GADGET GURU

JOWAIN JONES, BARRY

I’m tired of x86. Is Windows-on-ARM worth trying?

A Not yet. Oh, dear reader, not yet. Guru has recently tested a Samsung Galaxy Book Go, which pushes Windows 11 onto the most unwilling frame of the Snapdragon 888 processor, and there just isn’t enough power there for your £350. While there’s a translation layer that will do its darndest to get every app running, it’s dog slow. Also, and this has nothing to do with Windows-on-ARM, but the screen on the Galaxy Book Go is just about the worst panel GaGu has ever used – and he’s old enough to have worked with the original colour LCD displays on laptops.

This is part of the problem Windows, and the PC market in general, will always face. There’s literally no opportunity for an all-hands-on-deck Apple pivot, the most recent of which allowed