Microsoft has announced a brand new desktop PC with Arm and Arm-dev tools

Windows on Arm is arguably as successful as ever – you can buy many Windows laptops and tablets, and these devices can run almost the entire range of Windows applications available thanks to x86-to-Arm code translation. However, Windows on Arm is still only a small part of the entire Windows system, and native Arm apps for the platform are still relatively rare.

At the Build Developers Conference Tuesday, Microsoft Made some ads Designed to strengthen the windows on the arm. The first is Project Volterra, a small Microsoft-branded desktop computer powered by an unnamed Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. More suitable for developers who already have Arm hardware, Volterra will be accompanied by a full suite of developer tools.

to me Microsoft مدونة Blog PostThe company will release native ARM versions of Visual Studio 2022, VSCode, Visual C++, Modern .NET 6, the classic .NET framework, Windows Terminal, and both the Windows Subsystem for Linux and the Windows Subsystem for Android. The original versions of these apps would allow developers to run them without the performance penalty associated with translating x86 code to run on Arm hardware – especially useful since Arm Windows hardware usually doesn’t have a lot of performance to spare.

Previews of these tools will begin to be available “in the next few weeks”.

For Volterra hardware, what we do know is that they run a Qualcomm SoC with an integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU), “best-in-class AI computing capability,” and support for Qualcomm’s Neural Processing SDK. Microsoft is pushing it as a solution for testing AI and machine learning apps, although depending on other specs, it could also be a good general-purpose development box for Windows on Arm apps.

Microsoft’s reveal video showed that Volterra is using a standard NVMe SSD and that it will include an active cooling fan, indicating more expandability and performance than we’ve seen in the Other windows on Arm dev . boxes. It also seems to have a decent selection of ports for its size, with three USB-A ports, a mini DisplayPort, an Ethernet port on the back, and two USB-C ports on the side. The black stackable tray is also made of “recycled ocean plastic”, such as plastic ocean mouse The company offered last year.

Project Volterra will be available “later this year” at an undisclosed price.

This isn’t the first device Microsoft has been pushing to encourage developers to try Windows on Arm. Last year, included $219 from ECS LIVA QC710 in the Microsoft Store, aimed specifically at app developers. While it’s small and affordable, the 4GB of RAM, a weak Qualcomm 7c processor, 64GB of internal storage, and a lackluster selection of ports didn’t give developers much room to stretch their legs. It appears that Volterra can remedy some or all of these flaws.

One thing holding Windows on the arm right now is the lack of great hardware — more specifically, the lack of great chips that can match or beat Intel and AMD’s performance while providing better battery life. None of Qualcomm’s chips for Windows PCs were anywhere near as fast as Apple’s M1, let alone the faster M1 variants. We may not see Qualcomm’s first M1 competitor Until late 2023long after Volterra was scheduled to be released.