Microsoft’s mini AI PC will be released soon

Ever since Microsoft first released its Arm-based Copilot Plus laptops in June, I’ve been wondering when Copilot Plus features would appear on desktop PCs. In six months, it’s clear that we’ll be seeing mini PCs delivering the AI ​​power needed for features like Windows 11’s Recall, Click To Do, and AI-based image creation and editing. These mini PCs could also help Microsoft compete. Apple’s latest Mac mini.

Asus became the first PC manufacturer to announce a Copilot Plus-capable mini PC in September. Next, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which opens next week, the full specifications of the soon-to-be-released NUC 14 Pro AI were revealed last month. Asus’ mini PC has a Copilot button on the front and is about the same size as Apple’s latest Mac Mini.

The timing of Asus’ spec drop came on the same day that Taiwanese company Geekom unveiled three new mini PCs it will show off at CES. Geekom plans to launch a mini PC with AMD’s Strix Point CPU and a mini PC with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor. This means that both are compatible with Copilot Plus. The third model will be powered by Intel’s unannounced Arrow Lake-H laptop processors. It is unlikely that these processors will have enough NPUs to be compatible with Copilot Plus.

We’ll be paying close attention to CES next week to see if any other Windows OEMs are ready to launch Copilot Plus mini PCs. CES is usually the starting point for Microsoft’s plans for the latest laptop or tablet, and last year the company convinced OEMs to place Copilot keys on laptop keyboards. Since Asus won’t add a Copilot button to the front of its own mini PCs without Microsoft’s involvement, I wonder how many other PC manufacturers Microsoft has been working with to add dedicated Copilot buttons.

Geekom’s mention of a Qualcomm chip inside a mini PC means that Qualcomm’s latest chip will see business beyond laptops for the first time. Qualcomm was scheduled to release a mini PC Snapdragon Dev Kit alongside the Copilot Plus laptop in June, but it was canceled a few months later due to device manufacturing issues. Qualcomm has teased that the Snapdragon X Elite chip could appear in mini PCs or even all-in-one PCs. So you might see some Copilot Plus all-in-one PCs next week as well.

I’m still waiting to see when Copilot Plus will be available for my existing powerful desktop PC. Intel’s latest Core Ultra desktop CPUs were released in October with an NPU inside, but they weren’t powerful enough to meet the 40 TOPS requirement that Microsoft demanded for its Copilot Plus feature. We’ll have to wait until the next generation of desktop CPUs from Intel and AMD arrives to see if more capable NPUs are a priority for chipmakers. Until then, mini PCs and all-in-one PCs using laptop processors will be the only way to get Copilot Plus features in a desktop PC form factor.

Copilot Plus features are still limited to Windows PCs, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see native Copilot assistive features on more devices. I’ve heard from several sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans that the company wants to make Copilot available on devices other than PCs, phones, and tablets.

Just as Microsoft has hinted at its ambitions for dedicated AI hardware in recent months, we’ll likely see Copilot appear in some unexpected hardware at CES next week. windows chief Pavan Davuluri Admission in October notepad The power of modern AI models “will enable hardware innovation and launch purpose-built hardware,” he said in an interview.

Davuluri did not elaborate on what Microsoft’s dedicated AI hardware might look like, but it could be expected in the coming weeks. Yusuf MahdiMicrosoft’s executive vice president and chief consumer marketing officer gave a few more hints in an underreported interview with YouTuber Austin Evans.

“I think devices that view the world, devices that you wear on your body, devices that are combined with AI are going to be very valuable,” Mehdi said in late October. “It can recognize images and tell you what’s going on. “I think the place we’re going to is a really attractive place.”

Later in the interview, Mehdi described wearable health-related devices as exciting and a “big opportunity” for the future. Microsoft confirmed its Microsoft AI CEO last month. Mustafa Suleiman We hired several of our former colleagues to help run our new AI medical department. It’s hard to imagine Microsoft entering the fitness wearables space again after the Microsoft Band was decommissioned in 2016. But I can clearly see that the company wants to partner with device manufacturers and provide AI-based health services for these types of devices.

Either way, there’s no slowing down in Microsoft’s ambitions to put Copilot on every screen we see every day by 2025.

