I think everybody, including Microsoft, would like to forget about the mess that was Windows RT. Instead, Microsoft is starting to get excited about the potential of full-fat Windows 10 on ARM, which is still expected to arrive in December.
The most important feature of Windows 10 on ARM is its ability to run all Win32 applications without modification. That's thanks to an emulator working seamlessly in the background. But as TrustedReviews reports, Pete Bernard, Principal Group Program Manager for Connectivity Partners at Microsoft, has revealed Windows 10 on ARM comes with a major selling point for laptop users: battery life.
Bernard claims that battery life when running Windows 10 on the Snapdragon 835 chipset isn't just good, it's "beyond our expectations" and "a game-changer in terms of the way people have experienced PCs in the past."
Those are bold claims until you realize Bernard is talking about laptops that don't need charging for multiple days at a time. Forget about hours of battery life, if Bernard's claims are true Windows 10 ARM laptops will be shipping in December with two-day battery life as a feature.
In an interview with ZDNet, Bernard also talks about a bug being reported by development directors at Microsoft claiming the battery meter wasn't working on these ARM laptops. In reality, the meter was working just fine, it was simply ticking down very slowly and nobody is used to that (yet).
According to Don McGuire, vice president of Global Marketing at Qualcomm, Windows 10 ARM laptops are still expected to launch in December. Microsoft is also thought to be testing hundreds of Snapdragon-powered laptops right now, meaning 2018 could be the year of the ARM laptop, and potentially a very painful 2018 for Intel.