Microsoft demonstrates ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’, ‘Borderlands’ games running at 30 frames per second on the new Snapdragon X Elite Windows on Arm platform, with support for automatic Super resolution

What you need to know

• Microsoft’s Surface and Artificial Intelligence event culminated with the unveiling of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite chipset, which gives Apple silicon a major price advantage.

• Featuring on-chip NPU processing for local AI operations, the new Copilot+ computers feature significantly better battery life, cooling and performance than equivalent contemporary Intel-based Ultrabooks.

• Many apps and games need to run in Windows on Arm emulation mode, but Microsoft showed off what kind of performance you can expect at its events this week.

• Our Zac Bowden recently took a look at what kind of gaming performance you can expect on these devices.

Microsoft’s new Copilot+ PC series for Windows is making a splash.

Debuting this week at Build 2024, Microsoft’s AI and Surface event showcased the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, which gives devices like the new Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 all-day battery life, improved performance over their Intel predecessors, and better cooling. Ultra-low power ARM processing requires emulation for some applications, but the performance is so good that this is not a problem. These devices will run significantly cooler than previous Surface tablets and laptops, without sacrificing performance. The surface is known to get hot enough to fry eggs, especially in warm climates. This reality will soon change.

Companies like Adobe have pledged to support the Windows on Arm initiative, which aims to make a suite of creative tools available natively on the platform. However, thousands of classic games will be they need to be emulated if you feel like playing on these devices. But how will they work? Well, we already have some ideas.

Our favorite Windows Phone enthusiast, Zac Bowden, is working on Build 2024 and is participating in Windows on Arm sessions this morning. During the demo, Microsoft revealed that Baldur’s Gate 3 will run at around 30 frames per second on an unlocked device similar to the Surface Pro 11, which is quite encouraging. Microsoft also showed off Borderlands running on Windows on Arm with new native “Auto SR” Super Resolution support.

Details about real-world gaming scenarios are still leaking from Build 2024 and other similar events, but these early glimpses certainly seem promising. I doubt we’ll see Cyberpunk 2077 running on Ultra on these types of devices any time soon, but the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite could be absolutely perfect for running mid-range HD games from 720p to 1080p at 30 FPS. It may be especially ideal in smaller devices and portables like the ASUS ROG Ally or Steam Deck, especially if it offers better battery life than the AMD Z1 Extreme chipset.

During the event, Microsoft also unveiled WorksOnWoa.com, which is a community-led project aimed at cataloging games that run quite well on Windows on Arm. Microsoft claims that over 1,000 games should run at 1080p and 30 frames per second, which I believe is fully playable. They also announced that Unity 6 will have native support for game developers, and the demo will showcase how smoothly it runs on Surface Laptop 7. “Shockingly smooth,” says my colleague Zac Bowden, who is on site at the event as I slave away at writing this for him at 9:30 p.m. Thanks Zac.

A tip for future Xbox consoles or mobile devices?

Microsoft’s work on native Super Resolution support for Windows on Arm, coupled with efforts to ensure native development of the platform, should bode well for future devices based on the technology. It appears to be at least as capable as the Steam Deck in terms of performance, while also boasting better battery life in potentially thinner devices.

Microsoft is known to be examining Arm for the next Xbox console, and Xbox president and chief technology officer Sarah Bond has set up a team specifically dedicated to “preserving Xbox games” on future devices. To me this sounds like emulation of x86 games based on Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S “ERA” on ARM devices.

One of the biggest drawbacks to the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and even the Steam Deck itself is the raw battery life. If the Snapdragon X Elite or future Arm versions can deliver better battery life while maintaining a compact form factor, then this truly is the holy grail of portable Windows and Xbox gaming. There are rumors that Microsoft is working on some form of Xbox-branded handheld device, with prototypes hidden deep in Microsoft’s labs. These glimpses of Windows on Arm gaming capabilities could also be a clue to Xbox’s future.