• 2024 was a big year for Windows on Arm. With Microsoft pushing for the ‘Year of the AI ​​PC’ throughout 2024, I think it was an even bigger moment for Windows on Arm. Copilot Plus PC brings some really tangible improvements to Windows on Arm this year in terms of performance, compatibility, and battery life. I still can’t believe I use an Arm-based Windows laptop every day.
• A strange Windows 11 bug is preventing some people from installing security updates. Another month and another strange Windows bug. Microsoft is now warning Windows 11 users that there is a strange bug that could prevent them from receiving future security updates if they recently installed the OS manually. Enterprises will be most affected as this will have a significant impact on USB installers created using the October and November release patches. However, the workaround requires a full rebuild right now, and Microsoft says it’s working on a permanent fix.
• Lenovo is hosting a special portable gaming event next week alongside Valve and Microsoft.. Lenovo will soon announce its first SteamOS portable gaming PC, according to leaked information. Now Lenovo has unveiled a “Future of Gaming Handhelds” event at next week’s CES that will include next-generation VPs from Valve and Microsoft. jason ronald. It looks like Microsoft and Valve will go head-to-head over the future of handheld gaming. notepad problem. Ronald’s presence was especially interesting as he was previously Vice President of Xbox Gaming Devices and Ecosystem. I know Ronald has been involved with Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox plans for quite some time, but I’m curious that Microsoft chose this special event to check out Ronald’s new title. I’m sure we’ll have more to say about this mysterious Lenovo event next week. notepad.
• Microsoft is testing real-time translation on Intel and AMD Copilot Plus PCs. Microsoft has begun previewing the real-time translation feature for Windows Insiders in its Dev channel. Real-time translation was initially limited to Qualcomm-based Copilot Plus PCs, but Microsoft is starting to bring more of these Windows AI features to AMD- and Intel-based Copilot Plus PCs.
• Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI hinges on AGI issues.. new report from information Microsoft and OpenAI’s dispute over the terms of their partnership may have to do with defining artificial general intelligence (AGI) as the moment it returns $100 billion in profits, it is claimed. AGI has always been the end point of Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI. So the high-margin milestone will certainly complicate OpenAI’s efforts to declare AGI and end its contract with Microsoft, as the company is still struggling with profits. Separately, Microsoft believes that key parts of AGI are still missing, so the debate over when AGI will be declared will likely continue for quite some time.
• Microsoft has removed Skype credit and phone numbers for subscriptions. Skype has been trying to catch up to the popularity of WhatsApp, Messenger, Zoom, and many other VoIP services in recent years. Now, Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new Skype credits for subscriptions and the phone number feature in Skype. Skype Credit used to be a pay-as-you-go way to make calls with Skype, but now you need a subscription to use the feature.
• Microsoft warns that Phone Link will not show “sensitive” Android 15 notifications.. The new Android 15 privacy feature that classifies notifications like 2FA codes as sensitive is causing some issues with the Microsoft Phone Link feature on Windows. You can fix the problem by turning off enhanced notifications in Android 15, but Windows will still have to show sensitive notifications on Android devices that have Phone Link pre-installed.
• The Xbox Sebile controller is still on the way.. during FTC vs. Microsoft A ton of unannounced Xbox hardware has been leaked for 2023, including a new Xbox controller codenamed Sebile. The controller was originally scheduled for release in 2024, but Microsoft now appears to be holding it back for the next-generation consoles. Windows Central The new patent reports detailing Sebile’s new haptic motors distributed throughout the controller. Sebile also supports direct Wi-Fi connectivity to Xbox Cloud Gaming, as does Google’s Stadia controller.
• GitHub now has a free tier for Copilot in VS Code.. Microsoft-owned GitHub first began using Copilot branding for its paid AI coding assistants in 2021. GitHub now offers a free version of GitHub Copilot in VS Code. It includes 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month and is available to the 150 million developers who use GitHub. It also includes options to use Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet or OpenAI’s GPT-4o models to ask coding questions, explain your code, or let the AI ​​model find bugs in your code.
• Microsoft is working to add non-OpenAI models to Microsoft 365 Copilot.. Microsoft is reportedly working on adding third-party AI models to Microsoft 365 Copilot soon. Reuters Microsoft reported that it is looking at other models to reduce the cost of AI assistants in Office apps and reduce reliance on OpenAI. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is related to Microsoft’s own AI model. But the company could also follow GitHub’s move to support models from Anthropic and Google.

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