16.2 C
London
Thursday, September 19, 2024
HomephoneMicrosoft's new 'Copilot' PCs can't handle hundreds of popular PC games

Microsoft’s new ‘Copilot’ PCs can’t handle hundreds of popular PC games

Date:

Related stories

Apple releases new firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Apple this week released a new firmware update for...

The 22-year-old building Roblox developer tools to make gaming more efficient

Zander Brumbaugh discovered Roblox when he was 12.  Quickly, he...

NYT Connections: hints and answers for Thursday, September 19

Connections is the latest puzzle game from the New York...

Apple’s iOS 18.1 developer beta 4 delivers context-based suggestions for Siri and more

On Tuesday, Apple released its fourth developer beta of...

‘Final Chapter’ of Star Wars Jedi Trilogy in Development at Respawn, EA Confirms

Respawn Entertainment is developing the third game in the...

Microsoft

Microsoft and its partners launched Copilot+ PCs this spring, featuring AI-powered capabilities like generating images and videos. These new laptops deviate from the traditional Intel-powered architecture that has dominated Microsoft Windows PCs for nearly four decades. Instead, the initial Copilot+ models are powered by Qualcomm chips based on Arm designs.

While most PC games, especially popular multiplayer titles, are optimized for Intel’s x86 chips, some can be run on the Qualcomm-Arm system through a software layer that translates x86 instructions into Arm-compatible code. However, this approach can introduce compatibility issues, leading to bugs, glitches, or even non-functional games.

Yang Jie for The Wall Street Journal:

The problem is widespread. About 1,300 PC games have been independently tested to see if they work on Microsoft’s new Arm-powered PCs and only about half ran smoothly, said James McWhirter, an analyst with research firm Omdia. He cited an independent website recommended by Microsoft to check compatibility. Many other less-popular games haven’t been tested.

Microsoft confirmed that some games may not play on Copilot+ PCs, including certain titles with demanding graphics requirements… Qualcomm had a similar comment, saying the type of chip powering the new AI PCs “is not currently considered a gaming platform” but that it was working with partners to improve the situation.

Games are just one part of the bigger struggle to control the insides of Windows PCs, with the upstart Qualcomm-Arm team squaring off against more experienced Intel. Digitimes’s Chang said he expected the coming Intel chips for Windows AI PCs to take the lion’s share of the global market in the near term, in part because of their compatibility advantage.


MacDailyNews Take: Imagine dumping Intel and getting even worse! Beleaguered Intel is the Boeing of chip makers, so what does that make Qualcomm?


We are currently about 1/8th of the way to being sustainable with Substack subscriptions.

Not a bad start!

Please tell your friends about MacDailyNews on Substack (https://macdailynews.substack.com) and, if you’re currently a free subscriber, please consider $5/mo. or $50/year to keep MacDailyNews going. Just hit the subscribe button. Thank you!

– MacDailyNews

Read on Substack


Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

Latest stories

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here