Microsoft and its hardware buddies have spent the better part of a year screaming that your next laptop needs a dedicated AI chip inside it.
Enter the Copilot Plus PC, a category that promises on-device artificial intelligence without shipping all your embarrassing search queries to a server farm.
Sounds great, right up until you see the price tags.
These machines pack a neural processing unit, or NPU, that handles AI tasks locally.
Translation, image generation, live captions, that sort of thing.
Qualcomm kicked things off with its Snapdragon X chips, and now Intel and AMD have crashed the party with their own silicon.
Everyone wants a slice of the "AI PC" pie before the buzzword goes stale.
Here's the catch nobody at the keynote wants to mention.
Most of the flashy features either aren't ready, got delayed, or quietly vanished from the marketing deck.
Recall, the screenshot-everything feature that was supposed to be the flagship trick, got yanked and reworked after security researchers basically screamed "are you kidding me" in unison.
It's back now, sort of, but the trust damage is done.
A laptop that runs a little cooler on video calls and can blur your background without melting the battery.
Cool, but that's not exactly the Jetsons.
Meanwhile, regular laptops without the magic NPU badge do most of the same stuff just fine, often for hundreds less.
Buying an AI PC right now is like buying a 4K TV in 2012.
The hardware is technically capable, the content is thin, and next year's model will make yours look like a paperweight.
Early adopters are paying a premium to beta test a promise.
Retailers love this category because it gives salespeople a reason to upsell you. "This one has AI," they say, as if your current laptop is lying to you.
Spoiler: the AI on your old machine still works.
It's just living in the cloud, doing the same job with a bit more latency and a lot more privacy paperwork.
Battery life on the new Snapdragon machines is genuinely impressive, and some of the local AI tricks are legitimately handy if you do a lot of transcription or photo editing.
If you were already in the market for a new laptop, an AI PC isn't a terrible choice.
The smart move for most people is to wait.
Prices drop, software matures, and the feature list stops looking like a wish list.
Let the folks who camp outside Best Buy fund the beta test.
You can swoop in next year when the whole thing actually works.
The verdict: Copilot Plus PCs are a preview of a real shift, but right now you're paying launch-day prices for a product that's still finding its footing.
Buy one if you need a new laptop anyway and the specs line up.
Final Thoughts
Otherwise, keep your money and let the early adopters eat the depreciation.