"In 2024, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips finally made Arm-based Windows laptops viable. Unlike previous Arm laptops that struggled to even run Windows well, this new class offered solid performance and the best battery life on Windows, and they impressed us in Microsoft's own Surface Laptop and Surface Pro offerings. But inconsistent app compatibility remained the biggest hurdle to running Windows on Arm. (It forced me to use the watered-down Adobe Lightroom app instead of Lightroom Classic, and that's a sin.)"
"Throughout 2025, a slow burn of software improvements have taken the situation from pretty good to much better. Some creative apps that were absent from Windows on Arm now have native versions or run with Prism emulation. Adobe Premiere Pro works natively. And I found that Lightroom Classic, compatible in emulation, works just fine for light edits, even on lower-end Snapdragon X Plus chips."
Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips made Arm-based Windows laptops viable in 2024 by delivering solid performance and leading battery life in devices like the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. App compatibility initially limited functionality, forcing some users to rely on feature-limited apps. During 2025 software improvements introduced native versions and Prism emulation, enabling applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro to run natively and Lightroom Classic to work acceptably under emulation on lower-end Snapdragon X Plus chips. Emulator enhancements added support for x86 AVX and AVX2, improving game compatibility, while a Snapdragon Control Panel enabled faster graphics driver updates and Easy Anti-Cheat gained support.
Read at The Verge
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