Microsoft’s mini AI PCs are on the way

Ever since Microsoft first introduced its Arm-based Copilot Plus laptops in June, I’ve been wondering when we might see Copilot Plus features appear on desktop PCs. Six months on, it’s clear we’re about to see mini PCs that deliver the AI performance required for features like Recall, Click To Do, and AI-powered image generation and editing in Windows 11. These mini PCs might even help Microsoft compete with Apple’s latest Mac Mini.

Asus became the first PC manufacturer to announce a mini PC that’s Copilot Plus capable in September. It then revealed the full specs of its upcoming NUC 14 Pro AI last month, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that kicks off next week. Asus’ mini PC even has a Copilot button on the front and is almost identical to the size of Apple’s latest Mac Mini.

The timing of Asus’ spec drop came on the same day that Taiwanese company Geekom revealed three new mini PCs that it will showcase at CES. Geekom is releasing a mini PC with AMD’s Strix Point CPUs inside and one with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor, meaning both will be Copilot Plus compatible. The third model is powered by Intel’s unannounced Arrow Lake-H laptop processors, which are unlikely to have an NPU sufficient enough to be Copilot Plus compatible.

I’m going to be paying close attention to CES next week to see if there are any other Windows OEMs that are ready to launch Copilot Plus mini PCs. CES is usually a launch point for Microsoft’s latest laptop or tablet initiatives, and last year the company convinced OEMs to put a Copilot key on their laptop keyboards. Asus wouldn’t be adding a Copilot button on the front of its own mini PC without Microsoft’s involvement, so I wonder how many other PC makers Microsoft has been working with to add dedicated Copilot buttons.

Geekom’s mention of Qualcomm chips inside its mini PC means we’ll start to see Qualcomm’s latest chips venture beyond laptops for the first time. Qualcomm was supposed to ship its mini PC Snapdragon Dev Kit in June alongside Copilot Plus laptops, but it ended up canceling it months later after issues with manufacturing the device. Qualcomm has also teased that its Snapdragon X Elite chips could appear in mini PCs or even all-in-one PCs, so perhaps we’ll see some Copilot Plus all-in-one PCs next week, too.

I’m still waiting to see when we might get Copilot Plus features on traditional powerful desktop PCs. Intel’s latest Core Ultra desktop CPU arrived in October with an NPU inside, but it wasn’t capable enough to hit the 40 TOPS requirement that Microsoft mandates for Copilot Plus features. We’re going to have to wait until next-gen desktop CPUs from Intel and AMD arrive to see if more capable NPUs are a priority for chipmakers. Until then, mini PCs and all-in-one PCs that use laptop processors are going to be the only way to get Copilot Plus features in a desktop PC form factor. 

While Copilot Plus features remain limited to Windows PCs, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see the main Copilot assistant appear on more devices. I’ve heard from multiple sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans that the company is keen to get Copilot on devices beyond just PCs, phones, and tablets.

We might well see Copilot appear on some unexpected hardware at CES next week, just as Microsoft has also been hinting about its ambitions for dedicated AI hardware in recent months. Windows chief Pavan Davuluri admitted in an October Notepad interview that the power of modern AI models “will free up the ability to innovate in hardware and come out with purpose-built hardware.”

Davuluri stopped short of detailing what dedicated AI hardware would look like for Microsoft, but weeks later Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, dropped some additional hints in an underreported interview with YouTuber Austin Evans. 

“These devices that see the world, that you wear on your body, on your person, I think that those combined with AI will be very valuable,” said Mehdi in late October. “It can do image recognition, it can talk to you about what’s going on. I think that’s a fascinating place that we’ll go.”

Later in the interview Mehdi also describes wearable health-related devices as exciting and “a big opportunity” for the future. Microsoft then confirmed last month that Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has hired multiple former colleagues to help run a new AI health unit. It’s hard to imagine Microsoft venturing into fitness wearables again after the Microsoft Band was scrapped in 2016, but I could definitely see the company wanting to partner with device manufacturers and offer up AI-powered health services for these types of devices.

Either way, 2025 won’t see Microsoft slow down with its ambition to get Copilot on all the screens we look at every day.

