Google just launched the faster, more efficient Chrome browser for Windows, but there’s a catch

News7f May 21, 2024

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Google just launched the faster, more efficient Chrome browser for Windows, but there's a catch

Acer Aspire Vero 16 — Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Google has released a new version of its Chrome web browser compatible with Windows PCs powered by ARM-based Snapdragon CPUs. That includes the new Copilot+ models announced in Microsoft’s Surface event. This release, first announced at the end of March, is fully optimized for the new hardware and operating system, so web browsing will be faster and smoother.

Also: Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Laptop are the ultimate ‘AI PCs’, I’m worried about Apple

“The new version of Google Chrome will help solidify Snapdragon X Elite’s role as the leading platform for Windows computing starting mid-year,” Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon said in March. 2024”. Now the potential for hardware-software integration can be fully realized.

Currently, there are several Snapdragon X Elite laptops on the market, available for pre-order starting today, including Microsoft Flashy appearance And Laptop, HP’s OmniBook XAnd Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge. You can expect more availability in the second half of the year.

The X Elite’s specs list 12 Oryon cores, which, according to Qualcomm, will double the performance of Intel’s 13th generation Core i7-1360P and i7-1355U. Qualcomm also claims the X Elite consumes about 68% less power, which should significantly improve battery life. And with speeds of up to 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS), the Hevagon NPU AI Engine anchored in the Snapdragon chip is expected to dramatically improve AI experiences from the on-device level to the cloud level. . Of course, we’ll have to see how the chipset performs in real-world testing.

Also: 3 AI features coming to Copilot+ PC that I wish were on my MacBook

The new ARM-based version of Chrome also includes a general browser AI feature, Help Me Write, that helps you start writing or refine what you’ve already written. Users will also have access to thousands of Chrome extensions and themes.

While there are still limited options for ARM-based Windows PCs, Google may be betting on that number to increase in the coming years. You can download the ARM-based version of Chrome right away.