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Sep 24
2h 54m

Windows Weekly 951: The ODBC of AI

TWiT
About this episode

Paul Thurrott reports live from Maui with exciting details on Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and how it could shake up the PC world, while behind the scenes, Microsoft quietly drifts further from OpenAI just as an NVIDIA mega-deal makes headlines. Is Windows about to get its biggest reboot in years, and can ARM finally topple Intel?

Windows

  • 25H2 is imminent: The real ISOs and eKBs are here!
  • Paul's Arm-based trip to Mexico and Arm-based Apple-tastic experience at Snapdragon Summit
  • And yet. It's Week D. And we didn't get any preview updates (for 24H2)
  • Windows AI Labs is a thing
  • If you're migrating from Windows 10 get a Windows 11 on Arm PC, Microsoft suggests
  • New AI features coming to Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool
  • New Dev and Beta (and Canary) builds: Click to Do translation, Share with Copilot, Accounts management improvements

AI

  • The Microsoft/OpenAI rift widens yet again
  • NVIDIA invests $100 billion in OpenAI, days after "investing" $5 billion in Intel
  • Intel will keep making its own GPUs because who gives a crap
  • Microsoft is bringing Anthropic Claude to Microsoft 365 Copilot - "Model choice"
  • Microsoft reportedly trying to pay publishers for content used by AI
  • Microsoft Teams is getting more agents
  • Google Chrome is getting a major AI update

Snapdragon Summit 2025

  • 6G, AI as the new UI, glasses as the next wave, Android PCs out of nowhere
  • X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme (with up to 18 cores for ultra-premium PCs)
  • 3rd Gen Oryon CPU (X2 was 1st gen, last year's phone chip was G2)
  • 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
  • First Arm chip to hit 5+ GHz
  • New Adreno GPU architecture with 2.3x perf per watt and power efficiency over previous gen
  • Hexagon NPU with 80 TOPS for "concurrent AI experiences" on Copilot+ PCs
  • Supports latest 5G SD X75 modem, Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4
  • 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
  • Bad news: First half of 2026 availability
  • Not in the press release: The secret of why X2 Elite Extreme is so fast

Xbox

  • Microsoft raises Xbox console prices for the second time in 2025
  • Here comes the Gaming Copilot on Windows 11
  • Google is copying it on Android and bringing Android and native games to Windows now

Tips and Picks

  • Tip of the week: Think of 1 story for everyone you care about
  • App pick of the week: Notion 3.0
  • RunAs Radio this week: Managing Vendor Incidents with Mandi Walls
  • Brown liquor pick of the week: High Coast Whisky Quercus IV Mongolica

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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