sift through browser history. She further refined the query with more specific details like ‘blue pantsuit with sequined lace for Abuelita,’ and Rewind delivered relevant results. Microsoft says it can start with exact information or vague contextual clues to find what you want — and it’s apparently all done locally. It is, however, a Copilot+ exclusive.
An AI company using something without permission? Whaa?!
AI companies love to tap Scarlett Johansson’s star power, but this time it’s a bigger player in AI. Johansson accused OpenAI of copying her voice for one of the ChatGPT voice assistants, despite her denying the company permission to do so. Johansson’s statement on Monday came hours after OpenAI said it would no longer use the voice. “The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement sent to Engadget. The Her actor said OpenAI only stopped using the voice after she hired legal counsel.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsoft-introduces-its-ai-centric-copilot-pcs-111916490.html?src=rss
The Surface Laptop has always been a bit of an anti-revolutionary device. After Microsoft struggled to make a splash with its original Surface tablets, it was created as a more mainstream option for less courageous consumers. It simply a Windows laptop, albeit a well-designed one.
The same is true for the new Copilot+ Surface Laptop: It doesn't look very unique at first, but spend a bit of time with it and you'll notice the attention to detail around its case and keyboard, or the way its thin new bezels highlight its brighter screen. And together with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, it's also far more powerful than before.
Intel says more than 80 new laptops from over 20 hardware partners will begin shipping in time for the holidays. The PCs will add the new Copilot+ features, like Recall and Cocreator via a software update. (The company didn’t provide a specific window for those.) Intel expects to ship more than 40 million AI PC chips this year, which include an onboard neural processing unit (NPU) for generative AI features.
The chipmaker says Lunar Lake will have more than triple the AI performance of the current Meteor Lake models, supporting over 40 trillion NPU operations per second (TOPS).
“The launch of Lunar Lake will bring meaningful fundamental improvements across security, battery life, and more thanks to our deep co-engineering partnership with Intel,” Microsoft Windows and Devices VP Pavan Davuluri wrote in a press release. “We are excited to see Lunar Lake come to market with a 40+ TOPS NPU which will deliver Microsoft’s Copilot+ experiences at scale when available.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-powered-copilot-pcs-will-be-available-this-fall-204049150.html?src=rss
ASUS isn’t sitting out the rush of AI-enhanced Copilot+ PCs, which also includes new models from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and, of course, Microsoft. The “ultra-thin” ASUS Vivobook S 15 has Windows AI features like memory assistant Recall, the image generator Cocreator, and several ASUS-exclusive AI apps.
One of the more intriguing AI-powered features of the ASUS Vivobook S 15 is its use of the AiSense IR camera. ASUS says it can detect your presence and adjust the display accordingly. If you look away, the display will dim, and it will brighten up again when you look back. And if you step away from the computer, it will lock — and unlock when you return. While we can't vouch for its effectiveness before trying it, the feature sounds super handy for security and privacy if it delivers consistently.
Another baked-in AI feature is StoryCube, an app that ASUS says can automatically organize RAW photos and videos. In addition to the standard Copilot+ features announced on Monday, the laptop also includes Windows Studio Effects, which can automate lighting adjustments and noise removal in video calls. It also supports Microsoft’s Live Captions (real-time, AI-powered subtitles).
ASUS
On the hardware side, the Vivobook S 15 runs on the Snapdragon X Elite chip with a built-in Qualcomm Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU), which ASUS claims can process 45 TOPS (that’s 45 trillion operations per second). The PC ships with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and up to 32GB of 8448 MHz LPDDR5X RAM.
The laptop has a 15.6-inch OLED screen with a 2,880 x 1,620 resolution and an 89 percent screen-to-body ratio. It also includes a Harmon Kardon-certified audio system with Dolby Atmos sound. ASUS claims its 70 Wh battery can last up to 18 hours.
One of the Vivobook S 15’s selling points is its thin aluminum body: Its tapered design has a thickness ranging from only 0.58 to 0.63 inches (14.7 mm to 16 mm). The PC weighs a mere 3.13 lbs (1.4 kg), slightly lighter than Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air.
The laptop has a healthy port selection, including two USB4, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A, HDMI, an audio combo jack and a microSD slot. Its keyboard has customizable single-zone RGB lighting and a Copilot key for quick access to the ChatGPT-powered assistant.
The ASUS Vivobook S 15 is available for pre-order now through the company’s retail partners, starting at $1,300. The company says additional configurations will launch later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-first-copilot-pc-locks-when-you-walk-away-and-unlocks-when-you-return-195952186.html?src=rss
Microsoft Paint is getting new image generation powers with a new tool called Cocreator. Powered by "diffusion-based algorithms," Cocreator can generate images based on text prompts as well as your own doodles in the Paint app.
The company has been experimenting with AI image generation in Paint for a while, and early versions of Cocreator have been available to developers and Windows Insiders since the fall. But with the introduction of CoPilot+ PCs, the feature is now official.
During a demo at its Surface event, the company showed off how Cocreator combines your own drawings with text prompts to create an image. There’s also a “creativity slider” that allows you to control how much you want AI to take over compared with your original art. As Microsoft pointed out, the combination of text prompts and your own brush strokes enables faster edits. It could also help provide a more precise rendering than what you’d be able to achieve with DALL-E or another text-to-image generator alone.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-paint-is-getting-an-ai-powered-image-generator-that-responds-to-your-text-prompts-and-doodles-190653716.html?src=rss
What if you could run an entire Windows PC on a mobile Arm-based chip, bringing the power efficiency and thinner designs from smartphones and tablets to laptops? If you've been paying attention to Microsoft's PC strategy over the past two decades, this song probably sounds familiar. From the original Surface in 2012 (running Windows RT for Arm devices) to the recent Surface Pro 9 5G, Microsoft has chipped away at this dream, only to fail miserably every time. Now with its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which includes major upgrades in Windows for Arm systems and AI, Microsoft may finally have the answer to its mobile computing dreams.
Microsoft's portable PC ambitions didn't start with the Surface line: You can trace it back to Windows CE and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs. Then there was the short-lived era of netbooks: tiny, cheap and under-powered laptops meant mainly for browsing the web. I'll admit, I loved many a netbook, but they couldn't compete with the rise of the iPhone, Android and tablets.
Timing has never been Microsoft's strongest point. While Apple can just re-orient its platforms around its own homegrown hardware and software to pull off a monumental feat, like the move towards its Arm-based M-series chips, Microsoft has to wait on its many partners. In the case of Copilot+, the program wouldn't have been possible before Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite chips, or before developers were ready to build apps to take advantage of neural processing units (NPUs) for AI work.
"We engineered this update of Windows with the focus on AI and specifically AI inference on those devices, and [with] making sure we were taking full advantage of the Arm 64 instruction set," according to Microsoft’s head of Windows and Surface Pavan Davuluri in a briefing with media earlier this month. "[In] this updated Windows, we built a new compiler in Windows for this exercise. We have a new kernel in the operating system that is built on top of this compiler. We have new schedulers in Windows that are built for taking advantage of these workloads."
Davuluri also noted that there's a new driver compute model that better integrates neural engines into Windows, just like CPUs and GPUs. Those core Windows updates will be a major boon for AI hardware, undoubtedly, but they will also make the OS function far better on Arm chips than we've seen before. Microsoft says that more native Arm apps will be coming to Windows, including Spotify and over 400 apps from other developers. But the key upgrade, a new emulator that's 20 percent faster than its previous solution, and is said to be faster than Apple's Rosetta 2 emulator for M-series Macs.
"We made gains on the breadth and the reach of the emulator," Davuluri said, referring to the amount of apps that Prism works on. "When you combine the new prism emulator with simply the raw performance and improvement in [the Snapdragon X Elite] CPUs themselves, we're in a place where we have great native apps and we're also in a place where the breadth of the app catalog also has tremendous performance, comparable to the rest of the Windows estate today."
While I haven't been able to benchmark Copilot+ PCs yet, I've seen a few compelling demos that point to raw performance and battery life that’s similar to Apple's M3 chip. I'm just hoping the company can finally deliver a Windows on Arm experience that doesn't stink. After reviewing the Surface Pro 9 5G, which was slow and incompatible with many apps, I had given up on the idea of a decent Arm-based Windows PC entirely. But with revamped Surface devices, as well as partners like Dell, ASUS and HP jumping on the Copilot+ bandwagon, maybe Microsoft has finally crafted a decent mobile PC platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-isnt-the-star-of-microsofts-copilot-pc-push--improved-arm-support-is-190039699.html?src=rss
Microsoft's new Surface Pro, its first hybrid Copilot+ PC tablet, doesn't look much different than its predecessors. It's still a sleek and sturdy tablet with a kickstand. But the screen looks a bit more impressive, thanks to slimmer bezels, and it's potentially more useful on the go when paired with the $350 Surface Pro Flex keyboard, which lets you type wirelessly. As a Copilot+ PC though, its true value lies under the hood, thanks to a 45TOPS neural processing unit in Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-surface-pro-copilot-hands-on-slimmer-bezels-and-ai-smarts-185349396.html?src=rss
To go along with its redesigned Surface Pro, at its event today, Microsoft gave the tablet's keyboard a makeover too by adding improved stability, better haptics and even a bold font option for added readability. However, starting at $350, it won't come cheap.
