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A lingering concern about whether users could run a particular app was one of the roadblocks that prevented adoption of Windows on Arm-based PCs. Google announced Monday that Google Drive for Arm PCs is now available. This removes one of the obstacles.
The launch of PCs powered with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite Arm chips was generally well received, although early tests revealed that several applications would run slowly or even not at all. Google Drive was one of them and was praised in early reviews.
Google announced last year a beta version of Google Drive for Arm, and today the service is made generally available. Existing beta users will receive an upgrade to the Version stablerequires Microsoft WebView2 runtime, which is included with Windows 11. All users with Google accounts will be able to access it, as well as Workspace customers.
After using a Windows on Arm laptop exclusively on several business trips, I believe they have moved beyond the stage of skepticism. (I brought along the Surface Laptop 7th Edition even though I reviewed the Surface Pro 11th Edition the previous year.)
Both reviews addressed the issue of software compatibility and three areas still standout: apps like Drive which are being addressed, VPN software, and games. Qualcomm has addressed the first two categories directly, and many productivity applications are either coded for Arm natively or can be run using the Prism interpreter in Windows. NordVPN is one of the few (but not all) VPN applications that are also coded for Arm. The games, however, are still a weakness. Arm announced a GPU upscaling tool that should make Arm games more efficient, but many games don’t run natively or run poorly on Arm.
Recently journalists noted that Amazon had a warning for the Surface Laptop that consumer returns were higher than the average. (I didn’t notice that warning when I checked today.) This warning, whether or not it was justified, shows that Qualcomm, Arm and Microsoft, as well as developers, have more work to be done.
Mark Hachman, Senior Editor at PCWorld
Mark is a technology writer with over 30 years experience. He has been writing for PCWorld since the last decade. He has written over 3,500 articles, covering PC microprocessors and peripherals, Microsoft Windows, and other topics, for PCWorld. Mark has written for PC Magazine, Byte and eWEEK as well as Popular Science, Electronic Buyers’ News and Electronic Buyers’ News. He also shared a Jesse H. Neal Award with Popular Science for breaking news. He recently gave away a collection of Thunderbolt docks, USB-C hubs and other accessories because his office is simply too small.
