When considering the future of ultra-portable computing, Copilot+ PCs powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X series chips have rapidly become the focus of attention among Windows enthusiasts and technology professionals. The promise at the heart of these new devices is clear: the integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is designed to supercharge artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, delivering a new class of experiences that simply weren’t possible, or at least not as efficient, on previous x86-architecture machines.
Yet, the real-world value of these NPUs comes down to software—specifically, which applications take meaningful advantage of that specialized silicon. While Microsoft’s grand unveiling promised a future rich with AI-powered features, as of mid-2024, the average Copilot+ PC owner is still waiting for most of those innovations to fully materialize within Windows 11 itself. For now, marquee features like Cocreate in Paint and enhanced Windows Studio Effects headline native AI capabilities, and much of the NPU’s theoretical power is left untapped by the operating system. However, some developers have already begun to embrace this hardware leap, offering users tangible performance and feature benefits through NPU-aware applications.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, universally included in every Copilot+ certified device, boast an on-chip NPU with a minimum of 45 Trillions of Operations Per Second (TOPS)—exceeding Microsoft’s 40 TOPS baseline for AI-centric PCs. In practice, this levels the AI playing field between entry-level ultrabooks and flagship machines, at least in terms of raw NPU compute. According to Microsoft documentation, this shift enables “local, instantaneous inference for next-generation AI features” that would otherwise require a roundtrip to cloud servers, with corresponding privacy, latency, and cost benefits.
A review of both Qualcomm and Microsoft’s developer notes confirms these NPUs are accessible via Windows’ AI APIs, thus giving third-party developers standardized ways to offload demanding workloads from the CPU and GPU. This standardized support is, by all available evidence, crucial in driving wider application adoption.
While NPU-accelerated rendering still lags behind top desktop GPUs in raw throughput, it provides significant energy efficiency gains, which are vital for prolonged productivity on battery power. For animators and digital artists who “work on the go,” this NPU leverage offers a new freedom rarely found in traditional workstations.
Independent reviewers and actual musicians have observed that, unlike prior iterations where stem extraction involved cloud uploads and lengthy waits, the NPU-accelerated version processes most tracks directly on the device, significantly boosting confidentiality and creative workflow speed. This improvement is most valuable for hobbyists or music students looking to play along with their favorite tracks, as well as professional remixers working under tight deadlines.
While quantitative benchmarks from Serif are limited, anecdotal reports and some synthetic tests suggest subject selection is noticeably faster than relying solely on CPU or GPU resources. This aligns with Microsoft’s broader AI strategy: empowering applications to provide accelerated, on-device intelligence without ballooning power consumption.
Independent confirmation from reputable photography forums suggests that batch cropping is now performed at consistent speeds regardless of library size, with no noticeable lag for even large, high-resolution datasets. This puts Snapdragon Windows machines in serious contention as travel-friendly photo editing stations.
Reports from digital musicians confirm that on Arm-native DAW builds, audio latency—often the bane of real-time production—has improved enough to compete with long-established x86 setups. Some early plugin developers are now rumored to be exploring NPU enhancements for tasks like real-time noise suppression and automatic instrument labeling, though as of this writing, such capabilities remain largely aspirational.
Verification from both Microsoft’s official documentation and third-party benchmarks consistently highlights the following realities:
However, a chorus of caution is present. Many users note the absence of meaningful NPU utilization outside select creative apps, describing the hardware as “future-proofing” rather than a daily necessity. For now, true platform-wide AI augmentation remains a work in progress, tethered to software release cycles outside the user’s control.
What remains to be seen is whether this push will translate into compelling, everyday user experiences that transcend creative niches and permeate productivity and entertainment worlds. The success of Copilot+ Windows PCs—and, by extension, enthusiasm for bearing the cost premiums associated with these devices—will rest on the breadth of useful, NPU-powered apps available to the average user.
However, the broader Windows ecosystem is still undergoing a crucial transition. As of mid-2024, tangible NPU benefits are largely confined to early adopters and the creative community, with the vast majority of Windows users still waiting for the AI revolution promised in marketing material. Platform-wide adoption will depend on continued standardization, expanded developer support, and, crucially, the rollout of reliable, user-facing AI features in both first- and third-party software.
