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be quiet! Dark Power 12 850 W Review – Titanium Silence

Introduction

We would like to thank be quiet! for supplying the review sample.

The be quiet! Dark Power 12 line consists of three models with capacities ranging from 750 W to 1000 W. This line is essentially a lower-wattage extension of the flagship Dark Power 12 Pro line, which allows for lower prices. All three members are Titanium-certified by both 80 PLUS and Cybenetics and utilize a fully modular cable design. The OEM is FSP, and the platform uses a cutting-edge design of a bridgeless PFC and full-bridge rectification on the primary side, synchronous rectification, and DC-DC converters for the generation of the minor rails. It has been quite a while since I last encountered a bridgeless PFC, especially in this wattage category. Furthermore, with active rectifiers, energy losses are restricted, which boosts efficiency considerably.

Similar to the Pure Power 11 FM unit I recently evaluated, the Dark Power 12 850 W has multiple +12 V rails, four to be exact. If you don’t want to mess with multiple +12 V rails, you can combine them into a powerful +12 V rail over a switch be quiet! calls “overclocking key.”

The frameless fan design for enhanced airflow and lower noise output is also used with these non-Pro offerings. General build quality is high, and with the good parts FSP used for the platform, the provided warranty is ten years long. Moreover, all units support Windows Modern Standby, which instantly wakes the system up from sleep if the rest of the hardware is compatible.

All differences between the Dark Power Pro 12, Dark Power 12, and Dark Power 11 lines are depicted in the table above. According to be quiet!, the Pro 12 line uses a fully digital platform, but it is actually only a semi-digital design.

Specifications

be quiet! Dark Power 12 850W
Features & Specifications
Max. DC Output	850 W
PFC	Active PFC
Efficiency	80 PLUS Titanium, Cybenetics Titanium
Noise	Cybenetics A+ (15–20 dBA)
Modular	Yes (fully)
Intel C6/C7 Power State Support	Yes
Operating Temperature	0–50 °C
Protections	Over Voltage Protection Under Voltage Protection Over Power Protection Over Temperature Protection Over Current Protection Short Circuit Protection
Cooling	135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan (BQ SIW3-13525-HF)
Semi-Passive Operation	No
Dimensions (W x H x D)	150 x 85 x 175 mm
Weight	2.05 kg (4.52 lb)
Compliance	ATX12V v2.53, EPS 2.92
Warranty	10 years
Price at Time of Review (excl. VAT)	$239.99

be quiet! Dark Power 12 850W
Power Specifications
Rail	3.3 V	5 V	12 V1	12 V2	12 V3	12 V4	5 VSB	-12 V
Max. Power	24 A	24 A	30 A	30 A	35 A	35 A	3 A	0.5 A
Max. Power	120 W		840 W				15 W	6 W
Total Max. Power	850 W

be quiet! Dark Power 12 850W
Power Distribution
12V1	ATX, Peripheral
12V2	EPS
12V3	2x PCIe (first column)
12V4	2x PCIe (second column)

Power distribution is optimal since EPS and PCIe connectors are not mixed.

1Password’s web extension now supports Touch ID, Windows Hello, and dark mode

If you use 1Password in your browser, it’s getting a big upgrade: support for biometrics — like Touch ID or Windows Hello (and even some Linux biometrics systems) — dark mode, and a new password-saving and updating UI.

The biometric support will require the desktop version of the app to be installed, but the UI updates, along with the list of other improvements featured in 1Password’s blog post, should be coming even if you’re browser-only. (This also includes a welcome language change, where the term “Master Password” has been replaced with just “password.”)

It’s beautiful.

GIF: 1Password

If you’ve been reading this and thinking, “I’ve had most of these features for a long time,” that could be because you’re a Safari user: 1Password for Safari seems to be a different extension from the one that’s compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave. If you use any of those browsers, this update is bringing some very nice changes, which should automatically appear the next time you launch your browser.

Microsoft claims Edge is now ‘the best performing browser on Windows 10’

Microsoft is now claiming the performance crown in the desktop browser battle. The software maker has been gradually adding new features to Edge over the past year to improve performance and launch times. These additions have allowed Microsoft to claim itself the performance winner, even as Google releases Chrome 91 today.

