Reviewing the Boox Palma, Surface Pro and Surface Laptop

This year’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop really only needed to do one thing to be a success: work. After more than a decade of overpromising and underdelivering on all things Windows on Arm, Microsoft needed these new Qualcomm-powered devices to at least prove they could compete with the Intel and AMD-powered chips on the market.

So far, it looks like good news. About this episode of The Vergecastwe achieved On the edgeTom Warren and Nathan Edwards as they are in the middle of reviewing the new devices. We talk about processor performance, emulation issues, battery life, AI features, and more. The overall conclusion? These new devices may not have changed the PC game yet, but they can crash. And that’s a start.

Before we get to that, though, let’s talk about the Internet’s surprise new obsession with gadgets: Boox Palma. After being launched last year without much fanfare, the smartphone-sized device with an E Ink screen and access to the Google Play Store became a hit with readers — and anyone looking for a way to use their favorite apps more simply and less disruptive. We spoke to some people who love their Palmas and took the device for a spin ourselves.

After that, and after talking about Surface, we answered a question from Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or vergecast@theverge.com!) on the future of PCs now that Copilot Plus appears to be taking over. Is this the end of the line for x86 and Intel, or is it just a new type of computer that keeps up with all the others? We have some ideas.

If you want to learn more about everything we discussed in this episode, here are some links to get you started, starting with Boox Palma:

And on surfaces (we’ll update these links once our reviews are live):