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Are the new AI-powered Windows Copilot+ laptops worth it? Our hands-on opinion

Published

5 months ago

June 26, 2024

Minnesota News Beat

A handful of new laptops just dropped from brands like Asus, Dell and Lenovo, and they all have one new cool thing in common: An AI-powered suite of tools crafted by Microsoft. If you’re ready for a model with the latest AI, you’re going to want to see this.

Thanks to Microsoft’s latest AI integration, new Copilot+ laptops make almost any everyday task faster and smarter — whether it comes to tracking down files, shooting off a text, editing photos, managing a schedule, dealing with emails, or surfing the web.

But, with a price in the four figures, is the new lineup worth it? To find out, I tested the new Asus Vivobook S15 CoPilot+ PC laptop.

Asus Vivobook S15 Copilot+ PC laptop: At a glance

The Asus Vivobook S15 CoPilot+ PC is one of the first laptops to integrate Microsoft’s CoPilot AI tools and features. This includes the addition of a Copilot key on the keyboard. Tap the button and get instant access to AI-powered answers and functions.

The Vivobook S15 Copilot+ PC offers cutting-edge hardware specs and the latest AI, but the price point is actually on the low side for what it offers — starting at just $1,300. This computer is incredibly thin (0.58 inches) and lightweight (3.13 pounds), so it’s easy to transport. The 15.6 inch OLED display offers plenty of on-screen real estate and the ability to showcase more than 1.07 billion colors with a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut.

These laptops also feature all-day battery life, plenty of RAM, and advanced built in speaker systems with Dolby Atmos support. They also include professional-quality microphones and a high-resolution webcam, which is great for video calls.

What is Microsoft Copilot+ PC and what does it actually do?

Start with the new Copilot key to quickly activate the AI tool.

Use your voice or your keyboard to find anything on your computer more quickly. You might say, “Find the file with my 2024 personal budget.” The Recall tool can sort through thousands of emails, files, folders, photos and documents to locate what you’re looking for incredibly quickly.

The AI also can help you create artwork using a tool called Cocreator (in Paint). Simple describe what you want make using text or image prompts. And AI-fueling photo editing photos can generate professional-level results in minutes. This includes removing objects or backgrounds from images in seconds. Using the Restyle tool, you can say a sentence like, “Make the colors sharper,” as opposed to using traditional editing tools.

Copilot can also make composing, editing and summarizing text simple. You’re not just limited to your native language either. Text can be translated into more than 40 languages, while videos can display real-time captions in any of more than 40 languages.

During video calls, the Windows Studio Effects tools use AI to adjust lighting and sound, add an on-screen teleprompter feature, enhance voice clarity and allow special effects, backgrounds, blurs and filters to be used in real time.

In addition to Windows, the tech is also embedded into some of the biggest apps you probably use every day, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Chrome, Spotify, Zoom, WhatsApp, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Blender, Affinity Suite and DaVinci Resolve. We’ll be seeing more major app releases supporting AI later this year.

How Copilot+ PC performs on the Asus Vivobook S15 laptop

The Asus Vivobook S15 Copilot+ PC offers all of the computing power someone could want. It provides a traditional laptop design (so there’s no touchscreen, stylus support or two-in-one functionality). The laptop comes bundled with Windows 11 Home and has the convenient Copilot key located to the right of the spacebar.

The backlit keyboard is larger than on most laptops, which makes touch typing easier. Asus even threw in a numeric keypad on the right and a dozen function keys along the top of the keyboard. Like any of the new Copilot+ PC laptops, the AI tools are available whenever you need them.

In the preinstalled Photos app, there’s now an AI icon. This launches the Restyle Image feature. Within the “Describe what style you’d like to apply'” field, using plain English, simply type how you’d like your photo to look.

The Creativity slider allows you to select the intensity of the edit tool or style being used by the AI. While the slider goes from 1 to 100, anything over 10 often has too much of an impact on the photo. This is also the case when selecting any of the style presets, like Fantasy, Anime, Surrealism or Watercolor.

As I was tinkering with the AI photo editing features, I discovered that they work better on some photos than others. Several of the Style presets, like Renaissance, transformed the main subject of a photo into something else entirely. A trial-and-error approach when working on each photo is often required to come up with the final image you want.

Meanwhile, launching Copilot and selecting the Notebook option is an easy way to access the AI tool for composing content. In the “Whats on your mind?” field, enter a few sentences describing the content you want to compose and the style you want it written in.

The AI-powered suite is all about saving time and making you more efficient. If you stumble upon a webpage that contains a lot of text, Copilot can summarize it in seconds. That said, the summaries are not always 100% accurate or even relevant, so for now at least, you can’t fully rely on what’s generated for you.

Clearly, we’re still in the early days of using AI in everyday computing. But it’s easy to see the potential for where this technology is headed.

Is having a computer with Copilot+ PC functionality worth it?