“Microsoft Edge will be the best performing browser on Windows 10 when Microsoft Edge version 91 releases later this week,” says the Microsoft Edge team in a blog post. “So, why can we say this? It’s simple: startup boost and sleeping tabs.”

Microsoft first started rolling out its new startup boost feature in Edge back in March, with claims that it makes browser launches up to 41 percent faster. The new sleeping tabs feature also appeared earlier this year, designed to improve browser performance. Edge now automatically releases system resources for inactive tabs, which helps new tabs run better or stop the browser from hogging memory and CPU resources in the background. Microsoft is also working on a separate performance mode for Edge that’s currently in testing.

Google hasn’t been sitting around letting Chrome eat up more RAM, either. Recent updates to Chrome have included a bigger focus on performance, with a more advanced memory allocator to reduce memory usage and increase performance. The last update to Chrome in 2020 was also all about efficiency.

Microsoft has also revealed it has now submitted 5,300 commits to the Chromium browser project, which will also benefit Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. While sleeping tabs and startup boost are features for Edge, Microsoft has helped Google improve Chrome’s tab management, and the rivals have worked together on a variety of underlying Chromium improvements.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Dev Kit lets developers test ARM apps on Windows

Microsoft and Qualcomm are teaming up to bring the Snapdragon Developer Kit, meant to give developers a cheaper option to optimize their Windows apps for the ARM64 instruction set.

The Snapdragon Developer Kit is built around the 8nm Snapdragon 7c platform, complete with a X15 LTE modem, an octa-core Kryo 468 processor and up to QHD @ 60Hz display support.

The Snapdragon Developer Kit will be a cheaper option for devs to test their apps for Windows on ARM, than the rare consumer notebooks with ARM processors currently on sale.

You’ll be able to buy the Snapdragon Developer Kit through the Microsoft Store this summer. Price is unknown.

Source | Via

Microsoft and Qualcomm to release Windows on ARM mini-PCs

Back in 2016, Microsoft began working with Qualcomm to get Windows 10 working on ARM chipsets. This resulted in a number of Qualcomm Snapdragon powered laptops, but there is still more work to be done to drum up developer support. To tackle this, Microsoft and Qualcomm are teaming up again to release ARM64 mini-PCs for developers.

These new ARM/Windows based PCs will utilise Snapdragon processors and according to Miguel Nunes, Qualcomm’s Senior Director of Product Management, these will provide “an affordable alternative” to other consumer-oriented devices. One such device is the Microsoft Surface Pro X, one of the few systems developers can buy to test their ARM64 apps. This laptop/tablet hybrid costs $999 and up, making it a much more expensive investment.

This also links back to another announcement from Microsoft last year. In 2020, Microsoft began bringing x64 emulation to Windows on ARM, allowing developers to build 64-bit applications and run them without compiling for ARM-based devices.

As reported by The Verge, Microsoft and Qualcomm will be sharing more information about its development kits during Build 2021 ahead of a release later this summer.

KitGuru Says: We should hear more on technical specifications later today during Microsoft’s Build conference.

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Microsoft Says Edge ‘Best Performing Browser on Windows 10’ at Build

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft claims that as of a new release this week, its Edge browser will be the “best performing browser on Windows 10.” The announcement was made at the company’s annual Build developer conference, being held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Edge version 91 releases, it will include two new features in startup boost and sleeping tabs that should boost performance. Startup boost makes the browser launch more quickly. Microsoft says “core” Microsoft Edge processes will run in the background and won’t need more resources when you add additional Windows. This should, Microsoft says, make for far faster launching.

The second feature, “sleeping tabs” sounds like it will address a bigger issue in the browser market. It aims to boost performance of the browser by “freeing up system resources from unused tabs,” including putting ads to sleep in background tabs. This month, Microsoft intends to enhance the feature to allow for up to 82% memory savings, per its internal testing using preview builds of the browser.

Since last year’s Build, Microsoft has made more than 5,300 commits to the open-source Chromium project, so that other browsers using the project can also see improvements made to Edge. Microsoft has also added a Progressive Web Apps, or “PWAs” build on Edge to the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft Edge is taking on an increasingly important role as part of Windows 10.

