Image: Microsoft
Laptops with new AMD Ryzen AI 300 and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips have the AI horsepower to qualify as Copilot+ PCs and run the newfangled Windows features tied to that qualification. But they aren‘t Copilot+ PCs. Not yet. A Microsoft update will change that.
Microsoft said that the company will issue a Windows 11 update in November to add the Copilot+ features that those chips are qualified to address, but don’t have access to now. They include Live Captions, the updated Photos app, Windows Studio Effects, and the updated Paint app with AI creation capabilities.
To date, the only chip with Copilot+ capabilities has been Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, which has pushed past the threshold of 40 AI TOPS — the de facto dividing line for Copilot+ capabilities. The NPUs in both Intel’s Lunar Lake (the Core Ultra Series 2) as well as the Ryzen AI 300 exceed that threshold.
Microsoft will begin testing the other key Copilot+ PC feature, the controversial Recall feature, this October.
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.
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