The first Windows 10 on ARM devices arrived to underwhelming reviews. Sure, they delivered on the promises of long battery life and always-connected capabilities thanks to their Qualcomm Snapdragon chips with integrated 4G LTE modems. But so far most Windows on ARM devices have been sluggish and expensive.

Microsoft and Qualcomm are promising to tackle the sluggishness with the upcoming Microsoft Surface Pro X tablet, powered by a new Microsoft SQ1 processor.

And now it looks like Chinese PC makers are getting ready to tackle the price issue by releasing cheaper Windows on ARM devices.

Update: It looks like Pipo is just the tip of the iceberg. Notebook Italia spotted five more Windows devices with Snapdragon 850 processors and screen sizes ranging from 10.8 inches to 13.3 inches. 

Case in point: Charbax caught up with Pipo at the HKTDC Electronics Fair and got a look at several new Windows computers with Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 processors.

One device is a 2-in-1 Windows tablet with a 12.3 inch, 3000 x 2000 pixel touchscreen display, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage and kickstand, and a detachable keyboard.

It’s expected to sell for less than $400.

Other features include a USBC-C port, headphone jack, 802.11ac WiFi, 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras, and a 7.6V/5,000 mAh battery.

Pipo says it can also make 13.3 inch, 14 inch, and 15.6 inch clamshell-style laptops which could also be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. But the company isn’t talking prices for those models yet.

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18 replies on “Cheap Windows on ARM devices coming soon from Chinese PC makers”

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  4. I hear x86 emulation can be sluggish sometimes, but I’m ok with that. I can try x86 on occasion, but probably could find an ARM version of everything I need these days. I’d love to try all ARM apps on ARM Windows and see if it’s reasonably snappy.

  5. I’d buy one of these if it came with Debian Linux instead of Windows.

    1. Ill take an arch, ill take a vanilla, f%^* it ill even take ubuntu over windows…

  6. This reporter in the video is kindof ridiculous. He labels the video “$250 Pipo Snapdragon laptop”, but all that was said was that it was going to be a more affordable option.

    The reporter was basically putting words in his mouth. He said “This could be under $300”, and the guy hesitantly said “ya”.

    1. If you’ve been around reading ARM related tech coverage, this pretty par for the course with Charbax. He’s been like this for over a decade.

  7. #400 for a Microsoft Surface Pro X – semi-clone? That’s pretty amazing. Performance and reliability will be the key. A 10″ model would be nice.

  8. Why only Qc chips? Would not other ARM based processors such as Mediatek or Sammy work, is the X-86 emulator in the chip or the software? And where are we at in terms of limitations of this emulation…

    1. The emulator is in software but QC did some work on cache and pre-fetching to help with emulation.

    2. The limitation is that 64 bits apps do not work, since the software emulation reproduces the hardware emulation that makes it possible to run 32 bit apps on 64 bit systems. However some programs, like Dropobox, while available for 32 bit devices, refuse to work on ARM…

  11. Still hoping for desktop Windows on ARM to succeed so that it can trickle to UMPCs. I guess these smaller OEMs entering the ARM Windows market is a good thing.

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