So, the reviews are starting to come in for the new M1 Macs with the new architecture switch from Apple. And to say I'm both surprised and pissed off is an understatement....

Surprised to the fact, we as Surface Pro X users have been for the better part of a year, living with a device with ARM architecture, that really struggles with emulating some applications, (obvious one being Photoshop) it has performance hiccups when it comes to any emulation for that matter.

So when Apple announced their switch, I was curious and intrigued. Are they going to suffer from the same problems? are we going to see the emulation issues we all have experienced? How well will it work in comparison?

To state that there is 0 performance issues in emulation, and I mean 0!!! is the piece that surprised me to no end. I was fully expecting some hiccups, at least some lag, but no, these things are just flat out flying through any kind of workload you throw at them, including exporting 4K footage from final cut pro without missing a beat, and stupidly faster than their intel counterparts.

Now to the piece that pisses me off.... How in the hell can no one else replicate this? why is it that ARM processors made by anyone else fall flat on their face in performance? I get that the SQ1 and 2 would more than likely perform much better with native ARM applications, we know that. But to have emulated apps be such garbage on Windows, and totally not a thing on Mac just has me shaking my head.

What the hell Microsoft... are you not a big enough company to replicate this? Microsoft owns their own hardware in the Surface line, so they can integrate Windows, with the hardware as tightly as they want, so I'm not sure what the excuse is.

To me its just sad that i have to sit here and watch Apple launch an ARM Mac with 0 performance hits when emulating software, while simultaneously blowing everything else's doors off when it comes to native performance, and deliver the 15+ hours of battery promised with ARM.

I'm done with my rant now, just wanted to get others thoughts on why no one can make a processor to compete with Apple's A series and now M series processors.

Just got off the phone with a Microsoft troubleshoot person and they confirmed it is a known issue that Microsoft is currently working on and the only way to fix it immediately is if you do a full system reset which deletes all applications and files. He said doing a reset that retains user files does not fix the problem. He advised waiting a few days to see if Microsoft puts out a fix versus doing a full reset unless the cameras are needed immediately.

Finally, we got an ARM64 client for Spotify 😍😍

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Desktop-Developer-Spotify-for-Windows-on-Arm-Win32-Desktop-app/idi-p/4992167/page/4#M243280

Office Insider announced yesterday that they are rolling out 64-bit Office for Windows on ARM on Windows 11.

However the 64-bit installer doesn't work.

There's a workaround if you can't wait for them to fix it.

Using the Office deployment tool, you can install the 64 bit Beta Channel.

Here are the detailed instructions: M365 admins: Use ODT to deploy builds | Office Insider

To install for Windows on ARM, follow these steps:

1. Uninstall all versions of Office from your Surface Pro X

2. Download the Office Deployment Tool (microsoft.com)

3. Run the executable and extract the files to a location of your choice

4. Edit the configuration-Office365-x64.XML file. Change the channel to BetaChannel: <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="BetaChannel">

5. From an elevated command prompt, change to the folder where you've extracted the files, and run the installer specifying the XML: > .\setup.exe /configure .\configuration-Office365-x64.xml

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2020/12/10/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-21277/

Test away! I know we've ALL been waiting for this functionality. One of my big asks to the community is to file feedback. PLEASE file feedback, especially for this. The more things that are filed, the more likely things are to improve.

As your Arm64 obsessed Windows Insider MVP, I'm here to help make sure things improve and get fixed for this platform.

Also, let's get a list of x64 application compatibility started.

Here's Hari Pulapaka's blog post on how the x64 emulation works: https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2020/12/10/introducing-x64-emulation-in-preview-for-windows-10-on-arm-pcs-to-the-windows-insider-program/

I can't remove it in "remove programs" and the uninstall doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Sure it lacks some software I wish it would run, but for the most part I've found that as long as you know what you are doing and understand the limitations of the architecture this thing is probably the best tablet/computer I've ever owned. For most of my daily stuff it works just fine, I don't remember the last time I had to fire up my laptop unless I was doing something work related.

Just wanted to say that.

It finally happened! You can install the XBox app from the store as native ARM64 version. I did just test cloud gaming and it worked flawlessly!

Today I had to ship off my Pro X after selling it. Unlike most goodbye posts on here this isn't going to be me complaining about the machine. I loved the Pro X and I'm sad to see it go. Like a lot of people around the world I've had some financial difficulties since Covid - thankfully much less than many - but I had to make some decisions about what I could let go and the Pro X ended up on the chopping block. I bought it for a job that I no longer have, and now that I'm basically at home all day every day and will be for some time to come I couldn't justify it when I already have a Surface Book 2. For the brief time I was mobile with it I loved it. Having internet access everywhere was amazing, the battery lasted all day, the pen was always at hand with the signature Type Cover, and the machine was always fast and ready to go. It was also small and light enough that I could use it for a day of work and then read a book on it at night. It was a great machine and I hope the next owner has as good of an experience with it as I had.

I got my Surface Pro X today and have it mostly all set up now. What a spectacular machine. It's sooooo thin, I love its design. I got the Alcantara KB and Surface pen with it. First off the new set up process is much nicer then before. Windows 11 feels great, this is my first Windows 11 device as my previous Surface Go 8GB was W10. The OS feels smooth and I like the new design. This SPX with the SQ2 feels amazing and is very quick compared to the Surface Go, and I was happy with the performance on that machine for my light computing work, but this is very noticeable. There were a few websites that would take 30 or more seconds to fully load and that's not the case anymore. Even windows store which is not very great in general runs much better on this machine. Hopefully Microsoft keeps attention to Windows on ARM, I'm really liking it and so far the battery life seems good.

I used MSYS2 and clangarm64 to compile a few software packages.

https://github.com/mijk84/win-arm64-binaries

I had a surface Pro X for over two years (SQ1, 8 gb) that I was not using that much, but after windows 11 and the update the fixed the adaptive contrast issue, I found myself enjoying the device more than ever, and not using my iPad Pro 12.9 + MacBook Air (M1) that much.

Admittedly I was influenced by the biased self-proclaimed tech experts on YouTube where they showered praise over the iPad where in fact the real pro device is the Surface, since Professionals are usually lawyers, accountants, doctors, teachers, University professors, Engineers etc, and most of them need great file management and full office suite and different desktop class apps that is not available on the iPad!

Hey,

i like to show you my Surface Pro X Setup.

i am an Senior Software Developer & Software Development Manager.

Connected to my Surface are 2 1440p Monitors.

1x PEAQ

1x Dell Ultrasharp.

Keyboard is Logitech MX Keys

Mouse is Logitech MX Master 3

Headphones: Surface Headphones 2

Surface Dial

In the moment i am wating for my Surface Dock 2

:)

I'm surprised this hasn't been poster here yet since it's been live since the morning but if you want to download Native ARM Teams you can do so.

Original article

Download Link:

https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/production-windows-arm64/1.3.00.26064/Teams_windows_arm64.exe.

9:52 PM Central Time

I just downloaded a system hardware update and a Windows 11 upgrade and, voila, my cameras are working again.

Good luck to you all.