The company released the Surface Pro X last year, which has an Arm processor co-developed by Microsoft and Qualcomm. The Surface RT’s failure didn’t stop Microsoft from making more runs at Arm-based Surface computers, though. In its fiscal Q4 2013 earnings, Microsoft recorded a $900 million loss because of Surface RT “ inventory adjustments.” That confusion probably contributed to the Surface RT’s eventual failure. Even Microsoft support reps had trouble explaining what would and wouldn’t work on Windows RT. Instead, it ran Windows RT, which was a stripped-down version of Windows 8 that couldn’t run traditional Windows programs. Photo by Chris Welch / The VergeĬonfusingly, though, the Surface RT didn’t run the also-new-at-the-time Windows 8. It was a thin computer / tablet hybrid, and at $499, it seemed like a promising new Arm-based device.

And while there are good reasons to think Apple has figured it out, history hasn’t always been kind to other manufacturers who have tried Arm-based computers.īack in 2012, Microsoft launched an Arm-based version of its new-at-the-time Surface tablet, dubbed the Surface RT. Yesterday’s was the second presentation in a row where we saw canned demos and unlabeled graphs instead of actual benchmarks and performance comparisons. But the reverse is also true: we’re currently taking Apple’s word that existing Mac apps will work well when they don’t run natively. The reason they can natively run iOS apps is because the new Apple M1 is based on the Arm instruction set, just like your smartphone, instead of the x86-64 instructions used in Macs and Windows PCs. A render of the Apple M1 embedded in a tiny MacBook motherboard. But before you turn those exciting promises into a preorder, you should know there’s still a big question mark hanging over the new computers.

They’ll also be able to natively run iOS apps, meaning Macs will theoretically have a lot more software options right from the jump. (To give you an idea of the level of improvement Apple is touting, Apple claims the new MacBook Pro can get up to 20 hours of battery life.)

Apple is promising significant performance benefits over Intel processors and, for the laptops, a huge increase in battery life. Apple has finally introduced its first Macs with processors it designed itself: a 13-inch MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a Mac mini.

Emulator mac mini