• 2024 was a big year for Windows on Arm. While Microsoft has been pushing the “year of the AI PC” throughout 2024, I think it was a bigger moment for Windows on Arm. Copilot Plus PCs ushered in some really solid improvements in performance, compatibility, and battery life for Windows on Arm this year. I still can’t quite believe I’m using an Arm-powered Windows laptop every day.
• A weird Windows 11 bug won’t let some people install any security updates. Another month and another weird Windows bug. Microsoft is now warning Windows 11 users that if you’ve manually installed the OS recently, there’s an odd bug where you might not get future security updates. It largely impacts USB installers that were created using the October and November release patches, so businesses will be impacted the most. The workaround requires a full rebuild right now, though, and Microsoft says it’s working on a permanent fix.
• Lenovo has a special gaming handheld event next week with Valve and Microsoft. Leaks have suggested Lenovo is about to announce its first SteamOS handheld gaming PC. Now Lenovo has revealed a “future of gaming handhelds” event at CES next week that will include Valve as well as Microsoft’s VP of next generation, Jason Ronald. It looks like Microsoft and Valve might be about to go head to head over the future of handheld gaming — something I wrote about in a previous Notepad issue. Ronald’s attendance is particularly interesting given he was previously the vice president of Xbox gaming devices and ecosystem. I understand Ronald has been involved in Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox plans for quite some time now, but it’s curious that Microsoft picked this particular event to confirm Ronald’s new title. I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say about this mysterious Lenovo event in next week’s Notepad.
• Microsoft is testing live translation on Intel and AMD Copilot Plus PCs. Microsoft has started previewing its live translation feature for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. Live translation was initially limited to Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs, but Microsoft is starting to bring more of these Windows AI features to AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot Plus PCs. 
• Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership hinges on the AGI question. A new report from The Information claims that Microsoft and OpenAI’s wrangling over the terms of their partnership could involve the definition of artificial general intelligence (AGI) as a moment when $100 billion is returned in profits. AGI has always been the point at which Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI would end, so a high-profit milestone will certainly complicate OpenAI’s efforts to declare AGI and end its contract with Microsoft given it’s still struggling with profits. Separately, Microsoft thinks core pieces are still missing from AGI, so the debate over when it’s likely to be declared will continue for quite some time. 
• Microsoft kills off Skype credits and phone numbers in favor of subscriptions. Skype has been struggling to keep up with the popularity of WhatsApp, Messenger, Zoom, and many other VoIP services in recent years. Now, Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new Skype credits and the phone number features for Skype in favor of subscriptions instead. Skype Credit was a way to use a pay-as-you-go plan for making calls with Skype, but you’ll now need a subscription to use this functionality.
• Microsoft warns Phone Link won’t show “sensitive” Android 15 notifications. A new Android 15 privacy feature that categorizes notifications like 2FA codes as sensitive is causing some issues for Microsoft’s Phone Link feature in Windows. You can turn off the enhanced notifications in Android 15 to work around the issue, but Windows should still show sensitive notifications on Android devices where Phone Link was preinstalled on the device.
• The Xbox Sebile controller is still on the way. During the FTC v. Microsoft case in 2023 a huge amount of unannounced Xbox hardware was leaked, including a new Xbox controller codenamed Sebile. While the controller was supposed to originally debut in 2024, Microsoft appears to now be holding it back for its next-gen console instead. Windows Central reports that a new patent details Sebile’s new haptic motors that are spread throughout the controller. Sebile will also support direct Wi-Fi connectivity to Xbox Cloud Gaming, much like Google’s Stadia controller.
• GitHub now has a free tier for Copilot in VS Code. Microsoft-owned GitHub was the first to start using the Copilot branding for a paid AI coding assistant in 2021. GitHub is now offering a free version of GitHub Copilot in VS Code. It includes 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month, and is available for the 150 million developers using GitHub. It also includes the choice between using Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet or OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to ask coding questions, explain code, or let the AI models find bugs in your code.
• Microsoft is working on adding non-OpenAI models to its Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft is reportedly working on adding third-party AI models to its Microsoft 365 Copilot soon. Reuters reports that Microsoft is looking at other models to reduce costs of the AI assistant in Office apps and lessen its dependence on OpenAI. I wouldn’t be surprised if this involved Microsoft’s own AI models, but the company could also follow GitHub’s move to support models from Anthropic and Google.

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If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s other secret projects, you can also reach me via email at [email protected] or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.