For Windows enthusiasts and IT professionals alike, the next year will be critical in determining whether the NPU becomes a cornerstone of the Windows experience or merely a footnote in the ongoing evolution of PC hardware. For now, those who choose Copilot+ PCs can enjoy best-in-class AI acceleration where supported—while wisely calibrating their expectations and keeping a keen eye on the pace of software innovation across the Windows landscape.
Source: HT Tech Best apps that use the NPU on a Snapdragon Windows laptop
Yet, the real-world value of these NPUs comes down to software—specifically, which applications take meaningful advantage of that specialized silicon. While Microsoft’s grand unveiling promised a future rich with AI-powered features, as of mid-2024, the average Copilot+ PC owner is still waiting for most of those innovations to fully materialize within Windows 11 itself. For now, marquee features like Cocreate in Paint and enhanced Windows Studio Effects headline native AI capabilities, and much of the NPU’s theoretical power is left untapped by the operating system. However, some developers have already begun to embrace this hardware leap, offering users tangible performance and feature benefits through NPU-aware applications.
Understanding the NPU in Snapdragon-Powered Windows Laptops
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, universally included in every Copilot+ certified device, boast an on-chip NPU with a minimum of 45 Trillions of Operations Per Second (TOPS)—exceeding Microsoft’s 40 TOPS baseline for AI-centric PCs. In practice, this levels the AI playing field between entry-level ultrabooks and flagship machines, at least in terms of raw NPU compute. According to Microsoft documentation, this shift enables “local, instantaneous inference for next-generation AI features” that would otherwise require a roundtrip to cloud servers, with corresponding privacy, latency, and cost benefits.A review of both Qualcomm and Microsoft’s developer notes confirms these NPUs are accessible via Windows’ AI APIs, thus giving third-party developers standardized ways to offload demanding workloads from the CPU and GPU. This standardized support is, by all available evidence, crucial in driving wider application adoption.
Apps Leading the NPU Charge on Snapdragon Windows Laptops
Despite the wait for wide system-level integration, several standout apps already provide a showcase for the possibilities unlocked by the NPU. Let’s delve into some of the most notable examples across creative, productivity, and music domains.Blender: Accelerating Creative 3D Workflows
Blender, the renowned open-source 3D graphics suite, is a clear leader. Not only does it ship with native ARM compatibility for Windows on Snapdragon, erasing the need for performance-hampering emulation, but it also features a plugin purpose-built to engage the NPU. This plugin harnesses the neural processor for tasks like AI-accelerated text-to-image conversions or simulating rendering, granting Blender users noticeably faster turnaround times when producing high-resolution assets. Trusted sources, including product update logs and independent benchmarkers, confirm that these enhancements are not simply theoretical: real-world speedups are evident, especially in converting 3D objects to photorealistic images with minimal user wait.While NPU-accelerated rendering still lags behind top desktop GPUs in raw throughput, it provides significant energy efficiency gains, which are vital for prolonged productivity on battery power. For animators and digital artists who “work on the go,” this NPU leverage offers a new freedom rarely found in traditional workstations.
Moises: Real-Time AI Music Separation
Moises, a noted name in music production software, stands out for its industry-leading stem separation—the art of isolating vocals, drums, and other instruments from a mixed audio track. In November 2024, Moises announced specific support for Windows on Snapdragon’s NPUs. According to their official release, AI-powered instrument and vocal isolation processes now execute up to 35% faster when the NPU is utilized, and latency is reduced enough to enable near real-time results.Independent reviewers and actual musicians have observed that, unlike prior iterations where stem extraction involved cloud uploads and lengthy waits, the NPU-accelerated version processes most tracks directly on the device, significantly boosting confidentiality and creative workflow speed. This improvement is most valuable for hobbyists or music students looking to play along with their favorite tracks, as well as professional remixers working under tight deadlines.
Affinity Photo 2: Enhanced Photo Editing Efficiency
Serif’s Affinity suite, acclaimed for its Photoshop-alternative status, has likewise been proactive in addressing Windows on ARM. Affinity Photo 2 leverages NPU capabilities for several time-consuming tasks, most notably its object and subject selection tools. With NPU acceleration, these functions now rapidly isolate elements in complex compositions, supporting instant adjustments to color, tint, and even background removal.While quantitative benchmarks from Serif are limited, anecdotal reports and some synthetic tests suggest subject selection is noticeably faster than relying solely on CPU or GPU resources. This aligns with Microsoft’s broader AI strategy: empowering applications to provide accelerated, on-device intelligence without ballooning power consumption.
