Microsoft is seemingly lining up a number of new minimum specification levels for AI PCs that it hasn’t yet broadcast via official channels. We have heard from our own sources that AI PCs will move up the bar concerning minimum RAM configuration, and TrendForce appears to have heard the same thing and says that 16GB will be the minimum RAM configuration for Windows AI PCs. Meanwhile, both our own sources and TrendForce agree that new Windows PCs will require at least 40 TOPS of compute power to make the grade for labeling as an AI PC.
“Microsoft has set the baseline for DRAM in AI PCs at 16GB,” stated TrendForce in a press release about Microsoft Copilot on Wednesday. Thus, Windows will again be instrumental in driving growth for the minimum memory capacity acceptable in new PCs. Desktop users with easily accessible upgrade options might shrug, but those buying laptops and discovering they aren’t upgradeable due to soldered RAM should no longer have to filter out memory-starved systems - simply look for AI PCs.
Memory makers should be happy with a boost in the number of PCs sold with more memory as standard. Last year we reported on some of the biggest players in the industry slowing production to constrain supplies and achieve better prices. That seems to have hurt the revenue generation of Samsung and SK hynix during 2023, but the damage was partially self-inflicted.
As mentioned in the intro, this won’t be a one-dimensional change of PC system requirements. The expectation that a new PC will run Microsoft Copilot AI assistance in a slick and responsive manner also relies on adequate local acceleration. A minimum of 40 TOPS of computational power has been decided upon by Microsoft HQ. That might be provided by a discrete GPU, but PC processors are almost all now up to speed in building-in efficient NPUs that can meet or exceed that compute performance target.
We said 'almost' above, and that is an important caveat, as the combined CPU, GPU, and NPU power within Intel’s current Meteor Lake chips are said to reach 34 TOPS at best. TrendForce speculates that Intel Lunar Lake will address this baseline underperformance for AI PCs. Intel itself has said that Lunar will have three times the AI performance of its predecessor, Meteor Lake.
Other Windows PC processor makers like AMD and Qualcomm aren’t quite as far behind. The AMD Ryzen 8000 series (Strix Point) is expected to be capable of 45 TOPS. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite platform is also thought to deliver around 45 TOPS. It will be interesting to see if the Arm architecture processors from Qualcomm are as competitive using other performance metrics.
There has been quite a lot of speculation about the upcoming wave of AI PCs, as the industry seems to be quite excited by the hardware refresh cycle they think it will inspire. When the Windows Copilot key was unveiled, we wondered about any minimum spec a device might need. However, it turned out that even entry-level modern PCs without onboard NPUs were given the green light to equip this key. Perhaps, more stringent AI PC labeling and minimum specs will come in the summer with Windows 12, we mused. Now, perhaps, we have at least a partial answer to AI PC and Windows 12 minimum specs: a system must have at least 16GB of RAM and a processor that can achieve at least 40 TOPS of AI compute.
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