For some people, sure. What you can do today using Copilot is a giant leap forward when it comes to managing some everyday tasks and keeping the information you need at your fingertips.

Plus, as your computer gets to know your habits and preferences, it’ll automatically handle certain tasks, like scheduling, for you, while helping you communicate more effectively using email, text messaging and video calling. But I wouldn’t rely on the AI for summaries or pro-level photo editing.

Which laptops offer Copilot+ PC?

Computers from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung are all offering this AI-powered suite. Many of these laptops support the latest Wi-Fi 7 protocol for super-fast internet connectivity. They’re also thinner, lighter and faster than most traditional Windows laptops. Most weigh less than three pounds and are powered using one of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors.

Microsoft Surface Pro Copilot+ PC — Microsoft

Here are the first laptops that are Copilot+ PC computers:

Asus Vivobook S15 ($1,270 and up) – Features a 15.6-inch 3K OLED resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus ($1,100 and up) – Offers up to a 21-hour battery life and a 14-inch QHD+ display.
Dell XPS 13 ($1,300 and up) – Offers a 13.4-inch FHD+ display.
HP Omnibook X 14 ($1,150 and up) – Enjoy up to a 26-hour battery life and a 14-inch, 2.2K resolution touchscreen.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x ($1,199 and up) – You get a 14-inch, 3K OLED display offering a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.
Microsoft Surface Laptop ($1,000 and up) – Experience up to a 20-hour battery life and a 13.8-inch or 15-inch HDR touchscreen.
Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition ($1,000 and up) – Two-in-one laptop with a detachable keyboard, up to 14-hour battery life and a 13-inch OLED (or LCD HDR) display.
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge ($1,350 and up) – Includes a 14-inch or 16-inch AMOLED 2x display and between a 18- and 22-hour battery life.

Jason R. Rich

Jason R. Rich (www.JasonRich.com) is an internationally recognized consumer technology expert with more than 30 years’ writing experience. He’s also an accomplished author and photographer. One of his most recently published books, The Remote Worker’s Handbook: How to Effectively Work From Anywhere ($24.99, Entrepreneur Books) is now available from Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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CBS News

U.S. Justice Department demands records from Sheriff after killing of Sonya Massey

Published

8 minutes ago

November 17, 2024

Minnesota News Beat

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the July shooting death of Sonya Massey — an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff’s deputy — as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.

The government made a list of demands in dozens of categories in a letter to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, dated Thursday.

“The Sheriff’s Office, along with involved county agencies, has engaged in discussions and pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice in its review,” Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch said Friday.

Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed July 6 when deputies responded to a call about a possible prowler at her home in Springfield, Illinois. She was shot three times during a confrontation with an officer.

The alleged shooter, Sean Grayson, who is White, was fired. He is charged with murder and other crimes and has pleaded not guilty.

“The Justice Department, among other requests, wants to know if the sheriff’s office has strategies for responding to people in “behavioral health crises,” the government’s letter read. “…The incident raises serious concerns about…interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities.”

Andy Van Meter, chairman of the Sangamon County Board, said the Justice Department’s review is an important step in strengthening the public’s trust in the sheriff’s office.

At the time of the fatal shooting, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office was led by then-Sheriff Jack Campbell, who retired in August and was replaced by Crouch.

Deputy Sean Grayson’s history of misconduct

Grayson has worked for six different law enforcement agencies in Illinois since 2020, CBS News learned. He was also discharged from the Army in February 2016 after serving for about 19 months. He was hired by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in May 2023.

In an interview with CBS News in early August, Campbell said that Grayson “had all the training he needed. He just didn’t use it.”

In a recording released by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, where Grayson worked from May 2022 to April 2023, a supervising officer is heard warning Grayson for what the senior officer said was his lack of integrity, for lying in his reports, and for what he called “official misconduct.”

Girard Police Chief Wayman Meredith recalled an alleged incident in 2023 when he said an enraged Grayson was pressuring him to call child protective services on a woman outside of Grayson’s mother’s home. He said Grayson was “acting like a bully.”

The recording and Meredith’s description of Grayson’s conduct showed how he quickly became angry and, according to documents, willing to abuse his power as an officer.

Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office history of accusations

According to a review of court records in 2007, Massey’s killing was the only criminal case in recent history against a Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office deputy for actions on duty. Local officials characterized her shooting as an aberration.

However, CBS News obtained thousands of pages of law enforcement files, medical and court records, as well as photo and video evidence that indicated the office had a history of misconduct allegations and accountability failures before Grayson. The records challenged the claim that Massey’s death was, as said by the then-sheriff, an isolated incident by one “rogue individual.”

Local families were confident that Massey’s death was the latest in a pattern of brazen abuse that has gone unchecked for years.

Attorneys for Massey’s family recommended an updated SAFE-T Act that would expand an existing database used to track officer misconduct to include infractions like DUIs and speeding during police chases.

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