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Windows on Arm will soon support more apps thanks to a better x86 emulator

7.11.2024

Translation: machine translated

Not all programmes work under Windows on notebooks with an Arm processor. But soon there should be a few more. Microsoft's x86 emulator Prism is getting a major update.

The new notebooks with Snapdragon X processors - also advertised as Copilot+ PC - offer a long battery life and good CPU performance. Less good are their lacklustre graphics performance and the fact that not all Windows apps run on them.

The latter means that not all programmes from one manufacturer will run on the corresponding computers. Adobe's Photoshop, for example, is already available natively for the Arm chips and works normally. Windows, on the other hand, can only run Adobe Acrobat Pro in emulated form - with reduced performance. Adobe After Effects or Audition, on the other hand, do not work at all. This is because the Prism emulator is not yet able to handle all x86 instruction set extensions.

Microsoft is now releasing an improved version of Prism with Windows Insider Preview Build 27744, which supports new command set extensions. Specifically, the update adds support for AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA, and F16C. With the restriction that it will initially only work with 64-bit software. This should mean that games such as Starfield, which require AVX2, can be started in future. How well they will run due to the poor iGPUs is another story.

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If you want to know which apps already offer native ARM64 support today, you can find an overview at windowsonarm.org. It also shows which only work in emulated form and which don't work at all.

Header image: Martin Jud

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Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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