Microsoft is retiring Internet Explorer

on June 15, 2022, for most versions of the operating system. At Build, the company is pushing developers to transition away from IE11 websites and apps, though Edge’s Internet Explorer mode is expected to last through at least 2029.

At Build, Microsoft will discuss the WebView2 embedded web control and Edge in a session about apps for hybrid work, while the Edge team will also have a session to take questions directly from attendees.

Other Windows-based announcements include the ability to use Windows Terminal as the default emulator, along with a “Quake mode” to open a new terminal with a keyboard shortcut. Additionally, there will be GUI app support on the Windows Subsystem for Linux. More will be announced at Build throughout the week.

Microsoft teases a ‘next generation of Windows’ announcement ‘very soon’

Microsoft isn’t talking about its big Windows plans at Build 2021 this week, and that’s because the company is preparing to detail what’s next for its PC operating system separately. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella teased this announcement during his Build keynote this morning, revealing he has been testing “the next generation of Windows” in recent months.

“Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months, and I’m incredibly excited about the next generation of Windows. Our promise to you is this: we will create more opportunity for every Windows developer today and welcome every creator who is looking for the most innovative, new, open platform to build and distribute and monetize applications. We look forward to sharing more very soon.”

Microsoft has been working on a new app store for Windows in recent months, alongside some significant UI changes to the operating system. Nadella appears to reference the store changes here, with a promise to unlock a better economy for developers and creators within Windows itself.

This will likely include some significant changes to the Windows Store, allowing developers to submit any Windows application — including browsers like Chrome or Firefox. Rumors have suggested Microsoft may even allow third-party commerce platforms in apps, so developers could avoid Microsoft’s own 15 percent cut on apps and 12 percent cut on games.

Nadella’s specific mention of a “next generation of Windows” is interesting, too. Microsoft typically refers to everything as “Windows 10,” and this language could suggest the company is preparing a more significant shift with Windows branding than just the user interface alone.

Windows 10X was supposed to ship this year before it was canceled.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Microsoft confirmed last week that Windows 10X, its OS originally built for dual-screen devices, will no longer ship. The software maker is now bringing the best bits of Windows 10X, a simplified version of Windows, into the main version of Windows 10 instead. We’re expecting to see some significant UI changes to Windows under something codenamed “Sun Valley.”

Some of that work has already started, with new system icons, File Explorer improvements, and the end of Windows 95-era icons. Microsoft is also focusing on improving the basic foundations of Windows, with fixes for a rearranging apps issue on multiple monitors, the addition of the Xbox Auto HDR feature, and improvements to Bluetooth audio support.

Nadella says we’ll hear more about the future of Windows “very soon,” so we’d expect some type of announcement or event in the coming weeks ahead.

Microsoft Teams opens up to new collaborative apps that plug into meetings

Microsoft first let developers build third-party apps into Teams last year, but the company is going a step further at Build 2021 today. In a push to get more app developers building for Teams, Microsoft is opening up its crucial APIs, Teams Store, and tools to what it calls collaborative apps.

Developers will soon be able to build apps that plug into the Teams meeting canvas, ones that use in-app purchases or subscriptions, and even create separate apps that get access to Teams’ real-time video and audio streams. “If you can build web apps, you can build extensions into Teams chats, channels, and meetings,” explains Jeff Teper, head of Microsoft 365 collaboration, in an interview with The Verge. “You can build once, run, deploy anywhere.”

This means apps built for Teams will work across Windows, Mac, the web, iOS, Android, and even Linux. While we’ve seen some apps that plug into the meeting canvas previously, Microsoft is launching a preview that will allow devs to share apps like whiteboards and project boards and share apps more directly into the meetings area in Teams. Microsoft is also making it easier for devs to create these apps with greater integration into Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code.

Custom Together Mode scenes are on the way.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft’s Together Mode for Teams, which uses AI to segment your face and shoulders and place you and your co-workers together in a virtual space, is also being opened up. “We’re giving people a toolkit so they can design their own Together Modes scenes,” says Teper. “We’re pretty excited to see what people come up with.”