Capture One: AI-Assisted Batch Photo Editing
Capture One, popular among professional photographers, is another mainstream creative app that has adapted to the NPU-centric paradigm. The most celebrated features now utilizing the NPU include AI cropping and batch style transfers—where the desired look of a reference photo can be instantly applied across a photo library. These types of tasks, by their nature, benefit from hardware acceleration, as evidenced by before-and-after NPU activation timings included in release notes and user testimonials.Independent confirmation from reputable photography forums suggests that batch cropping is now performed at consistent speeds regardless of library size, with no noticeable lag for even large, high-resolution datasets. This puts Snapdragon Windows machines in serious contention as travel-friendly photo editing stations.
Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs): Reaper and Cubase
While core audio mixing and MIDI sequencing within DAWs like Reaper and Cubase do not yet claim direct NPU acceleration for all tasks, the overall ecosystem has seen strong gains through Snapdragon-native development. Industry partnership announcements indicate that Microsoft, in collaboration with Yamaha, has delivered a dedicated MIDI stack and low-latency ASIO audio drivers, ensuring that audio processing on Copilot+ PCs is both stable and responsive.Reports from digital musicians confirm that on Arm-native DAW builds, audio latency—often the bane of real-time production—has improved enough to compete with long-established x86 setups. Some early plugin developers are now rumored to be exploring NPU enhancements for tasks like real-time noise suppression and automatic instrument labeling, though as of this writing, such capabilities remain largely aspirational.
NPU Utilization: Fact-Checking Claims and Setting Expectations
It is critical to note that while the above applications set a strong precedent, the overwhelming majority of mainstream Windows software does not yet meaningfully harness the NPU. There is an emerging divide between early adopters—often in creative sectors where AI can rapidly transform workflows—and those waiting for wider ecosystem maturity.Verification from both Microsoft’s official documentation and third-party benchmarks consistently highlights the following realities:
- Uniformity of NPU Performance: Because all Copilot+ certified Snapdragon laptops ship with the same 45+ TOPS NPU specification, performance disparities between models are minimized. This is a rare instance in Windows history where an entry-level and flagship machine have essentially equal AI compute headroom, something corroborated by hands-on tests across several devices.
- Scope of System-Level AI Features: As of July 2024, only a small subset of promised Windows 11 AI features—such as Paint Cocreate (AI image generation in Microsoft Paint) and enhanced background effects in video calls—are actually live. The vast “Recall” feature (intelligent search across one’s past desktop/work), once championed by Microsoft, has been delayed due to privacy anxieties and technical bugs, according to independent coverage by multiple IT news sources.
- Third-Party App Momentum: Adoption has been strongest among independent creative software vendors, especially where tasks are well-suited to parallel AI inference. That said, major productivity suites like Adobe’s Creative Cloud are only beginning to transition Arm-native builds and, at time of review, do not yet claim broad NPU utilization.
- Developer-Driven Innovation: The pace of third-party NPU app releases will likely accelerate as Microsoft finalizes and broadens its public AI API offerings for Windows. Developer feedback forums repeatedly emphasize the importance of standardized, stable toolchains in unlocking new applications and creative products.
Strengths and Value Propositions
The emergence of NPU-powered apps on Snapdragon-based Windows laptops offers several compelling advantages, many of which are already visible to current adopters:- Consistent, Local AI Acceleration: By ensuring every Copilot+ PC has a minimum 40 TOPS NPU, Microsoft and Qualcomm have created a uniform target for software developers, which simplifies support and avoids “feature fragmentation” endemic to the early days of GPU computing. This is confirmed by architectural whitepapers and official press releases.
- Enhanced Privacy and Security: Local AI inference, as opposed to cloud-based AI, ensures sensitive data such as private photos, voice recordings, and creative works remain confined to the device. This model mitigates privacy concerns brought to the fore by recent cloud data breaches, outlined in in-depth privacy reports.
- Improved Battery Life: Real-world testing documented by sites like AnandTech and NotebookCheck suggest NPU-enhanced workflows (such as live photo editing or real-time audio isolation) demand significantly less power than their CPU/GPU-only counterparts. This bodes well for ultra-portable devices aiming for all-day battery life.
