What exactly are Copilot+ PCs and what can they do?

Companies like Samsung, Microsoft, Lenovo and HP have brought Copilot+ PCs to market this year. What sets them apart from normal laptops, what they can do and whether you need that, I explain here. The test device was the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge.

What is Copilot and what makes the Plus?

Copilot is Microsoft’s AI model, just as Google’s AI is called Gemini, Samsung’s is Galaxy AI and Apple’s is Apple Intelligence. Copilot is now available on all Windows computers, for example in the Edge browser and in Bing search. As with ChatGPT, you enter questions and commands or have things translated.

On top of that, Microsoft has developed far more complex and, in my view, more useful AI features that need considerably more computing power. They are called Copilot+ features, and Copilot+ PCs with special hardware and software were developed for them. They have an additional processor, the neural processing unit (NPU). It runs AI-intensive processes, such as generating images or real-time translations. Its speed is measured in operations per second, so-called TOPS.

The special thing: the AI features run directly and locally on the device, not in the cloud. The Copilot+ features are currently still free, whether that stays that way is open. Above that there is Copilot Pro with even more features, but paid: €22 per month per user.

The test device: Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge

The Galaxy Book 4 Edge comes in 14 or 16 inches. It is said to be the most powerful Copilot+ PC, with a 12-core processor that boosts up to 4.2 GHz and is therefore even supposed to be stronger than the current MacBook with the M3. I haven’t done a comparison test, but in performance it plays right up at the top.

• Price: The smallest model with 14 inches, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage costs from €1,296 recommended retail price (RRP).
• My device: 16 inches with the more powerful Snapdragon X Elite and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU.
• Weight: Despite 16 inches it is slim, at 1.5 kg still moderate.
• Display: Dynamic AMOLED with 3K resolution and 120 Hz. Display bezels are not something Samsung can do on laptops, they are thick, which stands out when you have a laptop with almost no bezels like I do.

The five Copilot+ features, ranked

Currently there are five AI applications. I rank them by my experience of how useful they are in everyday life.

1. Recall: With it you search for content you have looked at in the past. An example: I searched for shoes on the internet and found some, but put off buying them. Weeks later I no longer know which shop, only that they were red. With Recall I have a timeline of everything I have seen and can scroll through it or search by keywords like “red shoes”. That also works for hotels or bands. Recall has to be actively turned on, because screenshots are taken of what you look at, and you can set what should not be captured. I find it excessively practical. Recall isn’t available here yet, and nobody knows when. Data protection is said to be to blame, a shame.
2. Live Captions: They work. You watch videos or films in another language, and the captions translate everything in real time, for all content on the PC. My game changer: conversations, for example via Teams, are captioned too. That helps not only internationally but above all people with hearing impairments or deaf people.
3. Cocreator: You generate images with a prompt. It’s in third place for me, because I don’t have to create images every day; for content creators or designers it is very helpful. I’m surprised how well and how fast it works. It runs through the Paint app and needs an internet connection, so not locally.
4. Windows Studio Effects: AI-based video and audio effects: creative filters, portrait lighting without physical light, an eye-contact teleprompter that makes it look as if you are always looking into the camera, which is more creepy than useful, and a voice focus that separates voices from background noise. I don’t know whether these changes are beneficial, or whether they alienate us even more from each other. Surely there are scenarios where it is desirable that everything is optimized and looks perfect.
5. Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR): It improves the frame rate of existing games in real time, with more detailed and smoother visuals. I’m not a gamer and can’t do anything with it; anyone who games on a laptop will be happy.

Copilot Pro: I couldn’t get it to work

With the subscription you have Copilot in Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel. In theory, you can use it to create an entire PowerPoint presentation on a topic, in content and design. I say in theory on purpose: I signed up for a free trial month, but Copilot didn’t show up, not even after signing in again, restarting and updating. I canceled the subscription right away. Maybe I didn’t activate something, or it isn’t active here yet. I couldn’t find out.

Is a Copilot+ PC worth it?

At this point probably not really, unless you want to use one of the five features or the Pro features later. Since Recall doesn’t exist yet and the Pro features didn’t work for me, I personally hold off on a purchase for now. The Galaxy Book 4 Edge is a powerful device even without AI, though, and for €1,296 you get a lot of performance. For one person or another it can therefore be worth it. If more useful features are added and everything works, I’ll be the first to jump on this train.