Later this summer, Microsoft will also allow third-party apps to access real-time audio and video streams from Teams. This will primarily allow for transcription or note-taking apps to process audio and video coming out of Teams, but it will also enable devs to create bespoke apps that access Teams.

Real-time access to Teams for transcription, note-taking, and more.

Image: Microsoft

“Somebody could build a completely custom application that is different than the Teams UI and that app can interoperate with Teams via voice, video, or chat,” explains Teper. An example could be a hospital that wants to build a connection from their telehealth app into Teams to enable video calls.

Microsoft will also allow developers to sell their own subscriptions within their Teams apps. This opens up the Teams Store to in-app purchases. Microsoft hasn’t gone into detail on whether it takes a cut on sales here, but Teper is keen to point out Microsoft’s main focus is building an ecosystem of apps. “We may make some money in the marketplace, but our primary business model will be the Microsoft 365 licenses and the Azure and Power platform licenses that developers consume,” says Teper.

With 145 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams, there certainly could be an appetite for more apps that plug into and appear inside of Teams meetings. Microsoft has always positioned Teams as a hub for productivity, and these latest announcements are clearly designed to make Teams a little more developer-friendly.

Microsoft and Qualcomm team up to create a Windows on ARM developer PC

Microsoft has teamed up with Qualcomm to create a Windows on ARM-based dev kit for developers. The miniature PC will be sold at the Microsoft Store this summer, and is designed to be more affordable to encourage developers to create ARM64 apps for Snapdragon-based PCs.

Until now, developers have had to purchase devices like the Surface Pro X to fully test their ARM64 apps on Windows. That’s a costly exercise for developers, particularly when the Surface Pro X retails from $999 and up. While Microsoft and Qualcomm haven’t put a price on this new dev kit, there are promises it will be more affordable than what developers can buy today.

The Surface Pro X was one of only a few options for devs previously.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

“This developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices,” says Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm. “With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”

The announcement of the dev kit comes just as Qualcomm reveals its second-generation Snapdragon 7c ARM-powered processor. It’s designed for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks, with a clock speed bump over the original.

This dev kit will also help developers test Microsoft’s new x64 app emulation for Windows on ARM. This went into testing for Windows in December, and allows users to run 64-bit apps that haven’t been compiled for ARM-based devices yet. The emulation layer will bring a whole host of app compatibility to Windows on ARM once it’s fully available to end users.

Microsoft and Qualcomm are promising to reveal more about this dev kit during Build 2021 today, at a session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”

How to watch Microsoft’s Build conference

Microsoft Build, the company’s annual developer conference, is kicking off today, May 25th. Just like last year, the conference is happening in an online-only format rather than in-person in Seattle. The developer conference is typically where Microsoft details upcoming changes to its Windows, Office, and cloud platforms.

There’ll be around 48 hours of Build content in total taking place over the next two days, kicking off with a keynote today on May 25th starting at 11am ET. A full agenda is available over on the Microsoft Build website, featuring a mix of keynotes, technical deep dives, and breakout sessions.

How do I watch Microsoft Build?

You’ll need to register to attend the virtual Build conference, but doing so is free and gives you access to over 300 sessions as of this writing. You can use Microsoft’s scheduler to plan out which sessions to attend right here.

Microsoft is also streaming Build over on its developer YouTube channel. We’ve embedded a link to the first day’s livestream below.

What time does Microsoft Build start?

If you’re watching along, Microsoft’s stream begins at 8AM PT / 11AM ET.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 FE is like a Tab S7 Plus without the high-refresh screen

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE (Fan Edition) could be officially launching soon according to a new German product page spotted by WinFuture. The tablet appears to be a renamed version of the previously leaked “Galaxy Tab S7 Plus Lite” that first made the rounds in March 2021. The Galaxy Tab S7 FE is the first Fan Edition of one of Samsung’s tablets, a tweaked version of the earlier iPad Pro-inspired 12.4-inch Tab S7 Plus.

