Will the Surface Pro X make a splash this time around? The challenges that currently face all mobile device makers is that we’re still largely stuck indoors, where mobility means walking from room to room. The rechargeable Surface Slim Pen and its cubby is still probably the coolest feature of the Surface Pro X. Running 64-bit X86 apps on top of Arm would still introduce a performance hit, however, and Microsoft’s answer to that has been to work to develop more optimized versions of popular apps specifically written for the Arm architecture. That code will be distributed to members of Microsoft’s Windows Insider beta program first. Microsoft said Wednesday that it’s solving that particular problem, announcing plans to release code to allow 64-bit X86 apps to be emulated by Windows on Arm beginning in November. This incompatibility remains a significant weakness for Windows-on-Arm PCs. Currently, however, this code doesn’t run on Arm chips at all. The vast majority of traditional PCs can also run 64-bit code written for X86 chips. Code written for traditional PCs that runs in 32-bit X86 mode can be interpreted by Arm processors, but with a performance penalty. By now, it’s a familiar story for anyone who’s followed Windows on Arm: Arm processors and devices like the Surface Pro X can run 32-bit and 64-bit Arm code natively. Historically, however, processors like the SQ1 have faced another hurdle: compatibility.

It’s the foundation for Microsoft’s own SQ2 design. Here’s how Qualcomm sees its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G chip shaking out in terms of performance. (Officially, Microsoft isn’t saying how fast the SQ2 runs.) Qualcomm

Microsoft likely upclocked the SQ2 in the same way that its SQ1 was essentially an upclocked Snapdragon 8cx, with SQ1 speeds reportedly reaching 3GHz. We know that the Microsoft SQ2 is based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, a 7W chip that Qualcomm believes will trounce a 15W 10th-gen Intel Core i5 by 39 percent. Surface Pro X: Better performance, battery life and compatibilityįortunately, Microsoft continues to make progress on both fronts. The new color options on the Surface Pro X include Ice Blue, Poppy Red, and Platinum.

Sq2 surface pro x