Apple M series chips MacBook, Macmini, Mac Studio The success of ARM is also promising on the PC platform, but the Windows on ARM market that took the lead Qualcomm and Microsoft and Microsoft Holding the response. Can the launch of Arm64EC make Windows 11 on ARM improve? This article makes a brief analysis.
. Arm64EC technology
Last year, Microsoft officially announced a message: Through Arm64EC ABI technology, x64 version of applications can run normally on the ARM architecture Windows 11, which is a new way to bring applications to the ARM version of Windows. officially calls it a new way to get nearly native performance for existing x64 applications on the ARM platform—even if you call plugins and dependencies that do not yet support the foot bone. A year has passed in a blink of an eye, and ARM64EC has finally ushered in more complete support for Windows 11.
It is reported that the "EC" of ARM64EC is the abbreviation of "Emulation Compatible". The idea is to provide a binary interface (ABI) so that developers can build applications using x64 and ARM code. This means that ARM code runs natively on Windows 11 devices, while other x64-specific code runs in emulation.
. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8CX series processor
The launch of Microsoft ARM64EC has brought "dawn" to Windows 11 on ARM. Qualcomm has also launched the Snapdragon 8CX GEN3 processor. The processor uses Samsung 5nm LPE process, and the CPU architecture is 4 3.0GHz Prime large cores (based on Cortex-X1) and 4 2.4GHz energy-efficient cores (based on Cortex-A78), with a total cache of 14MB, including 8MB L3 and 6MB system cache. Compared with 8cx Gen2, the single-core performance is improved by 40% and the multi-core performance is improved by 85%.
official also stated that its performance output at a power consumption of 9W can be comparable to a 22W i5 processor. In the GPU part, the intergenerational performance has increased by 60%. Compared with the X86 processor, the performance improvement per watt can reach 40%. However, the official has not stated which i5 processor is targeted.
As for the performance of 8CX GEN3 processor, According to the latest test report released by foreign media PCMAG, the performance of Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 is very poor. The report shows that its multi-core score in Cinebench R23 is only 2676 points, which is even worse than the i7-1165G7 of the previous generation Intel , and is naturally far inferior to the latest i5-1235U and i7-1280P. In terms of nuclear graphics performance, in the test of 3DMark TimeSpy DX12, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3's score was also not ideal, with only 916 points, which is a certain gap with the 11th generation 96EU core graphics. However, in terms of battery life, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 finally regained its place. According to test data, Lenovo ThinkPad X13s can continuously play 18 hours and 23 minutes of 720P videos at 50% brightness. In comparison, the battery life of the laptop equipped with i5-1235U is 11 hours and 19 minutes, and the battery life of the laptop equipped with i7-1280P is only over 8 hours, which is a huge gap.
. Huawei HUAWEI MateBook E Go series notebook
Huawei Recently launched HUAWEI MateBook E Go series notebook:
Huawei Snapdragon 8CX GEN2 version 16+512 G price is 4899 yuan
Huawei Snapdragon 8CX GEN3 version 16+512 G The price of G is 5499 yuan
600 yuan. Obviously, the 8CX GEN3 version is more cost-effective. The official gave six reasons to choose the MateBook E Go: 2.5K high refresh screen, two-in-one laptop, 14-hour long battery life, M-Pencil (second generation), network access, and multi-screen collaborative hyper terminal.
Huawei 1 Snapdragon 8CX GEN3 version is currently in the pre-sale stage, and the market response still needs market performance.
. Apple can debut and its peak, why can't Qualcomm do it?
The success of Apple's M series processors has given Qualcomm hope and pressure. Why has Qualcomm's Windows on ARM notebook still failed to show its market prospects as of now? The author believes that there are three reasons:
(I) The Windows system is poorly supported
Apple's mac OS system and M series chips have been integrated with software and hardware. Apple's has long regarded replacing intel processor as one of its strategic directions. The coordination between M series chips and mac OS systems is already very high. However, as a company specializing in developing operating systems, Microsoft has also launched some hardware, but the operating system is still its focus, and it has failed to provide sufficient support and optimization for Qualcomm SoC. Although Microsoft has launched Windows on ARM system, the optimization of ARM is obviously not as good as Intel's X86 processor. We can also find some clues on Microsoft's official website.
Microsoft officially stated, "Whether it is running Windows 10 in S mode or not, there are some restrictions when running computers equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon (i.e., Snapdragon ) processor." "Some games or programs cannot run normally, and the program's running and response speed is not as good as the X86 processor" and so on.
The biggest problem of Qualcomm is that it needs to shoulder the banner of ARM ecosystem to develop the entire PC market alone. In terms of computer CPU design, there are still two companies: X86 architecture , namely Intel and AMD, but only Qualcomm is the ARM architecture. ARM has not launched an architecture specifically for PCs. , MediaTek , and Samsung, which compete with Qualcomm in the mobile Soc processor market, have not launched a CPU specially designed for PCs, and Microsoft has not relaxed the permissions to adapt to MediaTek and Samsung processors. The difficulty of Qualcomm fighting alone like a lone hero can be imagined.
(II) The establishment of the software ecosystem is not a day's work
Even after Apple's mac OS uses the M series chips, the number of special software based on M chips is still significantly lower than that of the Intel version, and a large number of software are still running compatible. After the launch of Windows on ARM system, software operations have not been improved. Except for Firefox, Acrobat Reader, Bandizip, Office, etc., few directly support ARM. In the compatibility mode, ARM operation efficiency has been significantly reduced, and the lack of native ARM applications has led to the difficulty of success of Windows 11 on ARM.
(III) ARM is not suitable for high-efficiency operation programs
ARM architecture is more an efficiency architecture and is suitable for mobile phone platforms. When Qualcomm does not develop its own architecture for the time being, it applies to ARM's self-developed architecture, which cannot meet the needs of high efficiency.
So, 8cx gen 3 cannot meet the needs of notebooks. Up to now, the most supported domestic tablets are the huawei 8CX 4GEN3 series.
(IV) ARM Currently, the cost is slightly higher
In October, Microsoft will hold its annual Ignite conference offline. At that time, Microsoft may launch a commemorative product for the 10th anniversary of the Surface brand. Some sources said it will be Surface Gaming, the first gaming laptop of Surface, and there is also the latest Surface Pro 9.
Today, external network users revealed that Surface Pro 9 will use Microsoft SQ3 chip, and the software giant will cooperate with Qualcomm to develop it, which will be customized based on Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. The CPU and GPU clock frequency of the Microsoft SQ3 chip may be slightly different, but other than that, the SoC will have most similarities with Qualcomm's chip. In actual use, the performance of Microsoft SQ43 chip and Qualcomm GEN3 are not much different. In this case, ARM has no advantage except the appeal of the Surface brand.
In addition, as far as Huawei currently has two PC tablet two-in-one laptops, the product price of Qualcomm Snapdragon processor chips is still relatively high, which is not conducive to popularization.
At this stage, if the performance of ARM chips continues to improve, if Qualcomm 8CX chips still have room to explore. However, if Qualcomm or MediaTek and Samsung cannot launch laptops suitable for ordinary consumers, ARM's competitiveness in the PC market is still high and it is not worth mentioning, and consumers' choices may still be low.
