Snapdragon X Copilot+ PC: Hardware Compatibility Update

Now that I’m home in Pennsylvania, I have a broader range of hardware with which to test Windows 11 on Arm compatibility. As is the case with software, the news is mostly positive, but with one glaring exception.

I first wrote about this a little over a week ago, working off the subset of hardware peripherals I had with me at the time in Mexico City. Honestly, it was a pretty representative list of devices, with just a few glaring exceptions tied to things like printers and scanners. The short version is that most standard USB- or Bluetooth-based peripherals—storage of all kinds, keyboards, mice, displays, hubs, docks, and so on—should just work. What you won’t typically get, of course, is whatever manufacturer customization software may exist. Though, as I will point out below, there are exceptions.

My goal today was to get one of the Copilot+ PCs set up for use with Windows Weekly. I have two in-house as I write this, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 15-inch. And I found out last night that a third, from HP—the model is still unclear—will allegedly arrive today before noon. Both are similar from an expansion perspective—the Lenovo has three USB4 Type-C ports but no headphone/microphone jack, while the Surface has two USB4 Type-C ports, one USB 3.1 Type-A port, and a headphone/microphone jack—but that doesn’t matter all that much since I would obviously use a USB-C hub to connect whichever laptop to all my devices.

Those devices are a 3K Dell webcam (USB-A), an HP 960 Ergonomic Wireless Keyboard (USB-A dongle or Bluetooth), a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse (USB-A dongle), at least one external display (there are two in my office, both are HP 27-inch-ish with HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity), the Focusrite interface for my Heil microphone (USB-C), and a standard part of headphones (3-mm connector).

That’s too many cables for either laptop, obviously, and far too many USB-A connectors for 2024, but I’ll address that later. The first job was fishing the Anker 555 USB-C hub out of the gadget bag I always travel with and … and … Huh. I didn’t bring it home. Genius. I guess I left it in Mexico for reasons that must have made sense at the time. (I also have an HP Thunderbolt 4 dock there, which you’ll recall worked just fine with the Yoga.)

Well. I do have a nice CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 dock here. But rather than break that out, I figured I could just experiment with a couple of smaller USB-C hubs, including the HP Elite USB-C Hub HSA-Q001U that I had tested in Mexico. The net result is sort of humorous in that I used every USB port on the Surface to connect the webcam, the keyboard and mouse dongles, an HDMI cable for one of my displays, and the Focusrite. But it works for the most part, meaning I was able to get it all connected.

I also used this moment to test whether the Surface would work with the lid closed. It does: I haven’t configured this otherwise (and won’t), but I configured it to only use the external display and closed the lid, upon which time the display shut down. So I hit a key on the keyboard, it came right up, and I’ve been writing this article with this configuration since then. No issues, including no perceptible heat and absolutely no fan noise. Nice.

As for the peripherals, it mostly works. The USB-C hubs, the keyboard and mouse (via dongles), the display, and the webcam all work. The webcam usually installs Dell custom software when connected for the first time, but that’s not available for Windows 11 on Arm yet, so I just get the stock view and whatever controls are built into Windows 11. And the Focusrite … that does not work. So there’s the glaring exception.

I checked online, of course. What I discovered is that a Focusrite representative confirmed last week that the device is not compatible with Windows 11 on Arm and they were “not aware of any current plans to change that but [they] will certainly share your interest with the team.” So I can’t record Windows Weekly with this setup today, as my microphone is central to the whole thing. To solve this problem, I could use a different microphone—the USB-based Audio-Technica ATR2500x-USB cardioid condenser microphone works wonderfully, I used it to record Windows Weekly in Mexico using the Yoga—or find a different microphone-to-USB converter that does work with Windows 11 on Arm.

With this defeat, I now have one app—Google Drive—and one hardware device that do not work with this platform. That’s not bad, given how much of each I’ve tested. But, again, this is the type of problem that some will run into, and the problem will be more acute for those with stranger, more esoteric peripherals. Based on all my testing, most mainstream users will be just fine: Windows 11 on Arm works with a surprising range of software and hardware now. And that wasn’t always the case.

I have more news on the hardware front.

First, as part of my hardware testing here, I checked to see whether I could use Windows 11 on Arm with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9020 all-in-one printer we use here at home. This includes both printing and scanning functionality, and my gut feeling was that the class drivers included with Windows would allow both but I would miss out on HP’s custom software.

But here, I was surprised, and in a good way.

As expected, Windows 11 on Arm detected the printer over Wi-Fi and connected to it quickly. I did a test print from Microsoft Word, which was flawless. But then I installed the HP Smart app from the Microsoft Store, which looks like a modern app and not a classic desktop app. (This auto-installs on my x64 PCs when I connect to the printer.) Looking at it in Task Manager, I saw that it is an x64 app, which I didn’t expect, and so I figured the custom software would never work. But it did: I can use HP Smart to customize how the printer works, just as I can on x64 PCs. Interesting.

I also tested its scanning capabilities. Here, I was expecting the worst, and part of the problem is that Windows (even x64 versions) no longer ship with a modern scanning solution. I installed the old Windows 8-style Windows Scan app from the Microsoft Store, and that worked just fine: It found the AIO’s scanner and worked normally. So I tried HP Smart too, and … wow. Not only does it work, but it supports all the custom scanning capabilities you get with x64. Very nice.

A reader asked whether the USB4 ports on Surface Laptop supported 40 Gbps data transfer speeds, as the USB4 specification doesn’t require it, and they could be just 20 Gbps. Here, I ran into a weird block: The documentation I’ve received from Qualcomm, Microsoft, Lenovo, and HP does not mention this explicitly, though Qualcomm’s noted that 40 Gbps was possible.

And because I was a week late to this game, I Googled for Snapdragon X-based reviews online and looked up the mentions of USB capabilities in 7 of them. Not one of them—not one—mentioned anything about data transfer speeds. This suggests either laziness, which is my go-to with these guys, or that it’s just not clear (and thus is both). So I pinged Qualcomm first, figuring I would reach out to each PC maker as needed afterward.

But there’s no need: As it’s been during this entire process—and I have to say, the company doesn’t get enough credit for this—Qualcomm was fully transparent and answered my question immediately. The news is positive here, too: All Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus-based laptops can support 40 Gbps data transfer speeds over USB4 (Type-C).

But Qualcomm also provided a list of PC models for the sake of completeness, and this list represents almost every shipping Snapdragon X-based PC. The Acer Swift 14 AI, Asus Vivobook S 15, Dell XPS 13, Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, Dell Latitude 7455 Laptop, HP OmniBook X, HP EliteBook Ultra 14, Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, Microsoft Surface Pro 11, Microsoft Surface Laptop 13, Microsoft Surface Laptop 15, Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 14, Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 explicitly support 40 Gbps over USB4.

What’s missing in there, interestingly, is the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14. And only that one PC, unless I’m missing something. So I will reach out to them today and find out if that was just a mistaken omission, or whether their consumer-focused Snapdragon X laptop is purposely limited as a differentiator/cost savings. I feel like these laptops all use the same basic chipsets, however, so this would surprise me. But I will find out. (As noted, the reviewer’s guide I got with the device doesn’t say.)

One final note: Before going to bed last night, I rebooted the Surface Laptop 7 to install an update, and it installed a firmware update while offline. I’ve yet to see anything about this update but will try to look that up today. I wonder what that’s about.

More soon.