- Creative Productivity Boosts: With applications like Blender and Moises slashing processing times for otherwise painstaking tasks, creative professionals and hobbyists can iterate projects more rapidly, a key benefit highlighted by user testimonials and verified hands-on reviews.
Risks, Shortcomings, and Unmet Promises
It would be remiss to present current NPU usage as without flaws or limitations. Several challenges and areas of uncertainty merit discussion:- Incomplete Ecosystem: The biggest weakness is the limited number of mainstream Windows apps that make full use of the NPU. While creative professionals may already see clear value, office workers and typical consumers have few tangible day-to-day benefits as of this writing. Most Windows apps are developed and tested primarily for x86, and their AI features, where offered, default to CPU/GPU fallback paths.
- Delayed Core Features: Microsoft’s own “Recall” feature—promised as a Copilot+ exclusive, allowing users to easily track their on-device activity and recall it via natural language—is postponed amid controversy. Independent audits raise unresolved privacy and security concerns about the continuous background monitoring required for such capabilities.
- Potential for Software Fragmentation: While the NPU hardware is uniform, the APIs and SDKs available to developers are not entirely settled. This creates a risk where early application adopters may need significant rewrites as standards evolve, slowing broader uptake.
- Marketing Versus Reality: There is a clear discrepancy between the marketing narrative of AI-powered Windows—where intelligent assistants and features are omnipresent—and the current, more limited real-world experience. Some users and reviewers have voiced disappointment over the gap between initial announcements and shipping feature sets, as corroborated by TechRadar and The Verge coverage.
- Hardware Compatibility: While Snapdragon X series machines are Copilot+ certified, legacy (non-ARM) Windows apps that rely on Intel/AMD-specific extensions still operate via emulation, which may limit advanced AI feature availability or performance for some critical software.
Independent User Experiences and Benchmarks
Engaging with online forums, user reviews, and independent benchmarks paints a nuanced picture. Early adopters of Copilot+ PCs consistently praise the instantaneous performance of NPU-aware features in supported apps—especially in scenarios like real-time background blurring or stem separation in music. Battery longevity gains in these scenarios are frequently cited, with reports of several additional hours of runtime compared to traditional CPU-driven workflows.However, a chorus of caution is present. Many users note the absence of meaningful NPU utilization outside select creative apps, describing the hardware as “future-proofing” rather than a daily necessity. For now, true platform-wide AI augmentation remains a work in progress, tethered to software release cycles outside the user’s control.
Looking Ahead: The Roadmap for NPU-Enabled Windows
Industry analysts and developer communications suggest NPU adoption is primed to surge over the next 12–18 months as more high-profile software vendors pivot to embrace hardware-accelerated AI. Microsoft continues to invest in both core OS features (such as expanded Copilot assistant integration) and in providing robust development tools for third parties.What remains to be seen is whether this push will translate into compelling, everyday user experiences that transcend creative niches and permeate productivity and entertainment worlds. The success of Copilot+ Windows PCs—and, by extension, enthusiasm for bearing the cost premiums associated with these devices—will rest on the breadth of useful, NPU-powered apps available to the average user.
Conclusion
The advent of NPUs in Snapdragon-powered Windows laptops represents a significant architectural and experiential innovation, with real, measurable gains already materializing for select creative and technical applications. Apps like Blender, Moises, Affinity Photo 2, and Capture One provide a glimpse of the future, demonstrating the transformative potential of local AI acceleration in enhancing productivity, creativity, and device efficiency.However, the broader Windows ecosystem is still undergoing a crucial transition. As of mid-2024, tangible NPU benefits are largely confined to early adopters and the creative community, with the vast majority of Windows users still waiting for the AI revolution promised in marketing material. Platform-wide adoption will depend on continued standardization, expanded developer support, and, crucially, the rollout of reliable, user-facing AI features in both first- and third-party software.
For Windows enthusiasts and IT professionals alike, the next year will be critical in determining whether the NPU becomes a cornerstone of the Windows experience or merely a footnote in the ongoing evolution of PC hardware. For now, those who choose Copilot+ PCs can enjoy best-in-class AI acceleration where supported—while wisely calibrating their expectations and keeping a keen eye on the pace of software innovation across the Windows landscape.
Source: HT Tech Best apps that use the NPU on a Snapdragon Windows laptop
