Windows on Arm finally has legs

When I first used the Arm-powered Surface Pro X in 2019, I loved the hardware, but I didn’t like the software experience. Everything seemed to be delayed. Microsoft didn’t have native versions of Edge or its Office apps, and it was clear that the Surface Pro X had been released too early. With little support from developers, Windows on Arm was unlikely to succeed.

Nearly five years later, the Windows on Arm experience has improved dramatically. Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors deliver a Windows 11 experience similar to that of any regular laptop. Microsoft and Qualcomm have also been pushing software developers to create more ARM64 native apps, and this has made a huge difference.

Apps like Photoshop, Dropbox, and Zoom are all native, as are entertainment apps like Spotify, Prime, and Hulu. Even Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Vivaldi, Edge and Brave are all on Arm now. It’s a good start, but there are still many applications that will need to be emulated on these newer Copilot Plus PCs, and that’s where Microsoft’s Prism emulator comes in.

Microsoft claims that Prism is as efficient as Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation layer and can emulate applications twice as fast as the previous generation of Windows devices on Arm. I’ve been testing the Surface Laptop for the past week and haven’t encountered the erratic behavior that I saw in Microsoft’s previous emulator, which also affected the Surface Pro X’s battery life. But I also haven’t seen the dramatic improvements in emulated app performance that the Microsoft promised.

Microsoft’s claims are difficult to test without comparing previous Arm-based devices. YouTuber Gary Explains did just thatcomparing x86 or x64 versions of Firefox, Cinebench R23, and HandBrake on a Surface Pro X without Prism, and then with the latest Windows 11 24H2 update that includes Prism.

Gary explains found that Prism delivered a 10 percent performance improvement on Speedometer 3 running in Firefox, an 8 percent jump on single core Cinebench R23, and a 4.5 percent improvement on multicore Cinebench R23 compared to the previous emulator. HandBrake performance also improved by 8% thanks to Prism.

In my own testing, I found that Prism handles non-native app compatibility well, but performance varies depending on the complexity of the app. ShareX, a screenshot tool, works well with the Prism emulator, but it is a lightweight application. iA Writer and Notion are not native, but they also work well on the latest Snapdragon chips. Discord also performs much better than I’ve seen on Arm in the past, but there are still some occasional glitches and a slight lag when navigating between servers.

For heavier applications, the Prism doesn’t deliver the experience you’d find on an Intel or AMD-powered laptop. Adobe’s Premiere Pro running emulated was practically unusable for editing a 4K video on the Surface Laptop, which is probably why Adobe is blocking the x64 version from being installed on Snapdragon X Elite and Plus processors. An ARM64 version of Premiere Pro is planned for later this year.

Blender is another example of an emulated application that underperforms. Blender doesn’t detect Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU, so everything hits the CPU. As a result, performance for rendering projects is abysmal, with one test I ran taking over 15 minutes to complete, compared to just over two minutes on a 13-inch MacBook Air M3. Blender will soon have a native ARM64 version, but I tested the early alpha copy and it only marginally improved results because it’s still not picking up the GPU correctly.

Intel has dominated the laptop GPU market with its integrated solutions for decades, so I suspect Qualcomm still needs to engage with developers of software like Blender to ensure applications are optimized for its GPUs. Blender illustrates that Microsoft’s Prism emulator can’t solve everything.

Speaking of GPUs, games also don’t “just work” on the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, despite Qualcomm’s assurances. I didn’t make much of this for the Surface Laptop review because it’s not a gaming laptop, but gaming on Windows on Arm is disappointing right now. Tomb Raider Shadow it kept crashing when I tried to play, and most other games I tried simply refused to launch. Fall Guys generates an unsupported error, as well as Infinite Halo. Destiny 2 didn’t even start – no errors, just a bunch of nothing. Star Field did the same.

There aren’t many native Windows on Arm games, so Prism has a tough job here. I achieved Grand Theft Auto V working, but with a lot of frame stuttering. Cyberpunk 2077 It also worked on the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, but around 26fps on average on low settings at 1080p resolution. O Wizard 3, Baldur’s Gate 3, To control, Rocket LeagueIt is Minecraft everything worked right away too.

The biggest problem here is that most anti-cheat services use kernel drivers that are not supported by emulation. BattlEye, a widely used anti-cheat service, is one of the rare exceptions that supports Windows on Arm, but it appears that games like Destiny 2 Those using this anti-cheat software will need to be updated to function properly here. Fortunately, there is a dedicated website which tracks which games are supported and work well. However, I don’t have much hope for Arm-powered gaming laptops anytime soon.

Another thing I’ve encountered is apps that refuse to install. Google Drive is the big problem here, as it generates an error about the Windows architecture of Copilot Plus PCs not being supported. Google’s Drive app on Windows integrates with the shell in the same way as Dropbox, something Microsoft didn’t originally support on Windows on Arm. There is, however, a native version of Dropbox that integrates with File Explorer, so hopefully Google will be able to offer a similar experience soon.

There are also compatibility issues with external devices. I’ve seen reports about Brother printers and scanners not working well on the Arm or simply that generic printer drivers don’t support all the expected features. There’s no quick and easy solution for accessories that require driver support, and that’s only likely to happen based on the sheer amount of people using these new Copilot Plus PCs. I’m less concerned about driver issues here because I think most people will be able to plug the types of accessories (webcams, printers, storage drives) you use into a laptop and get them working with the drivers built into the Windows 11.

VPN apps are also still a problem on Windows Arm. Bitdefender, NordVPN and Private Internet Access do not work. VPN developers use TAP and TUN adapters and virtual devices and need a Microsoft-signed driver to work properly. Happily, Android Authority reports that VPN developers are working on ARM64 versions.

This is encouraging because the last time I used Windows on Arm regularly in 2019, I said, “Most of the apps I use daily have not been recompiled for ARM and probably never will be.” Now, it appears that application compatibility on Windows on Arm is changing daily, a scenario I didn’t expect to see five years ago.

While we are at this transition point, it may be necessary to use beta versions or download special versions of ARM64-native Windows applications – much like the macOS transition. This means that Windows Store app versions are not always ARM64, and you may find the improved version on the web before the app store version is updated. This was initially the case with Slack earlier this month, before the store version was updated.

For everything else, Microsoft has some tools for power users that can improve app compatibility on Arm with existing unmodified x86 or x64 apps. There is a program compatibility troubleshooter This can help turn emulation settings on or off, and you can also toggle them in the properties of an executable. You can control things like hybrid execution mode to force the use of x86-only binaries, disable floating point optimization that can affect performance, and more. You can also modify how an emulated application uses multiple CPU cores, which may improve performance or compatibility in certain applications.

Ultimately, it’s up to app developers to focus on native ARM64 support for their apps. The plethora of native apps available now shows that things are moving in the right direction. These new Qualcomm chips also provide the raw power to emulate apps a little better, along with Microsoft’s Prism improvements. In everyday life, I think most people won’t even have any issues with apps here because many of the top apps are already native or work well in emulation.

I’m confident that many more ARM64 applications are still on the way. During my testing, benchmark tools and applications were updated to support ARM64, taking me by surprise. I’m willing to bet that we won’t be discussing Prism or emulated app performance as much in a year or two, because native ARM64 apps will be as common as x64 apps are today, after the x86 transition began in the early 2000s. After 12 years of trying to transition to Windows on Arm, it looks like Microsoft is finally on the verge of success.