Microsoft’s major push into the AI-driven computing era, framed around the Copilot+ PC initiative, has been a fixture of its branding and product strategy for over a year. Yet, for many users and seasoned technology enthusiasts, the tangible benefits of Copilot+ as a selling point seem elusive. This disconnect between marketing momentum and user satisfaction raises critical questions about what value AI integration actually brings to everyday computing—and which features, if any, are genuinely worth craving for those already invested in the Windows ecosystem.
When Microsoft first unveiled Copilot+ PCs, the company pitched them as the dawning of a new, intelligent era for personal computing. AI features would become part of the core experience, enhancing productivity, creativity, and task management. The company’s promotional material, product launches, and partnerships with PC manufacturers have relentlessly emphasized the Copilot+ brand, often at the expense of highlighting the impressive hardware underneath, especially in Snapdragon X-powered laptops.
But now, with Copilot+ more than a year in the market and actual devices shipping widely, there is an emerging consensus among many users: while the AI push is ambitious, few of its headline features seem to stand out as everyday essentials. Instead, the strong appeal of leading Copilot+ laptops lies elsewhere—in their power efficiency, battery life, display quality, and the transformative capabilities of the latest ARM-based chips from Qualcomm.
This sentiment is grounded in experience. Testers who’ve put recent Copilot+ laptops through their paces rarely mention Copilot+ features when discussing what sets their machines apart. Instead, conversations naturally gravitate toward the day-to-day benefits Snapdragon offers: all-day battery, instant resume times, cool and silent operation, and responsive app performance. Whether for office multitasking, creative work, or even gaming, these attributes are what make the new generation of Windows laptops compelling—not the AI features that are supposed to be their signature.
Click to Do integrates into the Windows context menu, offering quick-access tools—particularly for image manipulation tasks. With just a right-click, users can remove a background, erase an object, or blur portions of an image. Actions that previously required launching a dedicated photo editor now take only a moment—a tangible benefit for anyone who routinely works with images, creatives or otherwise.
Compared to more flashy features, Click to Do doesn’t feel like technological overreach or a solution in search of a problem. It’s a practical refinement that streamlines real, repetitive workflows. For many, it represents what AI on Windows should be: making existing tasks simpler, faster, and more accessible.
However, there’s an undercurrent of frustration even here: most of Click to Do’s functionality, especially for non-intensive tasks like opening a text file or launching a website, seemingly doesn’t need the dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) found only in Copilot+ PCs. Some users, including experienced reviewers, suggest that Microsoft could enable much of this feature set on traditional x86 systems or via the GPU, but the company has chosen instead to keep it as an exclusive draw for NPU-equipped models. This has led to justified skepticism about artificial segmentation and frustration for those who’d like these genuinely convenient features without investing in new hardware.
Yet actual reception has been far less unanimous. Many power users and privacy advocates see Recall as more flashy than indispensable, and some remain uncomfortable with the underlying premise. The idea that an AI-driven archive is constantly monitoring, categorizing, and storing snapshots of your work and browsing history stirs concerns around data privacy, security implications, and loss of control. Indeed, several high-profile external audits, combined with a vocal community backlash, forced Microsoft to delay and revise Recall’s launch, reworking aspects of the feature’s data retention, security, and opt-in options.
Critics argue that Recall, for all its technical sophistication, addresses a problem that many don’t actually have. Seasoned professionals tend to manage their files methodically, use browser bookmarks, and organize notes in established systems. For these users, Recall represents a solution crafted for a theoretical audience, not a real pain point felt by the broader community. The open-source world is replete with tools providing similar “timeline” or activity logging, but few have gained mainstream traction—underscoring the notion that widespread, automated digital memory is a niche preference rather than a universal need.
Until Recall’s approach to privacy, user control, and transparency is significantly refined, its standing as a killer app for Copilot+ remains questionable at best.
However, few of these features are unique or truly transformative for their target audience:
This, many argue, does a disservice to the hardware’s genuine strengths. Take the ASUS VivoBook S 15—praised for its display, design, performance, battery life, and even its gaming prowess. None of these qualities are exclusive to Copilot+, and some (like enhanced upscaling via Auto SR) depend on the ARM platform more than Microsoft’s AI layer. The truth is that these computers are excellent in spite of, not because of, the Copilot+ feature suite.
For many discerning users, the label even becomes a point of skepticism. Instead of seeing Copilot+ as an asset, some see it as marketing bloat, detracting from the true innovations in hardware and platform efficiency. Buyers are more likely to recommend a new Snapdragon laptop for what it achieves as a Windows machine—speed, longevity, portability—not for the bundled AI enhancements.
