PC Lets Developers Test Windows 10 ARM

A Snapdragon 7c-based reference device, designed to help developers test applications for Windows on ARM, will be sold in the Microsoft Store online beginning in the second half of 2021, but pricing has not been announced. By offering a small and inexpensive reference device, Microsoft and Qualcomm are signaling continued commitment to the Windows on ARM platform and may spur other developers to provide native applications for this platform. Despite several potential advantages, including an energy-efficient, always-on SOC design that should offer long battery life, and built-in, always-connected cellular networking, a lack of key applications built for the platform may still be slowing consumer and business acceptance.

Microsoft will optimize Edge, Teams, and Visual Studio Code for the Snapdragon processors and Windows on ARM. Zoom Communications, which competes with Teams in the online meeting market, will optimize its Zoom video conferencing platform as well.

Qualcomm designed the Snapdragon 7c to provide more than 19 hours of continuous operation on battery, with an AI engine for security and voice recognition and support for Windows 10 hypervisor and the Secure Core PC initiative. The reference device features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c compute platform (SC7180, ARM version 8), with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of solid-state storage. It has a variety of USB ports and supports HDMI video, and both Ethernet 10/100 Mbps and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) networking. An eSim provides cellular connectivity, so the device may be capable of supporting 4G/LTE or 5G.