Dell is adopting Snapdragon X processors and is the first manufacturer to announce five laptops with an ARM-based processor under the hood.
Dell is introducing five interesting new laptops, based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ARM-based CPUs have been on the rise for a while now. The chips are said to be more economical and more powerful than Intel’s x86 alternatives, and should finally begin the ARM revolution for Windows. Despite the controversy over the benchmarks, Qualcomm is essentially promising that its new CPUs will bring some sort of Apple M-chip experience to the laptop. After a long wait for news, Dell is now at the forefront.
Five laptops
Qualcomm makes the powerful Snapdragon Concretely, Dell is launching the following devices equipped with Qualcomm ARM-based chips:
- Latitude 7455 (Snapdragon
- Latitude 5455 (Snapdragon
- Inspiron 14 (Snapdragon X Plus)
- Inspiron 14 Plus (Snapdragon XPlus)
- XPS 13 – 9345 (Snapdragon X Elite)
The Dell XPS 13 will be available starting at $1,299 and the Inspiron 14 Plus starting at $1,099. The devices will be on shelves “later this year.” Laptop prices and availability are currently based on US data. There are no details about Belgium, but the devices are also coming to Europe.
It’s worth noting that Dell is embracing ARM across its entire range, from the more user-friendly Latitude range to the premium XPS range. Dell itself claims that the laptops are “exceptionally” fast and have excellent endurance.
The efficiency of the Snapdragon X chipset should ensure that it can last a full day on a single battery charge. In early tests, the manufacturer saw an autonomy of 27 hours. The chip also makes sleek designs possible: Latitude laptops are said to be the thinnest in its series.
Artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence, and some artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is of course central to this ad. Dell wants to play an important role in the AI ecosystem and these computers are part of that. We hear references to the AI gospel according to Gelsinger as “AI personal computers,” and according to Hwang as “AI factories.”
The focus at the launch is largely on the AI computing power of these new laptops, which offer 45 TOPS with an integrated Qualcomm Snapdragon NPU that doesn’t actually impact much on the laptop’s performance when used for traditional office work. Interesting AI functions will be possible in the future, as the NPU is powerful enough to run generative AI models locally.
Dell claims that thanks to these AI capabilities, professionals will be more focused in an infinite way. In this case, we hope these professionals won’t be distracted by the brand new AI key required to be entered into the keyboard.
What about Windows?
The importance of laptops depends on how Microsoft embraces the ARM ecosystem with Windows 11. Windows on ARM has been around for years, but until now it’s been treated poorly. That could change now with the launch of Snapdragon X laptops, though Dell can’t yet say exactly how.
