Although the public has yet to see what Asus, HP and Lenovo are cooking up for their ARM-based laptops, Microsoft is promising exceptional battery life.
The company announced that its Windows 10 operating system would support ARM-based mobile processors last year, with chipset manufacturer Qualcomm subsequently announcing that it was partnering with Asus, HP and Lenovo to create the first laptops powered by its Snapdragon 835 chipset.
Microsoft, Qualcomm and their partners have extolled several benefits of these ARM-based machines, including the ability to craft a smaller, thinner laptop with no fans and “unparalleled LTE connectivity,” but at Qualcomm’s 4G/5G Summit this week, Microsoft program manager Pete Bernard has been focusing on battery life.
Trusted Reviews reports Bernard gushed about multi-day battery life.
“To be frank, it’s actually beyond our expectations. We set a high bar for [our developers], and we’re now beyond that. It’s the kind of battery life where I use it on a daily basis. I don’t take my charger with me. I may charge it every couple of days or so. It’s that kind of battery life,” Bernard said.
“It turned out not to be a bug; it just has a great battery life.”
In another interview with ZDNet, he even went so far as to say that testers were reporting that their battery meters weren’t working.
“It turned out not to be a bug; it just has a great battery life,” he said.
This level of battery life is exceptional, but a bump in longevity was expected: ARM processors have a more power-efficient instruction set in comparison to the previous standard, Intel’s x86 processor. Qualcomm has previously predicted “beyond all-day battery life.”
Apart from this teaser, not much has been leaked about the laptops. According to Qualcomm and Microsoft, the version of Windows 10 running on these laptops will not be a pared-down version like Windows 10 S or the version featured on the unsuccessful Windows RT devices.
It will run all Microsoft apps, including Office. As for third-party win32 apps, a session at Microsoft’s Build conference revealed that most apps should work the same as on an Intel or AMD processor due to its ARM emulation layer. Microsoft has also previously demonstrated Adobe Photoshop — one of the more complex desktop programs — running on the 835.
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf stated in May that consumers can expect devices in the market in the second half of 2017.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
