Mini AI PCs from Microsoft will soon be available.

Since Microsoft initially announced its Arm-based Copilot Plus laptops in June, I've been wondering when Copilot Plus features might come on desktop PCs. Six months later, it's obvious that we'll see tiny PCs with the AI capability needed for features like Recall, Click To Do, and AI-powered image generation and editing in Windows 11. These small PCs may even help Microsoft compete with Apple's new Mac small.

In September, Asus became the first PC maker to reveal a small PC with Copilot Plus capabilities. It then announced the exact specifications for its next NUC 14 Pro AI last month, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which begins next week. Asus' little PC even includes a Copilot button on the front and is nearly the same size as Apple's latest Mac little.

Asus' spec decrease coincided with the announcement of three new small PCs by Taiwanese startup Geekom, which will be showcased at CES. Geekom is producing a compact PC with AMD's Strix Point CPUs and another with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor, so both will be Copilot Plus-compatible. The third model is powered by Intel's undisclosed Arrow Lake-H laptop processors, which are unlikely to feature an NPU powerful enough to support Copilot Plus.

I'll be paying close attention to CES next week to see whether any other Windows OEMs are planning to sell Copilot Plus tiny PCs. CES is traditionally the launchpad for Microsoft's latest laptop or tablet projects, and last year the company persuaded OEMs to include a Copilot key on their keyboards. Asus would not have added a Copilot button to the front of its own tiny PC without Microsoft's assistance, therefore I'm curious how many other PC manufacturers Microsoft has collaborated with to add dedicated Copilot buttons.

Geekom's inclusion of Qualcomm chips in its small PC suggests that for the first time, Qualcomm's newest chips will be used outside of laptops. Qualcomm was planned to launch its small PC Snapdragon Dev Kit in June alongside the Copilot Plus laptops, however it was cancelled months later due to manufacturing concerns. Qualcomm has also hinted that the Snapdragon X Elite CPUs could be used in tiny PCs or all-in-one PCs, so maybe we'll see some Copilot Plus all-in-one PCs next week as well.

I have yet to see when Copilot Plus features will be available on conventionally capable desktop computers. When Intel's most recent Core Ultra desktop CPU with an NPU came in October, it was insufficiently powerful to meet Microsoft's 40 TOPS criterion for Copilot Plus capabilities. We won't know if chipmakers are prioritising more competent NPUs until next-generation desktop CPUs from AMD and Intel are released. Until then, the only option to access Copilot Plus functionality in a desktop PC form factor will be through tiny PCs and all-in-one PCs with laptop processors.

The primary Copilot assistance will continue to be available on more devices, even though Copilot Plus features are still restricted to Windows PCs. Microsoft is eager to deploy Copilot on devices other than PCs, phones, and tablets, according to several people familiar with the company's plans.

Microsoft has also been making hints about its plans for dedicated AI hardware in recent months, so it's possible that Copilot will show up on some unexpected gear during CES next week. In an October Notepad interview, Windows CEO Pavan Davuluri acknowledged that the strength of contemporary AI models "will free up the ability to innovate in hardware and come out with purpose-built hardware."

Davuluri did not go into depth about what Microsoft's dedicated AI hardware might look like, but weeks later, in an underreported interview with YouTuber Austin Evans, Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for consumers at Microsoft, gave some further clues.

“These devices that see the world, that you wear on your body, on your person, I think that those combined with AI will be very valuable,” said Mehdi in late October. “It can do image recognition, it can talk to you about what’s going on. I think that’s a fascinating place that we’ll go.”

Mehdi goes on in the interview to say that wearable health technology is "a big opportunity" and exciting for the future. Last month, Microsoft disclosed that Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, has recruited several former coworkers to assist in the management of a new AI health unit. After the Microsoft Band was discontinued in 2016, it's difficult to see Microsoft getting back into the fitness wearable market, but I can see the company wanting to collaborate with device makers and provide AI-powered health services for these kinds of gadgets.

In any case, Microsoft will continue to pursue its goal of having Copilot available on all of the screens we use on a daily basis in 2025.