Asus is working on a Windows 10 on ARM device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000

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The Windows 10 on ARM project is pretty interesting in itself. Microsoft is aiming to bring the full Windows 10 desktop experience—which was, since its initial launch, an x86-only OS—to ARM-based SoCs, including support for full, desktop-grade apps and games. It was initially demoed with last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, and while it worked fine for most use cases, it was still not quite perfect, having a lot of limitations like a lack of OpenGL support. According to WinFuture, Asus seems to be ready to take the lead when it becomes more mature and usable for the wider audience, however, and Qualcomm wants to begin setting the ground as well with the alleged Snapdragon 1000.

Since 2013, Qualcomm has featured 4 main SoC lines under the Snapdragon moniker: 2xx for the rock bottom spectrum of the market, the 4xx meant for budget phones, the 6xx meant for mid-range devices (and further extended with the new 7xx line), and the 8xx meant for flagships. There’s very little information regarding the Snapdragon 1000 at the moment, but it looks like it won’t be a successor to the current Snapdragon 845 or an extension of the 8xx line. Rather, it will fit into an entirely new line focused solely on ARM-based laptops. Maximum power dissipation for the Snapdragon 1000 is allegedly hovering 6.5 watts versus 5 watts for the Snapdragon 845, either suggesting a higher number of cores or a brutal increase in performance—putting it right in the laptop ballgame.

Asus is apparently looking to become the first manufacturer to use the Snapdragon 1000. They are allegedly working directly with Qualcomm on a Windows 10 on ARM device codenamed “Primus” that is powered by this rumored SoC. It’s still too early for any substantial leaks regarding this device. We don’t know for sure whether it’ll really be laptop since it could be a convertible notebook or a tablet. We also don’t know when will it actually be coming to store shelves, but if it’ll serve as the first Snapdragon 1000 device, then it will likely come shortly after Qualcomm officially unveils the platform.