The main reason you’d buy a Copilot+ PC is to take advantage of the Neural Processing Unit or NPU inside, to help accelerate AI workloads. That was the main agenda behind launching this subset of Windows PCs to begin with. As is the case with most new tech launches, we’re yet to get all the promised AI features in Windows 11 that were supposed to be exclusive to Copilot+ laptops. This means, other than things like Cocreate in Paint and Windows Studio Effects, your NPU is pretty much lying dormant in your laptop.
Thankfully, there are a bunch of apps that utilise the NPU in your Snapdragon Windows laptop. No matter which Snapdragon X series laptop you buy, all of them have the same NPU capable of 45 TOPS. This means, whether you get an entry-level model or the highest end one, AI performance should stay consistent throughout. This is all mainly thanks to Microsoft’s guidelines for what qualifies as a Copilot+ PC, as it requires an NPU of a minimum of 40 TOPS performance.
Apps that utilise the NPU on Windows Snapdragon laptops
• Blender
Blender was one of the first apps to natively work on Qualcomm Windows laptops, and is one of the best for animators and graphic designers. You can download the native Arm version of Blender from the website, which is available as an installer as well as portable ZIP file. There’s a free NPU-powered plugin that’s been created that runs on the chip’s dedicated neural processor. With it, you can simulate rendering using the NPU at faster speeds, and use the text-to-image AI to enhance your 3D object in a high-res 2D image in a much quicker time.
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• Moises
If you’re into music production then you’ve no donut heard of Moises. Widely known for its great music separation features using AI, you can isolate various stems of the song like the drums, guitar, vocals, etc., in order to create your own custom track. It’s a very handy tool for anyone learning to play an instrument, for when they need to play along to their favourite song. In November 2024, Moises announced that their app now uses the Snapdragon’s NPU on Windows to help with instrument and vocal isolation, making the process quicker and at real-time speeds. According to a release from Moises, the AI workloads on the app were 35 percent faster when using the NPU, thereby providing a more seamless experience.
• Affinity Photo 2
The entire Affinity suite has been optimized for Windows on Snapdragon,and there are certain tools in Affinity Photo 2 that are optimised to run on the NPU. Features like Object Selection and Subject Selection now get the NPU boost, allowing you to quickly select objects and adjust various parameters like colour and tint at rapid speeds.
• Capture One
Capture One is a highly popular photo editing tool used by many professional photographers, which is now optimised to take advantage of the NPU in Snapdragon laptops. Certain features are said to use the NPU like AI cropping, which manages to apply a consistent crop to a batch of photos so that all subjects have the same amount of head room. There’s also AI-assisted colour-grading which instantly applies styles of a reference image to a batch of photos.
• DAWs like Reaper and Cubase
A Digital Audio Workstation or DAW is the most essential tool when recording music in a studio or home. It essentially allows you to create a recording by mixing MIDI inputs, vocals, and backing tracks into a final audio track. The cool thing is that many popular DAWs now have native support for Snapdragon Windows PCs, and don’t have to rely on emulation. This is mainly thanks to Microsoft for releasing a dedicated MIDI stack and low-latency ASIO audio drivers in collaboration with Yamaha.
