This year’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop really only needed to do one thing in order to be a success: work. After more than a decade of overpromising and underdelivering on all things Windows on Arm, Microsoft needed these new Qualcomm-powered devices to at least prove they could compete with the Intel- and AMD-powered chips on the market.

So far, it looks like good news. On this episode of The Vergecast, we catch up with The Verge’s Tom Warren and Nathan Edwards while they’re mid-review on the new devices. We talk about processor performance, emulation issues, battery life, AI features, and much more. The overall takeaway? These new devices may not have changed the PC game just yet, but they can hang. And that’s a start.

Before we get to that, though, we talk about the internet’s surprise new gadget obsession: the Boox Palma. After launching last year without much fanfare, the smartphone-sized device with an E Ink screen and access to the Google Play Store has become a hit among readers — and anyone looking for a way to use their favorite apps in a simpler, less distracting way. We talk to a few folks who love their Palmas and take the device for a spin ourselves.

After that, and after we talk Surface, we take a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or vergecast@theverge.com!) about the future of PCs now that Copilot Plus seems to be taking over. Is this the end of the line for x86 and Intel, or is this just a new kind of computer to go along with all the others? We have some thoughts.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with the Boox Palma:

• The Boox Palma is an amazing gadget I didn’t even know I wanted
• The Palma’s website
• Craig Mod’s blog post: New Pop-up Walk, Reading Digitally in 2024
• Color E Ink and Android are an exciting, excruciating pairing
• Is E Ink finally ready for prime time?

And on the Surfaces (we’ll update these links as our reviews go live):

• Surface Laptop review: Microsoft’s best MacBook Air competitor yet
• The new, faster Surface Pro is Microsoft’s all-purpose AI PC
• A first look at Microsoft’s new Surface Pro with Arm chips inside
• Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads