Dell leak details next-gen Windows on Arm chips (opens in new tab)

Yea, lets start with tiny userbase of vocal nerds who cant even agree on how to do gui / package management

instead of the OS with majority of market share and giant userbase

90s are over, it is time to move on and stop EEEing everywhere

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For what it's worth, they are in fact targeting Linux support: https://www.qualcomm.com/developer/blog/2024/05/upstreaming-...

It's no longer 2012. Windows has progressed much since RT. I have a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 device running Windows 11, and I'm really impressed with how well it operates, how long the battery lasts, and how well it emulates practically any 64-bit software I've tested. This is coming from someone who hates Windows 11. The majority of the software I use has been or will be complied for ARM eventually.

Wouldn't consumer Linux running on an ARM core just be a Chromebook?

Get a chromebook.

I agree this is a prime moment for Linux on the desktop to shine, but so has the last 10 years of windows destroying its UI and backwards compatibility.

...I have no faith.

Cursing windows is a classic fashion. Come on, be happy that the os exits and maintained.

All the hardware I’ve had from Dell has fallen to pieces (with the exception of the first one: a 320LX from ’85[1]) but they’ve been helpful in trying to shore up the inevitable at least.

[1] https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/54920/Dell-320LX/

As someone who has had literally thousands of Dells: fuck Dell with a rake.

Second only on the chart of “companies to never buy from” to HP.

4x dead $4000 machines in 2 years and then they leaked my personal details and downplayed it. They can get fucked.

Same here. Amazing service.

Most of the official battery life numbers you see from manufacturers are like 18 hours when the reality is less than 8 hours which is just meaningless. The numbers from reviewers using benchmarks like "modern office" might not be applicable to you, but should be relatively accurate. I would advise checking some reviews and reddit posts to see what people say.

Also note that this heavily depends on the CPU and screen configuration (LED or OLED).

One data point here: My laptop with an AMD 7840U with FHD+ IPS screen could last 9 hours in my own testing, that's without video calls or heavy multitasking. It's a ThinkPad but there are a few on the market with the same APU. A similar test on an Asus laptop with i5-1240p high-res OLED would yield 5 hours using the same method.

I know, it's annoying that there is no easy way to get a somewhat realistic estimate of the battery life on Windows laptops, while official Macbook battery life in the specs is reasonable and often accurate. Generally, you would want to get a low voltage CPU and avoid OLED screens if you want good battery life.

I had have 18hrs windows RT laptops, but those were otherwise useless.

A newer Microsoft surface gives you 13-16 hours depending on the model and HP, Dell and Lenovo have slim-ish laptopts in the 11-14 hrs range

I recently got a Framework 13 laptop and 10 hours on a charge is easily doable, especially if you put it in the low power mode. That's on Linux, but I'd assume Windows is typically smarter about conserving battery life (though maybe that's changed nowadays).

I'm incredibly happy with this laptop in general.

Look for devices with the Intel Core Ultra processor family. They’re the first Intel chips that have caught up with the M1/M2/M3 family on performance per watt.

a Lenovo Yoga Slim with a Ryzen 7840u lasts for 8-10 hours with Wifi enabled, browsing, Slack, and a text editor, with the screen brightness at around 30-40% - good enough for indoors.

LG Gram

That is great news, and very encouraging! Of course the bootloader / boot process has to be able to be modified as well; we'll see how good/bad Dell does with that.

What part of thin and performance demands only 2 USB ports?

I have an M2 Macbook Air. The damn thing can fit a dozen USB ports on both sides, as far as physical space is concerned. I like its speakers and battery life, but I hate the lack of connectivity.

Of course not, they are APIs. And this Arm-based Dell will not be able to run many binaries compiled for 64 bit Windows or any for Mac. 32 bit Windows Apps will mostly work.

Which might be pretty limiting, depending on what kind of software you run.

I wonder if maybe they have implemented the touch bar in a much more useful way? The mac one was pointless and only served to reduce utility but with the right software it could have been fantastic. Some 3rd party software hacks even gave it haptic feedback (by activating the trackpads haptics) and that alone made it a million times better. Interested to see what Dell have done with it.