This strategy appears motivated less by technical necessity than by a desire to incentivize new hardware sales, driving users to upgrade prematurely. While some advanced AI features (such as real-time image editing or whisper-quiet, high-throughput models) absolutely benefit from onboard neural acceleration, plenty of the advertised improvements do not. As of now, Microsoft has not provided convincing evidence that all Copilot+ capabilities truly require dedicated NPUs—especially at the basic image or text manipulation level.
Exclusivity for exclusivity’s sake isn’t a good look, and it risks eroding goodwill among tech-savvy buyers who value transparency and fairness in platform upgrades.
Meanwhile, the existential question remains: is Recall a solution to a widespread problem, or a technically impressive feature in search of a need? As it stands, it is likely to remain disabled in sensitive environments (schools, businesses), and ignored by large swathes of users who prefer deliberate curation over a “total recall” approach to digital memory.
It’s possible that over time, Microsoft will refine Copilot+ into something genuinely transformative, or at least make its best features available to a broader swathe of users. For now, though, the value proposition is rooted not in the AI features, but in the silicon advances powering the devices themselves.
As the market continues to mature, and as Microsoft and partners (perhaps eventually including NVIDIA-based Copilot+ PCs) respond to criticism with both feature parity and honest marketing, users may eventually see a Copilot+ suite that feels essential, not just ornamental.
But at present, the message for would-be buyers is simple: base your purchase decision on what matters most—hardware excellence backed by an increasingly robust Windows on ARM ecosystem. Copilot+? It’s a tagline, not a revolution. Buy for the PC, not the pitch.
Source: inkl Microsoft's Copilot+ has been here over a year and I still don't care about it — but I do wish I had one of its features
The Promise and Reality of Copilot+ on Windows PCs
When Microsoft first unveiled Copilot+ PCs, the company pitched them as the dawning of a new, intelligent era for personal computing. AI features would become part of the core experience, enhancing productivity, creativity, and task management. The company’s promotional material, product launches, and partnerships with PC manufacturers have relentlessly emphasized the Copilot+ brand, often at the expense of highlighting the impressive hardware underneath, especially in Snapdragon X-powered laptops.But now, with Copilot+ more than a year in the market and actual devices shipping widely, there is an emerging consensus among many users: while the AI push is ambitious, few of its headline features seem to stand out as everyday essentials. Instead, the strong appeal of leading Copilot+ laptops lies elsewhere—in their power efficiency, battery life, display quality, and the transformative capabilities of the latest ARM-based chips from Qualcomm.
Snapdragon Takes Center Stage, Not Copilot+
A recurring motif in real-world discussions about the newest Windows laptops is how the Snapdragon X platform, not Microsoft’s bundled AI suite, is the star of the show. These chips have finally delivered what many considered improbable for years: a genuine ARM-based competitor to Apple’s lauded M-series MacBooks, bringing fast performance and stellar efficiency to Windows devices. Buyers mulling an upgrade often cite these hardware advancements as their primary motivator, with little organic enthusiasm for the Copilot+ label or its suite of AI features.This sentiment is grounded in experience. Testers who’ve put recent Copilot+ laptops through their paces rarely mention Copilot+ features when discussing what sets their machines apart. Instead, conversations naturally gravitate toward the day-to-day benefits Snapdragon offers: all-day battery, instant resume times, cool and silent operation, and responsive app performance. Whether for office multitasking, creative work, or even gaming, these attributes are what make the new generation of Windows laptops compelling—not the AI features that are supposed to be their signature.
The “Click to Do” Exception: When Copilot+ Actually Delivers
Amidst the general apathy toward Copilot+, there is one feature frequently cited as a practical, meaningful addition: “Click to Do.” Unlike more ambitious but polarizing elements of Copilot+ (such as Recall, which automatically logs user activity for future recall), Click to Do embodies the kind of incremental but impactful usability improvement many have been hoping AI could provide.Click to Do integrates into the Windows context menu, offering quick-access tools—particularly for image manipulation tasks. With just a right-click, users can remove a background, erase an object, or blur portions of an image. Actions that previously required launching a dedicated photo editor now take only a moment—a tangible benefit for anyone who routinely works with images, creatives or otherwise.
Compared to more flashy features, Click to Do doesn’t feel like technological overreach or a solution in search of a problem. It’s a practical refinement that streamlines real, repetitive workflows. For many, it represents what AI on Windows should be: making existing tasks simpler, faster, and more accessible.
