this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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All the top posts here are people saying it won’t happen.
I was at the store over the weekend and saw a full display of chromebooks. Someone purchased one right in front of me.
I’m sure there’s a market for both technologies to exist at the same time.
They're purchasing the OS, not the CPU/SOC architecture.
Microsoft doesn't have the same loyalty that Apple does. They can't afford to release an ARM OS that isn't already supported by all major software applications, and majority support for normal x86 apps, with assistance and roadmap to completely bridge the gap.
When the transition is seamless, or 90% seamless, the architecture won't matter, and customers won't even realize they've switched.
If they release ARM hardware that doubles battery life and performance, but doesn't offer a seamless transition, it'll flop. Just like their last attempt did.
Microsoft doesn't have loyalty? They have practical market dominance. I say this as a Linux user but ain't no way Microsoft can do anything to drive away their user base. If their users buy a laptop and find half their software doesn't run on it or runs sh*ttily due to emulation, I'm pretty sure they'll blame the laptop manufacturers before Microsoft or demand the laptops have a x86 variant and even that's a long way before moving to another os.
Exactly.
This quote reveals the lack of understanding about how MS works:
Half-hearted? I bet MS research developed a plan for ARM before the public knew ARM existed. They have a massive research department.
They don't need to support ARM until it's well-established at a performance point that can supplant x86 even under emulation. Their major clients are business, and frankly laptop battery life is more than good enough for business users today (I can run almost all day on battery, and I do a lot of file management with a 3 year old, midrange business laptop).
Now what's compelling for big business is power consumption in data centers or even office buildings. But those systems aren't running Windows directly on iron - it's all virtualized. So even there I'm not sure ARM competes yet. Maybe for desktops in the office, call centers, etc. But those already use Mini PCs.
Gonna be interesting to see how it all works out. Will we really see dramatically better battery life on a Windows ARM laptop? Will this also be the return of Windows Phone/Tablet (does this change the tablet definition if it can run Windows/Linux?)
Edit: Forgot that MS already has Win10 IoT Enterprise, and Win10 IoT Core - so Enterprise for managing IoT devices, and Core to run on IoT devices. Core is much like Embedded Windows in that it's stripped down and only runs one app. I'm sure MS considered ARM devices when building it, and wouldn't be surprised they've already done extensive testing with an ARM version already.
There are tons of x86 Chromebooks still tho.
Yeah I bought a $300 amd Chromebook and run Linux on it. Had to flash a new efi firmware to make it fully usable though. Worst part of it is the soldered 8gb of RAM but it works for my usage.