The Issue with Copilot+ PCs

In this video we look at what is a Copilot+ PC and the issue I've found with them.
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Copilot+ PCs are the latest innovation from Microsoft, designed to bring advanced AI capabilities directly to your laptop or desktop. These devices are equipped with powerful hardware and software integrations that enable a range of AI-driven features, making them smarter and more efficient than traditional PCs.
Understanding NPUs At the heart of Copilot+ PCs is the Neural Processing Unit (NPU). An NPU is a specialized processor designed specifically for accelerating neural network operations and AI tasks. Unlike general-purpose CPUs and GPUs, NPUs are optimized for data-driven parallel computing, making them highly efficient at processing large amounts of multimedia data and handling complex AI-related tasks.
Features Unlocked by NPUs With the integration of NPUs, Copilot+ PCs can unlock a variety of advanced features:
Real-time AI Processing: Perform tasks like real-time language translation, image generation, and speech recognition directly on the device without relying on cloud services.
Enhanced Performance: Improve the performance of creative applications such as Adobe Photoshop by accelerating AI-driven tasks like object detection and background removal.
Privacy and Security: Since AI processing is done locally, users can enjoy enhanced privacy and security, as their data doesn’t need to be sent to external servers.
Battery Efficiency: NPUs are designed to be power-efficient, helping to extend battery life even while performing intensive AI tasks.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro & review of using the Surface Laptop 7
1:29 What is a copilot+ PC?
2:33 Benefits of an NPU
3:19 Large and Small Language Models (LLM & SLM)
4:09 Viewing the NPU utilisation and examples
6:24 CoCreator Demonstration
7:52 The Issue with Copilot+ PCs
10:35 Overall thoughts on Copilot+ PCs
#microsoft #Windows11 #Copilot+

[@TheOther12523]

Does it heat up or get warm when you just do browsing or light activities?

[@andikunar7183]

Its still a huge driver/software issue. I tested my Surface 11 Pro with the Snapdragon Plus with local AI workloads. Llama.cpp (the basis for ollama,…) only runs on the CPU for now, but its very fast. Let‘s see, when we get better drivers,… - a lot of the Snapdragon Android work could be re-used. Most people forget, that its GPU/NPU roots also are in tablets/phones.

[@johnmartin8481]

Based on your review I am very excited for Windows PCs moving forward. I fit very well into the use case customer for Copilot + PC. And to hear and read the various reviews that say Windows PCs are only going to get better. However, that said. I am going to wait until the Intel (Lunar Lake specifically) AMD base Windows PCs are available and tested. I really look for compatibility as a key criteria over raw performance and battery life. Do not get me wrong here, performance and battery life are important requirements in my selection of a replacement laptop. but so is hardware and software compatibility. After all, it is the reason I prefer Windows over any other computer platform. At the very least Qualcomm has enhanced the competitiveness of Windows hardware options for all consumer and business.

[@AldoJames]

I agree, Qualcomm has pushed the competitiveness of Windows hardware which means in the end we all win.

[@Thulebeez]

I have delayed purchasing by 12 to 18 months until these bugs are ironed out.

[@AldoJames]

Which brand do you think you'll get? Overall it has been a solid machine and the issue is with Windows not Snapdragon

[@Thulebeez]

@@AldoJames definitely going with the Surface laptop 7 upgrading form the Surface laptop 3 how I am bumped on the Alcantara being removed on the keyboard ⌨️

[@horseman1956]

Begs the question, is the internet required for "safety" reasons, or because AI isn't really 'creating' anything at all, but rather, simply needs access to a huge, online library of data (in this case, images) so it can search and find a picture of your tree? Point being, I'm not convinced that AI is 'creating' anything at all. It is simply a glorified search engine that can roughly interpret your request and deliver an already existing image, video or collection of text which best matches your request. I'd wager that if you and I provided similarly rough drawings, on two separate computers, of a "tree in a park", the resultant AI delivered images would be identical. If true, and I believe it is, the 'magic' of AI isn't in "creation", but rather, a fairly complex and, perhaps, better interpretative engine. If I'm correct, AI is effectively reduced to nothing more than 'google on a chip', minus the data source. Take away network access, and the search engine is left with no data source from which to draw. Am I wrong?

[@bthub3]

You can check the NPU utilisation in the task manager to see that the processing (creating) is done on the machine. Plus there are open source local models that run without network access. Finally, there would not be hundreds of academic papers developing AI architectures (diffusion models, transformers, GAN, CNN) if AI was just 'google on a chip'. Also the huge amount of resource spent on GPUs and model training. You get the point.

[@OldDogZeroTricks]

I gave a thumbs up for demonstrating the NPU usage, which I hadn't seen yet. Thank you. A laptop is a mobile device, so an internet connection is essential in many scenarios, so I don't worry about that side. For me, it's only natural that AI (or quite simply any app or service coined `AI') will require net access. Let's be honest, AI isn't some consciousness as companies would like to portray it as being (however cool the demos are), it's just an app or service (or collection of) reaching out and piecing stuff together to satisfy the end user. I'm excited about the benefits of AI, but I was also equally excited about Cortana a few years back, too. The only thing I dislike about the concept of AI, is how fake the world of creation is becoming. Give me an AI assistant that can demonstrate experience, heart, passion, devotion and accuracy to a topic. I won't hold my breath. We are watching you AI! Don't let us down!

[@seastnsw]

Interesting how the GPU shows as X Plus while the NPU shows as X Elite.

[@AldoJames]

:O I didn't even notice that! Maybe the Plus is just a binned version of the Elite?

[@Gabeyre]

My biggest issue is price. ARM shoukd be cheap, Or so I thought.

[@AldoJames]

Compared to Intel ARM is definitely cheaper, don't forget these are the first and most premium devices so you should see more options and lower price points as more manufacturers create ARM PCs

[@MrPtheMan]

There are more problems with the Snapdragon chips, its wide known. I'm tired of repeating myself. Don't buy until it matures, at least one year from now. Gpu drivers are messed up, drivers for external devices usb are not working properly, and prism emulator is not that compatible to run x86 apps, regular apps as MS promised, and games are even broken. Wait until they fix their mess.

[@michal1693]

you bought pc that will run only windows bare metal? lol. i only run windows in a vm. i might use MS AI agents. Its just they will run in a vm