However, there’s an undercurrent of frustration even here: most of Click to Do’s functionality, especially for non-intensive tasks like opening a text file or launching a website, seemingly doesn’t need the dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) found only in Copilot+ PCs. Some users, including experienced reviewers, suggest that Microsoft could enable much of this feature set on traditional x86 systems or via the GPU, but the company has chosen instead to keep it as an exclusive draw for NPU-equipped models. This has led to justified skepticism about artificial segmentation and frustration for those who’d like these genuinely convenient features without investing in new hardware.
Recall and the “AI for AI’s Sake” Critique
One Copilot+ feature that’s attracted both outsized hype and intense scrutiny is Recall. Marketed as a revolutionary tool that allows users to “rewind” their PC activity and find any document, website, or app state they’ve seen before, Recall promises to ensure nothing is ever lost or forgotten on your Windows device. Microsoft has billed it as a flagship capability, worthy of headlines and exhaustive demonstrations.Yet actual reception has been far less unanimous. Many power users and privacy advocates see Recall as more flashy than indispensable, and some remain uncomfortable with the underlying premise. The idea that an AI-driven archive is constantly monitoring, categorizing, and storing snapshots of your work and browsing history stirs concerns around data privacy, security implications, and loss of control. Indeed, several high-profile external audits, combined with a vocal community backlash, forced Microsoft to delay and revise Recall’s launch, reworking aspects of the feature’s data retention, security, and opt-in options.
Critics argue that Recall, for all its technical sophistication, addresses a problem that many don’t actually have. Seasoned professionals tend to manage their files methodically, use browser bookmarks, and organize notes in established systems. For these users, Recall represents a solution crafted for a theoretical audience, not a real pain point felt by the broader community. The open-source world is replete with tools providing similar “timeline” or activity logging, but few have gained mainstream traction—underscoring the notion that widespread, automated digital memory is a niche preference rather than a universal need.
Until Recall’s approach to privacy, user control, and transparency is significantly refined, its standing as a killer app for Copilot+ remains questionable at best.
Other AI Features: Incremental, Not Transformational
Beyond Click to Do and Recall, Copilot+ PCs boast an array of AI-powered features: Windows Studio Effects for improving video calls, Cocreator for generating art with prompts, and various natural language enhancements for search and app management. All are designed to showcase the potential of on-device AI, leveraging the processing muscle of the Snapdragon X NPUs.However, few of these features are unique or truly transformative for their target audience:
- Windows Studio Effects: Offers background blur, eye contact correction, and voice focus during video calls. While convenient, these effects closely mirror what’s already available from competing hardware and software suites. NVIDIA’s Broadcast, for example, has provided similar features leveraging GPU capabilities for years, and Google’s video background effects run on modest Chromebook hardware without an NPU.
- Cocreator: Allows users to generate digital artwork via AI prompts. While improved, its output quality has yet to match leading cloud-based solutions, and most professional or aspiring creators remain loyal to established creative tools. For casual users, it’s a novelty, not a necessity.
- Natural Language Actions: Copilot+ enables users to invoke searches, open apps, or run commands using conversational language. While slick, Windows has offered similar voice and search capabilities for years, and much of the heavy lifting is still dependent on cloud services rather than local AI.
Marketing vs. Actual Value: The Copilot+ Conundrum
A core frustration echoed by critics and everyday buyers alike is how Microsoft’s relentless focus on Copilot+ branding tends to overshadow what actually makes new Windows laptops special. Almost every current device featuring Snapdragon X chips is marketed first and foremost as a “Copilot+ PC,” implying that the AI label is its greatest asset.This, many argue, does a disservice to the hardware’s genuine strengths. Take the ASUS VivoBook S 15—praised for its display, design, performance, battery life, and even its gaming prowess. None of these qualities are exclusive to Copilot+, and some (like enhanced upscaling via Auto SR) depend on the ARM platform more than Microsoft’s AI layer. The truth is that these computers are excellent in spite of, not because of, the Copilot+ feature suite.
For many discerning users, the label even becomes a point of skepticism. Instead of seeing Copilot+ as an asset, some see it as marketing bloat, detracting from the true innovations in hardware and platform efficiency. Buyers are more likely to recommend a new Snapdragon laptop for what it achieves as a Windows machine—speed, longevity, portability—not for the bundled AI enhancements.
