Microsoft's Copilot+ PC initiative was ushered in by a wave of new laptops running Windows on Arm and powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X chipsets. While the new platform is aimed at leveraging the latest generative AI technologies with faster on-board Neural Processing Engines (NPUs), the Qualcomm chipset's most significant promise revolves around great performance and significantly better efficiency.
So far, the results have been mostly positive. The first crop of Snapdragon X laptops have had better battery life than previous generations of Windows machines, and they're just as fast, if not faster. They're among the best laptops you can buy right now, and even compete strongly against Apple's MacBook Air M3, which is probably their most important target.
An elegant and refined Snapdragon X tablet
Microsoft Surface Pro 11
- Gorgeous OLED screen
- Keyboard now works disconnected
- Upgradable storage
- Excellent trackpad and keyboard
- Spectacular webcam
- Great performance and battery life
- Not a great tablet without the keyboard
- Lacks a headphone jack
Why you should buy this: It's the best Windows tablet ever made.
Who it's for: Anyone who just can’t decide between a tablet and a traditional notebook.
Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Pro 11:
The detachable tablet isn't the most popular Windows 2-in-1 form factor, with the 360-degree convertible offering many more options. But, Microsoft hasn't given up on it, with the latest Surface Pro 11 not only demonstrating its commitment to keeping it alive, but showing that it is doubling down on what has always made the Surface Pro such a great product.
First, it leverages the Snapdragon X Elite chipset to offer very good performance and outstanding battery life. It's easily the fastest Surface Pro ever, thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite's 12 cores and up to 3.4GHz clock speed. It's not the fastest laptop using that chipset, but it is the thinnest at just 0.37 inches and the lightest at 1.97 pounds. Perhaps most impressive is its battery life, where it hits 14.5 hours in our web-browsing test. That's longer than most Windows laptops and a huge improvement over earlier Surface Pro machines.
It also introduces the first OLED display to Microsoft's tablet, with the usual bright, dynamic colors and inky blacks. The display runs at 120Hz, so the Windows UI is buttery smooth, and it supports the Surface Pen 2's haptic feedback that makes writing and drawing onscreen feel a lot more natural. Overall, the Surface Pro 11 leverages what's always made it the best Windows tablet while simultaneously adding in better performance and battery life. It starts at $1,000 but quickly ramps up to over $2,000.
A no-compromise Snapdragon X laptop
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7
- Fast, efficient performance
- Display is bright, fast, and beautiful
- Excellent haptic feedback trackpad
- Port selection is solid
- Great starting price
- Battery life diminishes under heavier loads
Why you should buy this: It's a proper MacBook Air rival.
Who it's for: Anyone who needs a thin laptop with plenty of efficient power.
Why we picked the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7:
Microsoft's Surface Laptop has always been aimed at providing a reasonably thin and light clamshell option that shows off Windows' newest features. In the case of the latest version of Window on Arm using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X, that's focused on fast performance and great battery life.
Whether you're looking at the 13.5-inch or 15-inch version, the Surface Laptop offers up some excellent performance with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. And its battery life of 14.5 hours of web browsing and 22 hours of video looping is among the best we've seen from Windows laptops.
As always, the Surface Laptop enjoys one of the most MacBook-like designs around, with a reasonably thin and light chassis and excellent good looks. The keyboard and haptic touchpad are excellent, the IPS displays are solid and run at a fast 120Hz, and the speakers that are embedded in the keyboard offer great sound. All in all, the Surface Laptop 7 pulls everything together.
An incredibly affordable Snapdragon X tablet
Asus ProArt PZ13
- Very attractive price
- Strong productivity performance
- Great battery life
- Excellent build quality
- Good, included detachable keyboard
- Spectacular OLED display
- Snap-on kickstand is a bit clunky
- Overall design not as elegant
Why you should buy this: It's the best affordable 2-in-1 you can buy.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants a Windows tablet, but has a smaller budget.
Why we picked the Asus ProArt PZ13:
The Surface Pro 11 might be the best Windows tablet overall, but it's not the only option. And, in fact, it's not the most affordable option -- that designation belongs to the Asus ProArt PZ13, which costs $1,000 for the same Surface Pro 11 configuration that comes in at $1,700. And Asus includes a detachable keyboard that costs an additional $130 from Microsoft.
Interestingly, although the ProArt PZ13 uses a Snapdragon X Plus chipset with just eight cores and so looks a lot slower on paper, it actually holds its own against the Surface Pro 11. That is, until you engage the Adreno GPU that's a lot slower on the Snapdragon X Plus. Even so, the ProArt PZ13 is a very fast tablet that's more than enough for demanding productivity users. And, its battery life is competitive with the Surface Pro 11, lasting two hours less while browsing the web, but two hours longer when looping our test video.
Its design is a little less elegant than that of the Surface Pro 11, with a snap-on kickstand compared to an integrated version. But again, the ProArt PZ13's very good keyboard is included, which makes its price even more attractive. And it, too, uses a high-res OLED display that looks great.
A thin and light 14-inch Snapdragon laptop
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
- Solid build and attractive aesthetic
- Quite thin
- Efficient performance and battery life
- Spectacular OLED display
- Attractive pricing
- Graphics performance is disappointing
- So-so mechanical touchpad
Why you should buy this: It's a very thin and light, long-lasting Windows machine.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants a thin laptop with great battery life.
Why we picked the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x:
Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7x enjoys the company's most recent design with rounded edges and an overall thin and light build that's both attractive and comfortable to use. It's the thinnest laptop on our list at just 0.51 inches, in spite of have a large 14.5-inch 3K display.
As with the rest of the laptops here, the Yoga Slim 7x is built around a Snapdragon X chipset, specifically the Snapdragon X Elite. It offers the same excellent productivity performance, and its battery life of 12 hours of web browsing and 17 hours of video looping is particularly impressive given the large, high-res OLED display.
The chassis is incredibly well-built, the keyboard and touchpad are very good, and the price is very reasonable at $1,200 for a solid configuration with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
A very well-built, affordable Snapdragon X laptop
HP OmniBook X
- Excellent productivity performance
- Battery life is great
- Solid and attractive build
- Decent IPS display
- Attractive price
- Underwhelming graphics performance
- Battery life not as good as promised
Why you should buy this: It's HP's newest branding in a fast and long-lasting package.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants a well-built and attractive laptop.
Why we picked the HP OmniBook X:
The OmniBook X stands out as the first laptop to bear HP's newest branding. The OmniBook lineup will include all of HP's consumer machines, and the OmniBook X is the first to use the Snapdragon X Elite.
It's a broken record at this point, but the Snapdragon X Elite chipset used in the OmniBook X provides outstanding productivity performance with great battery life. The 13.5 hours of web browsing and 22 hours of video browsing rank high on our list of the long-lasting Windows laptops.
At the same time, the OmniBook X takes up the mantle of HP's premium laptops with a great build that's attractive and solid -- and it's also very thin and light. Its IPS display has great colors and contrast for the technology and contributes to the great battery life. And the keyboard and touchpad continue HP's tradition of comfortable and precise input options.
