Microsoft promised that Copilot Plus laptops would change everything.
So far, the biggest change is how fast the "AI" sticker lost its novelty.
Remember when "Intel Inside" meant something?
Now it's "NPU inside," and most of us couldn't tell you what that stands for without a search engine that, ironically, we could just ask.
The pitch is simple: these machines pack a dedicated neural processing unit that handles AI tasks locally, so your laptop can do clever stuff without phoning home to a server farm.
In theory, that means faster responses, better battery life, and privacy that doesn't hinge on a terms-of-service agreement.
In practice, it means paying a few hundred bucks more for features that mostly boil down to a fancy screenshot button and a chatbot that lives in your taskbar.
Recalling the early demos, the flagship trick was Recall, which quietly snapshots your screen so you can search your own digital history later.
Microsoft delayed it, bolted on encryption, and made it opt-in, which is corporate for "please stop yelling at us." Meanwhile, the actual AI features shipping today are the kind of thing that makes you go "neat" and then never think about again.
Here's the part nobody markets: the spec sheets look great until you realize most of the heavy lifting still happens in the cloud.
It's handling background blur on video calls and maybe some photo editing.
Your phone from three years ago does that too, and it didn't need a new marketing category to justify itself.
Tech reviewers have been split, which is polite for "confused." Some praise the battery gains and quieter fans, which are genuinely nice.
Others point out that you can buy a last-gen laptop with identical real-world performance for hundreds less and spend the savings on, I don't know, food.
The AI badge is doing a lot of emotional labor here.
Every back-to-school display now screams about on-device intelligence, as if your teenager's essay on *The Great Gatsby* needed a silicon co-pilot.
And to be fair, some of the tools are handy for students and office workers who live in documents.
Summarizing a long email you could have just skimmed is a lifestyle.
This is first-generation tech, which historically means you're paying a premium to be a beta tester with a receipt.
The second wave will be cheaper, faster, and will actually have apps worth using.
That's not cynicism, that's just how every platform launch since the smartphone has gone.
Early adopters get bragging rights and a firmware update that fixes the thing they complained about.
If your current laptop is wheezing, dying, or older than your car, sure, a Copilot Plus machine is a fine choice and the AI bits are a bonus you'll forget about by Tuesday.
If your current laptop works fine, congrats, you already own the smartest financial decision in this article. **Our take:** The hardware is legitimately better, but "AI PC" is currently 20% feature and 80% sticker.
Final Thoughts
Wait for the apps to catch up, or buy last year's model and feel smug about it.