The Artificial Segmentation Problem
A recurrent pain point is Microsoft’s decision to wall off Copilot+ features behind hardware locks. Many of the new tools—especially Click to Do—could be delivered on older PCs, or those without specialized NPUs, with little technical compromise. It raises uncomfortable echoes of past “Windows 11-only” feature gating, where software advances were tied to arbitrary hardware requirements, frustrating loyal customers and alienating segments of the user base.This strategy appears motivated less by technical necessity than by a desire to incentivize new hardware sales, driving users to upgrade prematurely. While some advanced AI features (such as real-time image editing or whisper-quiet, high-throughput models) absolutely benefit from onboard neural acceleration, plenty of the advertised improvements do not. As of now, Microsoft has not provided convincing evidence that all Copilot+ capabilities truly require dedicated NPUs—especially at the basic image or text manipulation level.
Exclusivity for exclusivity’s sake isn’t a good look, and it risks eroding goodwill among tech-savvy buyers who value transparency and fairness in platform upgrades.
Privacy, Security, and Mindshare: The Recall Debate
Perhaps nowhere is the gap between promise and reality sharper than in the case of Recall. While potentially useful for forgetful or overwhelmed users, the notion of an always-on, all-seeing digital memory has alarmed even privacy-neutral users. The risks are hard to ignore: if compromised or misconfigured, Recall’s database could expose sensitive information, passwords, or private documents. Despite Microsoft’s rapid-fire adjustments—adding encryption, local-only data processing, and stricter controls—the story is a public relations headache, muddying the appeal of Copilot+ rather than strengthening it.Meanwhile, the existential question remains: is Recall a solution to a widespread problem, or a technically impressive feature in search of a need? As it stands, it is likely to remain disabled in sensitive environments (schools, businesses), and ignored by large swathes of users who prefer deliberate curation over a “total recall” approach to digital memory.
The Snapdragon Revolution: Hardware Evolution, Not AI Hype, Is the Main Story
Cutting through the marketing noise, the most exciting development in Windows PCs over the past year hasn’t been Copilot+—it’s been the maturation of robust, ARM-based computing on the Snapdragon X platform. For the first time, Windows users can enjoy MacBook-like battery life, fanless designs, and instant-on performance, all while remaining within the familiar Windows ecosystem.- Multi-day battery on a single charge is no longer fantasy but reality for flagship ARM laptops.
- Application emulation, once the Achilles’ heel of Windows on ARM, is now solid enough to run almost all desired software with few tradeoffs.
- ARM-native apps and tools continue to arrive, accelerating the shift away from legacy x86 dominance.
Critical Analysis: Where Copilot+ Succeeds and Stumbles
Strengths
- Genuine productivity boosts (Click to Do): Simplifies common workflows, especially on the image editing front, making routine tasks less time-consuming for average users.
- Potential for future innovation: With the hardware foundation in place (NPUs, fast ARM cores), Copilot+ can serve as a baseline for ongoing improvements—if Microsoft listens to user feedback.
- On-device privacy (in principle): Many Copilot+ features run locally, keeping personal data on the user’s device rather than in the cloud.
Risks and Weaknesses
- Weak “killer app” factor: No single Copilot+ feature justifies the branding or serves as a must-have upgrade for most users.
- Artificial hardware gating: By tying features to new devices with NPUs, Microsoft risks alienating loyal users and stifling adoption.
- Privacy and security concerns (Recall): Even with mitigations, persistent unease surrounds any feature that systematically tracks user history.
- Missed marketing opportunity: By foregrounding Copilot+ over groundbreaking hardware, Microsoft risks obscuring the real competitive advantages of the Windows ecosystem’s evolution.
- General AI fatigue: The relentless drumbeat of “AI-powered” features can cause exhaustion and skepticism, particularly when results are modest.
The Bottom Line: Buy for the Hardware, Not the AI
For anyone considering a new Windows laptop, especially those intrigued by the performance leap offered by Snapdragon X, the advice is clear: view Copilot+ as a collection of pleasant extras, not the main reason to upgrade. Don’t allow AI branding to overshadow the real gains—superb battery life, fanless operation, and x86 app compatibility—that define the new wave of Windows hardware.It’s possible that over time, Microsoft will refine Copilot+ into something genuinely transformative, or at least make its best features available to a broader swathe of users. For now, though, the value proposition is rooted not in the AI features, but in the silicon advances powering the devices themselves.
As the market continues to mature, and as Microsoft and partners (perhaps eventually including NVIDIA-based Copilot+ PCs) respond to criticism with both feature parity and honest marketing, users may eventually see a Copilot+ suite that feels essential, not just ornamental.
But at present, the message for would-be buyers is simple: base your purchase decision on what matters most—hardware excellence backed by an increasingly robust Windows on ARM ecosystem. Copilot+? It’s a tagline, not a revolution. Buy for the PC, not the pitch.
Source: inkl Microsoft's Copilot+ has been here over a year and I still don't care about it — but I do wish I had one of its features