Available for pre-order today alongside Microsoft's revamped convertible tablet, the Surface Pro Flex keyboard features a familiar design but with a number of tweaks to make it more adaptable and accessible than before. Inside, carbon fiber supports deliver increased stability, which is an important change as the Flex can now be used when it's completely detached from a Surface. This means you can position it in all sorts of ways such as typing on your lap while the tablet sits on a nearby desk or table. There's also a new retractable riser on the bottom, so you can adjust the keyboard's angle when using it by itself.
Microsoft
The Flex's touchpad is also 14 percent larger than before and features Microsoft's Precision Haptics to provide more detailed feedback and assist people with limited hand movement. Meanwhile, to support people with low vision, the keyboard will also be available with an optional bold key set. Finally, as we've seen on Microsoft's previous convertible keyboards, the Flex has a built-in magnetic charging slot for the Surface Slim Pen.
That said, it's important to point out that the Surface Pro Flex keyboard's $350 base price doesn't include the pen, so if you want one, that'll bring your total up to $450. Thankfully, the Flex is backward compatible with the Surface Pro 8 and Pro 9, so you don't necessarily need to buy a whole new tablet if all you want is a fancy new keyboard.
The Surface Pro Flex keyboard is available for pre-order today in two colors (black and bright sapphire), with official sales starting on June 18.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-surface-pro-flex-is-microsofts-revamped-keyboard-for-2-in-1s-185156350.html?src=rss
We knew more computers were coming that would feature a native version of Microsoft’s AI Copilot toolset, but we didn’t quite know how many were set to be announced. It’s practically an AI avalanche. Companies like Dell, Acer and HP have all just announced computers that have adopted Microsoft’s AI software and NVIDIA’s AI hardware. The age of the AI PC is upon us.
These Copilot+ PCs could really change how we interact with computers, bringing natural language nuance to a bevy of everyday tasks. The PCs all feature a dedicated key to bring up Copilot and are stuffed with Arm-based Snapdragon X CPUs, which include powerful onboard neural processing units (NPUs) for AI tasks. While similar in some ways, each of the following computers bring their own ideas to the AI table. Sorry Apple fans. These are all Windows 11 PCs. Let’s get to it.
Surface Laptop
Engadget
The new Surface Laptop was the first Copilot+ PC detailed at Microsoft’s event. The updated PC has all of the AI bells and whistles you would expect, as it’s a first-party device. It’s also got serious specs. The Surface Laptop’s touch display can hit 600 nits of brightness, with availability in 13 and 15-inch options, and there's a studio camera integrated into the bezel. Microsoft says the laptop is 80 percent faster than the previous generation, with a battery that can get over 22 hours per charge. There’s the Copilot key, of course, but also a haptic touchpad. The Surface Laptop starts at just $1,000, with shipments going out on June 18.
Surface Pro
Engadget
It looks like Microsoft has dropped the numerical naming convention with Surface hybrid devices. This updated version should be called the Surface Pro 10, but it’s called just the Surface Pro. Microsoft says the latest Surface Pro is a whopping 90 percent faster than the Surface 9, which was already fairly quick. There’s also an OLED version that boasts a “near-infinite” contrast ratio for deep blacks and brighter colors.
The company also brags that the front-facing camera is the best it has ever created, with fantastic low-light performance. The rear-facing camera can capture 4K video. The new Flex keyboard design can operate both attached and detached, so you can position things however you want. Other features include a customizable haptic touchpad, Wi-Fi 7 and increased multi-monitor support. The new Surface Pro starts at $1,000, with shipments starting on June 18.
Acer Swift 14 AI
Acer
This is Acer's spin on the company’s line of Swift-branded laptops. The Snapdragon X CPU allows for all manner of AI tomfoolery, with access to both the Recall and Cocreator tools. The AI is also used for game optimization and for improving live video in real time. These tools even allows for real-time translations and speech captions of any live or pre-recorded video, though this is true of many of these Copilot+ PCs.
On the specs side of things, the laptop boasts a 14.5-inch touch display, up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of solid-state storage. All of this is stuffed into a quite-fetching metal chassis. The Acer Swift 14 AI will be available in July, with a starting price of $1,100.
HP Omnibook X
HP
HP has revived its once-iconic Omnibook line of laptops and updated it for the age of AI. The Omnibook X ships with the uber-powerful Snapdragon X Elite CPU, with up to 12 cores and a top speed of 3.4 GHz. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU powers all of those AI bells and whistles and the Adreno GPU should be able to handle even the most graphically-demanding games. You can spec out this laptop with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of solid-stage storage.
The Omnibook X boasts the same Copilot key as the rest of these computers, allowing instantaneous access to Microsoft’s digital assistant. There’s also a multitouch-enabled 14-inch display, complete with Corning Gorilla Glass, dual speakers with HP audio boost technology and integration with Wi-Fi 7. The computer hits store shelves on June 18 with a starting price of $1,200. You can easily tell new HP AI PCs by the addition of a helix-shaped logo.