While the Tab S7 FE shares the same 12.4-inch screen size as the older Tab S7 Plus, it appears to be using a TFT LCD display, like the 11-inch Tab S7, rather than the OLED found in the Tab S7 Plus. Another cost-saving measure is found in the processor: the Tab S7 FE has a Snapdragon 750G octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM. For storage, the tablet comes with 64GB of UFS memory, which is partially used by the device’s One UI skinned version of Android 11, and expandable with a microSD card. The Tab S7 FE hangs on to the optional 5G support of its more expensive siblings.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 Fan Edition with optional S Pen stylus.

Image: Samsung

If you happen to be a tablet photographer, the Tab S7 FE includes an 8-megapixel back camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. In a plus for anyone who’s complained about camera orientation on the iPad Pro, the Tab S7 FE’s front-facing camera is in landscape orientation, perfect for long Zoom calls. To get the device through those long calls, the FE has a 10,090mAh battery, which Samsung claims should last up to 12 hours on LTE (oddly, no estimate is given for 5G), and 13 hours specifically for video playback.

The silver Galaxy Tab S7 FE with S Pen stylus.

Image: Samsung
The black Galaxy Tab S7 FE.

Image: Samsung

The FE can come with an optional S Pen for note-taking tricks like converting handwriting to text. The tablet also has Samsung DeX, which can add Windows-esque interface elements like a taskbar, window-ing, and a “Start menu” automatically when you attach a keyboard. Whether any of those tablet features can elevate the FE into a true productivity device for you is harder to say. We found the Tab S7 and S7 Plus to still work best for simpler tablet tasks like video watching and web browsing rather a whole day of work. Nothing about the Fan Edition suggests that will be different.

The Galaxy Tab S7 Fan Edition currently isn’t for sale in Germany (you can sign up to be notified when it’s available) and is priced at €649 (approximately $792) for either the silver or black version. That’s less than the typical price of a base Galaxy Tab S7 in Germany (€698) and for the larger screen size of a €979 S7 Plus. Should the Tab S7 FE come to the US, it will likely cost less than the rough conversion of the German price to US dollars. We’ve reached out to Samsung and will update if we hear back.

WinFuture says Samsung has other colors and models with different specs in the works as well. We’ll keep an eye out for an official announcement in the future.

Qualcomm’s refreshed Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is designed for entry-level laptops

Qualcomm has announced a second-generation Snapdragon 7c Arm-powered processor that’s designed to be used inside entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The biggest change to the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 (the official name) appears to be a clock speed bump, which Anandtech reports is a jump from 2.4GHz to 2.55GHz. And like the original Snapdragon 7c, it offers integrated LTE connectivity so you can connect to cellular networks, and Qualcomm promises it will support “multi-day battery life.”

The first device with the chip is set to arrive “this summer,” Qualcomm said in a press release, and Lenovo has already promised to release new devices using the 7c Gen 2 “later this year.”

More chipmakers are increasingly making Arm-based chips, which promise better performance and power efficiency. The first Snapdragon 7c was only used in a handful of Chromebooks, so we’ll have to see if this new chip offers enough to get more device-makers on board, but Lenovo’s commitment to make devices with the chip this year is a promising sign.

Qualcomm is also going up against Apple and its powerful M1 chip, which you can now find in MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, Mac Minis, iMacs, and iPad Pros. Those devices are all more expensive than the type of machine the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is targeted for, however, and it’s possible Qualcomm’s new chip could bring some of the benefits of Arm-based processors to lower-cost (and non-Apple) devices.

Raspberry Pi Bonded Router Boosts Speed for Rural Networks

(Image credit: Jona)

The Raspberry Pi has a knack for bridging the gap between different technologies but, in this project, it’s combining the power of multiple routers into one connection point. This setup is referred to as a bonded router by its creator, Jona, and operates using a platform called Speedify.

The best Raspberry Pi projects tend to come out of necessity—often providing a solution to a specific problem. According to Jona, he was tired of the bandwidth limitations of rural internet and decided to merge multiple sources into one, stacking the available speed. Before this project, his network speed was capping around 2 – 5 Mbps but now it reaches up to 120 Mbps.

