The demands of modern life can make it hard to stay on top of things. Just when you've made time to work on that creative project, suddenly there are emails that need dealing with, tasks to manage, or scheduling that requires immediate attention, all of which makes it hard to remain productive and inspired. Well, with the latest Intel Core Ultra powered Windows PC with AI capabilities there are a wealth of features and capabilities purpose-built to streamline your workload and free up time to spend on the things that are the most important to you. AI might feel like a buzzword that's plastered over everything at the moment, and in some cases if does seem like it offers much apart from basic party tricks. But Microsoft's CoPilot, powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, is an exception, as it offers plenty of very helpful tools and features that can speed up your workflow, maximise your time and help you stay focussed.

A year ago, Microsoft hyped Copilot PCs as the next big thing. Twelve months later, it's hard not to see them as one of the tech industry's more significant flops. The question is whether they'll stay that way. Many Copilot PCs began shipping on June 18, 2024, about a month after Microsoft announced the program at the company's headquarters a month earlier. Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Microsoft's own Surface division committed to shipping Copilot PCs, whose centerpiece was a processor with an embedded Neural Processing Unit -- the engine of AI -- capable of 40 trillion operations per second, or TOPS.

AMD's hardware teams have tried to redefine AI inferencing with powerful chips like the Ryzen AI Max and Threadripper. But in software, the company has been largely absent where PCs are concerned. That's changing, AMD executives say. AMD's Advancing AI event Thursday focused on enterprise-class GPUs like its Instinct lineup. But it's a software platform you may not have heard of, called ROCm, that AMD depends upon just as much.

It's been one future that sci-fi has promised since Star Trek. Microsoft now says that that future is arriving, at least within a small corner of Windows 11. Microsoft is promising that you'll be able to use natural language to change aspects of your Windows 11 Settings menu, and Windows will go out and make those changes for you using "agents," or small bits of AI that will work on your behalf -- at least if you own a Copilot PC with an AI-accelerating NPU onboard. Microsoft has begun to use its Surface devices as a showcase for its latest software, and the new 13-inch Surface Laptop and 12-inch Surface Pro are no exception. They'll serve as launch vehicles for Windows Recall, semantic search, and Click-to-Do, but also brand new features like agentic AI and relighting features for Photos, object editing and sticker generation for Paint, and more.

When I first saw that photo of Nvidia's new Project Digits mini PC unveiled at CES 2025, I couldn't help but notice the Apple influence -- minimalist, sleek, next to a monitor that looks like Apple's Studio Display. Apple's latest Mac Mini is revolutionary in many ways, delivering the company's impressive M4 silicon in an efficient, affordable package. Windows PCs haven't yet been able to reach the same level of design beauty and overall balanced unit. Could Nvidia's new Mac Mini-like small-form-factor AI supercomputer usher in a major disruption for Windows PCs? Let's dive into Project Digits, what it is, and what it brings to the table for the future. It's a little unfair to compare the Mac Mini and Nvidia's Project Digits, mainly because they target vastly different users and markets.

From face recognition to dynamic lock, there are options you may be unfamiliar with. Are you dealing with a Windows PC or laptop that won't stop crashing? Maybe your PC is constantly freezing or displaying error messages. We know how frustrating a PC that won't work right can be. Luckily, there are some easy ways to fix a Windows PC that is consistently crashing.

Nowadays, smartphones replace the (video) camera on holiday, acts as a portable music player, has space for all WhatsApp media, and holds audio plays, e-books, and documents. To avoid losing such data, you should create regular backups and your home Windows PC is ideal for this. The home computer is also a good data source, as it often houses downloads, music libraries, and video archives. However, if you want to transfer music, videos, or images between your smartphone and a Windows PC, you are spoiled for choice. There are a whole range of different methods available for this data transfer. The simplest and quickest method of connecting an Android device to your Windows PC is the classic USB cable.

No disrespect to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, but voice control still has its quirks and sometimes it's easier to control your various smart home devices using your PC instead. But the degree to which you can adjust lighting, view security camera feeds, or set your thermostat will depend on which particular devices and ecosystems you're tied to. Let's walk through some of the different ways you can control smart home systems from a Windows PC, without having to grab your phone or yell out to your nearest voice assistant. Although it doesn't show up in Microsoft Store search results and has seemingly been deprecated, you can still install Amazon's Alexa app for Windows 10 and above if you have the direct store link. Once installed, you can control Alexa-enabled smart devices through the Smart Home tab.

Microsoft has dreamed of competing with Chromebooks for many years, having previously pushed products like Windows 10 S (a limited version of Windows that powered the first Surface Laptop) and Windows 10X (some interesting ideas but was canceled and never released). Today, Snapdragon X Elite PCs run a "full version of Windows" in many ways--but in using one myself, I'm noticing all kinds of similarities between them and Chromebooks. While Microsoft wants to talk up its AI-focused Copilot PC branding, these PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus chips run Windows on Arm--and they bring serious improvements that feel a lot like Chromebooks in various ways. Thanks to Prism, Windows 11 on Arm can run most--but not all--traditional Windows applications that are coded for x86 processors. In other words, most applications will install and "just work."

We've been hearing rumblings for months now that Microsoft was working on so-called "AI PCs." At a pre-Build event, the company spelled out its vision for AI PCs. Microsoft is calling its version Copilot PCs, which CEO Satya Nadella described as a "new class of Windows PCs." These include hardware designed to handle more generative AI Copilot processes locally, rather than relying on the cloud. That requires a chipset with a neural processing unit (NPU) and manufacturers such as Qualcomm have been laying the groundwork with chips like the Snapdragon X Elite.