Running Windows on Arm devices has yet to take off, but Microsoft is trying to breathe new life into the concept through an Arm-based desktop device that goes on sale today for $599.
The product itself comes in a compact, 2.1-pound case that can easily fit in a desk. At first glance, it looks like a competitor to Apple’s Mac mini, which starts at $699 and comes with its own Arm-powered M1 chip.
However, the Microsoft product isn’t designed for consumers. Instead, the company is marketing the device, dubbed the “Windows Dev Kit 2023,” to software developers as a way to build native Arm apps for the Windows OS.
“With Windows Dev Kit 2023, developers will be able to bring their entire app development process onto one compact device, giving them everything they need to build Windows apps for Arm, on Arm,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.
The company first debuted the product in May as “Project Volterra.” Its arrival signals that Microsoft wants to (once again) bolster its presence on Arm devices, but first by building up the app and developer ecosystem around it.
"Today, if a developer wants to build an app that targets Arm, they generally write their code and build the app binaries on a x64 Windows PC, and then copy the built binaries over to an Arm device upon which to run or test the app," Microsoft said in a FAQ. "If they need to debug the app, they have to hook up a remote debugging session from their x64 PC."
The Windows Dev Kit 2023 tries to solve this problem by offering a fully functioning Arm-based PC that's also designed to run various software tools. The hardware itself uses Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor, which was designed to power thin and light laptops. It also features 32GB of LPDDR4x RAM, 512GB of NVME storage, Wi-Fi 6, five USB ports, along with the Windows 11 Pro OS. So buyers are getting a fair amount of value for just $599.
“You can also drive up to 3 external monitors simultaneously, including 2 at 4K 60Hz which provides all the screen real estate that most developers need,” Microsoft said. In addition, the hardware will be able to run an Arm64 version of Visual Studio 2022 natively by the end of this year. A preview version of Visual Studio 2022 17.4 for Arm is currently available.
While the dev kit is designed for software makers, anyone can buy it from Microsoft’s online store. Windows on Arm can also run x86 apps, but the operating system has to do so through emulation. For users looking for an actual consumer-made device, Microsoft will start selling the Surface Pro 9 tablet hybrid this week, which can be configured with either an Intel chip or the company's own Arm-based processor.