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(Image credit: Jona)

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(Image credit: Jona)

The Raspberry Pi is responsible for distributing network traffic between four individual internet access points (in this case, two LTE lines and two 5G lines). Jona also included a DSL failsafe to act as a backup in the event the bonded router connection drops.

If you’d like to recreate this project, you can download Speedify from the official website. It’s available for Linux machines like the Raspberry Pi but also on Windows, Mac, iPad and Android devices. In Jona’s setup, he’s using an 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 with a 4G LTE HAT. It also has a USB hub connected to a 4-four gigabit Ethernet adaptor and a 5-port Netgear gigabit switch.

Read more about this project in detail on the project thread at Reddit and be sure to follow Jona for more cool Pi projects.

Qualcomm Debuts Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows on Arm

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

In an attempt to get more developers to build software for Windows 10 on Arm, Qualcomm is debuting a Snapdragon Developer Kit. The company announced the small desktop PC today ahead of Microsoft’s Build developer conference.

The new system was built “in collaboration with Microsoft” and will run Windows 10. While Qualcomm refers to the system as “cost-effective,” it hasn’t listed a price for the system, which will run on the Snapdragon 7c platform. It will be available for purchase in the Microsoft Store sometime this summer, and is part of an effort to have developers port software to native ARM64.

Qualcomm told members of the press that developers won’t need to return the system, an apparent dig at Apple’s Developer Transition Kits for the M1 processor, which needed to go back to the company.

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon developer kit resembles an Intel NUC or Apple’s Mac Mini, in that it’s a small, low-profile desktop. Thus far, every Windows on Arm device has been a laptop, as one of Arm’s benefits is long battery life. Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm said in a statement that the “developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”

Qualcomm’s kit has a large power button on top and a sparse selection of ports, including USB Type-A and an SD card slot on the side.

In December, Microsoft started adding x64 emulation to Windows on Arm Insider Builds. But the developer kit is an attempt to kickstart more Arm-native apps. Today, Zoom is announcing an optimized version of its video conference app, which is coming this summer.

There are a number of existing native Arm apps for Windows 10, including VLC, Twitter, Firefox, Edge, Microsoft Office, Netflix, Twitter, Skype and Windows 10. But the number that will be able to be emulated when x64 hits mainstream Windows will increase significantly. Still, native apps will perform even faster.

Without information liek price and full specs, it’s hard to even surmise what kind of effect this will have with the developer community. Qualcomm is teasing that more information will be shared at a Build session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”

Qualcomm also announced its Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 system on a chip today for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The company was light on details, but promised laptops using it will start at $349 and offer multi-day battery life depending on use.

Qualcomm 7c Gen 2 Targets Low-End Windows, Chromebooks

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm has a new Arm processor ready for Windows and Chrome. Today, it announced the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, aimed at laptops starting at $349, which means you probably won’t see it powering the

best Ultrabrooks and premium laptops

The company claims that this will bring premium features to budget machines, including long battery life (Qualcomm will tell you it’s “all-day” depending on usage), quick wake from sleep, and a chassis that’s less than 15mm thick.

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

The 7c Gen 2 SoC boasts a Qualcomm Kryo 468 octa-core CPU up to 2.55 GHz, a Qualcomm Adreno GPU, a Qualcomm Spectra 255 image signal processor for 14-bit processing, a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem and up to Wi-Fi 5 (ac).

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

Notably, for both Windows and Chrome, Qualcomm hasn’t provided specific test scores, nor compared it to the original Snapdragon 7c. Instead, it has normalized performance versus Intel’s Celeron N4020 and N5030 and, on the Chrome side, the Mediatek MT8183. Unsurprisingly, the newer processor wins out. On Windows, Qualcomm claims to be up to 60% more efficient than Intel’s Celerons by dividing the PCMark 10 performance score by PCMark 10 battery life consumption. In other tests, the N5030 was more powerful.

Qualcomm is also promising other benefits, including better webcam quality thanks to its Spectra 255 image signal processor and clearer audio with Qualcomm Aqstic.

Today, Qualcomm also announced a Snapdragon development kit running Windows 10 on Arm so that developers can port apps to ARM64. That will ship this summer.