zlacker

As Apple and MS have shown, from a software point of view the difference is not that important. They both have ARM and x86 products. In Apple's case, the same software actually supports both. They literally just stuff two binaries in their executables. Their OS runs on both X86 and ARM (for now). That's how they seamlessly transitioned to their own chips over the course of the last five years. Users barely notice the difference.

What they do notice is vastly improved performance, longer battery life, the fact that the CPU fan doesn't come on if you just move your mouse, etc. That's because there are some big differences at the hardware level that Intel has so far not addressed. Which is why ARM for Windows laptops is a thing multiple manufacturers are trying to get off the ground.

I have an M4 Max laptop. I don't think Intel currently ships something that comes even close to this thing. I don't think anybody does. And clearly they all want to. AMD comes decently close. Nvidia is of course king of GPUs and perpetually rumored to get into the (ARM based) system on a chip market. But their attempt to buy ARM failed and it seems they are more focused on AI. Either way, they haven't really launched much of interest yet. AMD actually cornered the market for game consoles. Steam Deck, XBox, and Playstation have in common that they get their chips from AMD (not Intel or Nvidia). But most Windows laptops continue to kind of suck in terms of energy usage and performance per watt.