Key Takeaways
- Microsoft unveiled a new category of Windows PCs designed for artificial intelligence (AI) called Copilot+ PCs.
- Microsoft announced the Copilot+ PCs at an event on Monday ahead of the company’s annual developer conference on Tuesday.
- Copilot+ PCs will be offered through Microsoft’s Surface line as well as several manufacturing partners, and are set to become available as of June 18, with pricing starting at $999.
- Microsoft said that the new Windows AI PCs “outperform Apple’s MacBook Air by up to 58%,” in the announcement that comes not long after Apple unveiled an iPad model powered by the new AI-capable M4 chip.
Microsoft (MSFT) announced a new category of Windows PCs designed for artificial intelligence (AI) called Copilot+ PCs at an event Monday, ahead of the company’s developer conference, Microsoft Build, on Tuesday. The company is expected to provide more details at the conference.
“Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built,” the company said in a release, adding that “Copilot+ PCs will enable you to do things you can’t on any other PC.”
Copilot+ PCs Available June 18, Starting at $999
Microsoft said Copilot+ PCs will be offered through Microsoft’s Surface line as well as its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners including Dell Technologies (DELL), Lenovo, Samsung, HP (HPQ), Acer, and Asus. Microsoft said that Copilot+ PCs, which are priced starting at $999, can be pre-ordered starting Monday and will become available June 18. The devices will run on Qualcomm (QCOM) chips.
Microsoft said the Windows AI PCs “outperform Apple’s MacBook Air by up to 58% in sustained multithreaded performance, all while delivering all-day battery life.” Apple (AAPL) announced a new iPad model powered by the recently released M4 chip earlier in the month, in the iPhone maker’s push into AI devices.
Microsoft’s Copilot, which is “connected to and enhanced by the large language models (LLMs) running in our Azure Cloud in concert with small language models (SLMs),” is capable of running AI workloads through neural processor units (NPUs) built into the tech.
‘Recall’ Feature Likened to ‘Photographic Memory’
Microsoft also announced a feature called “Recall” that allows users to virtually access everything seen or done on the computer “in a way that feels like having photographic memory.” The company said that the new PCs would have access to OpenAI’s latest model GPT-4o as well.
Microsoft shares closed 1.2% higher at $425.34 Monday, contributing to the stock’s gain of over 13% since the start of the year.