PCWorld July 2024

To date, PC vendors have shipped AI PCs. On Monday, Microsoft announced the next step in the AI PC’s evolution, the Copilot+ PC, and announced AI-powered Windows 11 features like Recall. “The pursuit has always been about how to build computers that understand us, instead of having us having to understand computers, and I feel like we really are close to that breakthrough,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, in a briefing with reporters on Microsoft’s campus. A Copilot+ PC combines local, on-device AI with cloud AI, according to Microsoft, to provide a range of services. Some of the new laptops shipping with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors will be classified as Copilot+ PCs, taking advantage of the NPU found within both chips. That NPU will…

AMD’s Zen 5 is here! AMD launched its next-generation Ryzen 9000 series of desktop PC processors at Computex in early June, kicking off the next round of processor competition between AMD, Intel, and (now) Qualcomm. If you recall our Ryzen 7950X review, you’ll remember that chip was accompanied by three others. That’s still the case: AMD launched the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X, plus the Ryzen 9 9900X, the Ryzen 7 9700X, and the Ryzen 5 9600X. This is AMD’s Granite Ridge architecture, supported by new X870 motherboards. There’s a treat for existing customers, too: AMD is formally extending the lifespan of its AM5 socket through 2027, up from the previously pledged 2025, and is adding the Ryzen 9 5900XT and Ryzen 7 5800XT too on the AM4 platform. (AMD continues…

The biggest news at Computex in June was how Snapdragon chips are storming the beaches of the Windows-based PC market, spearheading Microsoft’s huge Copilot+ laptop push. We’ve seen Arm-based PC hardware before, but the designs have improved so much that they’re meeting and sometimes beating the Intel and AMD competition. Qualcomm’s CEO thinks they might be good enough to dominate and to do so very quickly. Speaking to Tom’s Hardware, Cristiano Amon doubled down on bullish projections from Arm, the company that designs the architecture behind the chips in smartphones, tablets, most integrated electronics, and now Macs and PCs. Amon said he subscribed to the idea that Arm-based chips could take over 50 percent of the PC market within five years. “Some OEMs are talking about 40 to 60 percent of…

Did you know that computers have artificial intelligence now? You didn’t? How’s that? We’ve been subjected to an absolute avalanche of marketing touting AI from seemingly every tech company, from Microsoft and Nvidia to laptop makers and even thermal paste sellers. Well if you’ve somehow avoided the AI blitz, possibly by using a Chromebook, you’re about to get it in spades from Google. The company has been pushing its Gemini (nee Bard, fave.co/3VoaOcZ) AI tools into most of its high-profile products, most notably Chrome and Android. Now Chromebook Plus, Google’s higher tier of ChromeOS laptops revealed last year, are slated to be Google’s flagship platform for the best and brightest of Gemini, with a few tools and options that aren’t available elsewhere. With all this coming just a week after Microsoft’s big push…

AMD should enter the Copilot+ generation of PCs (see page 7) with the new Ryzen AI 300 series, a mobile processor with an NPU that AMD claims will lead the industry with 50 TOPS of artificial intelligence power. AMD’s Ryzen AI series breaks ground not only in terms of AI, but in CPU capabilities as well. The chip family is AMD’s first Zen 5 processor, featuring double-digit performance gains compared to the previous generation. It also contains a robust integrated GPU, plus an RDNA 3.5-capable Radeon core with up to 16 compute units, depending upon the model. “We’re reimagining what it means to build a truly intelligent and personalized PC experience,” said Mike Jasinski, an AMD product manager, in a recorded briefing with reporters. AMD and its partners—Acer, Asus, HP,…

What’s the first thing you think of when you read the words “web search”? According to market share data, nine out of ten of you would say “Google,” or at least that’s the web search of choice worldwide by a startling 90 percent. Google has rolled out a “Web” search option along with its usual Images, News, Shopping, Maps, and other tabs. It might just be a big deal. But wait, isn’t “web search” what you’re supposed to get with a standard Google query, without any need to click on a secondary tab? Yes and no. Google’s official SearchLiason Twitter account explains that the Web tab filters results so that only text-based results will be returned, stripping out images, videos, shopping products, maps, and all the other allegedly helpful modern additions…