HP EliteBook Ultra G1q
HP
The Omnibook X wasn’t the only AI PC announced today. The company also unveiled the business-focused EliteBook Ultra G1q. This laptop also uses the Snapdragon X Elite CPU, along with an NPU capable of more than 40 trillion operations per second. That means it should whiz through AI tasks at a rapid clip. The new EliteBook Ultra can do all of the typical chatbot/digital assistant stuff, but the Poly Camera Pro software now runs on the NPU, so you won’t draw power from the CPU when using tools like background blur and virtual backgrounds during video calls.
This PC also includes premium endpoint security to defend against phishing sites and malware attacks at the firmware level. There’s a 14-inch touch display and a battery that charges to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. You’ll be stuck with 16GB of soldered-on RAM, however, and the storage space maxes out at 1TB. The EliteBook Ultra G1q releases on June 18 with a starting price of $1,700.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
Engadget/Sam Rutherford
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x features the Snapdragon X Elite chip and some impressive specs. The screen boasts a color gamut that covers 100 percent of DCI-P3 with up to 500 nits of brightness. The bezels are thin, there’s a quad-mic setup and it’s actually lighter than the comparably-sized MacBook Air. Unlike the MBA, however, the Yoga Slim 7x features dedicated fans for cooling. Finally, there’s a robust 70 Wh battery that should easily last a full workday and beyond. The Yoga Slim 7x is due out later this year starting at $1,300, with exclusive availability at Best Buy.
The company has another AI PC coming, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. This also features a beefy NPU processor for AI tasks.
Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge Series
Samsung
The Galaxy Book series is getting an AI-centric refresh. The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge series comes in a few varieties, with screen sizes ranging from 14-inches to 16-inches. They all feature AMOLED display panels with 3K resolution and Snapdragon X Elite processors. Each version also includes a full-size HDMI output, two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. In addition, the 16-inch model boasts a full-size USB-A port, a microSD card reader and a number pad.
There’s a pro version available with the most powerful Snapdragon X Elite variant and more RAM, though only in the 16-inch design. These laptops start at $1,350 and will hit stores on June 18.
ASUS Vivobook S 15
ASUS
This ultrathin 15.6-inch laptop is powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor and includes a collection of AI-centric apps developed by ASUS. The camera features something called AiSense that detects when someone is in front of the display and dims the screen when they look away to preserve juice. This system is also used to automatically lock and unlock the computer. It’s also the first ASUS laptop to feature StoryCube, which is a proprietary AI assistant that helps to “manage all digital assets.”
As for standard specs, it boasts a 15.6-inch OLED display, a Harman Kardon-certified audio system with multi-dimensional Dolby Atmos sound and a 70 Wh battery that gets 18 hours of use per charge. Preorders are available now and you can outfit these laptops with up to 1TB of internal storage and up to 32GB of RAM. It’s surprising the company didn’t have a Zenbook ready to go here, given last year’s model went pretty hard for AI.
A Whole Bunch of Dell PCs
Dell
Dell is diving in head-first here, announcing five laptops with built-in AI, all powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X line. There’s an AI-centric refresh of the iconic XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite chip. This laptops boasts a sleek, minimalist design with a machined aluminum exterior and plenty of ultra-durable Gorilla Glass. There’s a touch function row and an option for a 3K touch display. The updated XPS 13 starts at $1,300 and preorders are open now, though shipments don’t begin until later in the year.
The company has also refreshed its Inspiron line of laptops. The Inspiron 14 and Inspiron 14 Plus both feature Snapdragon X Plus processors and instant access to Microsoft Copilot. The Inspiron Plus looks to be a bit more powerful on the CPU side of things, with ten cores and speeds up to 3.4GHz. The Plus starts at $1,100, with models shipping out later this year. Dell will release pricing and availability information regarding the standard Inspiron 14 in the coming months.
For enterprise customers, Dell will have the Latitude 5455 and the Latitude 7455, which are offshoots of the current Latitude 5450 and 7450 notebooks. The big change here is that both new models will be powered by Snapdragon X Plus chips, with the 7455 offering an option for the flagship Snapdragon X Elite. The 7450 boasts a 360-degree 2-in-1 design and is being advertised as the “thinnest Latitude laptop ever." We'll get pricing and availability informaton on these later this year.
What about other PC companies?
These are all of the big announcements from the Microsoft Surface event, but that doesn’t mean they will be the only available laptops with Snapdragon X processors and Copilot integration. Rumors swirl that many other manufacturers are prepping their own computers for release in the near future. This is, after all, the decade of AI… so they say.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/here-are-all-of-the-just-announced-copilot-pcs-with-snapdragon-x-chips-184825090.html?src=rss
