I bet a lot of people who are not tech savvy got a Windows on ARM device and had no clue why they were seeing so many problems.
I bet you’re right. Luckily I am tech savvy and aware of the ARM software compatibility attention point. While picking a new laptop that was 1 of 2 main reasons to go for the Intel Core U9 based Zenbook 14 instead of Asus’s Snapdragon X Elite offering. (it also had a 60Hz and 1200p display instead of a 3k 120Hz one) Sadly their 14 inch models only come with Intel chips, or I would’ve chosen AMD. Still, battery life during browsing on the sofa is great and I don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.
The impression I get is that yjr latest mobile platforms from both Intel and AMD are objectively better in all parameters over Snapdragon X (w.r.t. comparable devices), with the exception of some edges cases such as hardware decode of video codec that allows Snapdragon X devices to show movies for longer on battery. But then again, it’s rarely you’re going to be watching video on your laptops for ~14+ hours without a recharge.
Budget wise I found an interesting offer with Meteor Lake (U9 185H). For low load work like browsing it’s fast yet efficient enough with the E-cores in use, even when multitasking and many tabs. For more demanding sustained workloads you need to be plugged in for best performance anyway. The thermals are not the best though; a thin and light laptop with 1 fan and Intel chip that’s not the most efficient > RPM increase / thermal throttling.
ARM laptops would be much better running Linux. Almost all Linux software can be compiled for ARM.
I believe it’s still a massive pain to get Snapdragon X laptops to run Linux.
I’m almost certain there will be talks about this at Linaro Connect. The kernel side is mostly done (QC are much more proactive getting stuff upstream these days) so it’s likely firmware that is the final thing that needs fixing.
I hope you are right. It’s been 9 months since the release of Snapdragon X devices and to my knowledge running Linux on such devices is still not really viable in a production type environment.
The firmware is the key. Meeting the SBA specifications is what allows various distro install mechanisms to work out if the box.
The software runs, but unfortunately the manufacturers didn’t bother writing any drivers. I considered getting a ThinkPad x13s some months ago, but the driver support is so bad it couldn’t even do suspend properly. And this laptop was released 3 years ago.
Wasn’t there something about ARM not supporting universal drivers, thus making supporting a device a pain?
Half assed piece of shit. But it has AI
So whole ass piece of shit then!
I actually like my Snapdragon X Elite laptop :(
Nice battery life, nicely portable for working at bars, I’ve had zero issues but I’m also not exactly the average consumer.
