Microsoft confirmed its plans for ARM-powered Windows 10 notebooks last year. The notebooks will be powered by the Snapdragon 835 processor from Qualcomm and they will be able to run conventional desktop apps on Windows 10. These notebooks were expected to arrive this year but not much information is available right now about when they’ll arrive. When they do arrive, it seems that the battery life is going to be a major selling point.
According to a new report, Qualcomm is committed to bringing the ARM-powered Windows 10 notebooks to market by the end of this year. OEMs like Lenovo, ASUS, and HP are all developing their own ARM-powered Windows 10 notebooks.
Microsoft is claiming that these notebooks will be able to get multi-day battery life. “To be frank, it’s actually beyond our expectations,” said Microsoft program manager Pete Bernard at the Qualcomm summit in Hong Kong this week.
He added that the company set a high bar for its developers and it’s now beyond that. “It’s the kind of battery life where I use it on a daily basis. I don’t take my charger with me. I may charge it every couple of days or so. It’s that kind of battery life,” Bernard said.
He also mentioned that the ARM-powered notebooks will be a “game-changer” for laptops. That’s all well and good, but people are certainly more interested in finding out when these machines will be unveiled and what kind performance can be expected. Unfortunately, there’s no word on any of that as yet.