AI PCs Have Arrived — Is Now the Time to Invest?
By Megan Amdahl, Senior Vice President, Client Experience and North America Chief Operating Officer, Insight
The next generation of personal computers (PCs) has taken flight, promising to significantly boost the efficiency of employees and their companies. How soon can businesses realistically make good on the promise of the AI PC, though?
It’s a good question, especially as we’re seeing major computing upgrades with new AI features like the recent announcements by Microsoft, Qualcomm, Apple, Intel, Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, AMD, HPE and NVIDIA, and more. Insight is at the heart of this flurry of activity, working closely with the OEMs to put new hardware and operating systems through the paces to understand where this next generation of devices can best serve an enterprise.
We’re one of just a handful of partners, for example, that Microsoft chose to participate in a technical adoption preview program to evaluate next-gen Surface Pro devices equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. It features the first Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to achieve the 45 trillions operations per second (TOPS) benchmark, where 40 TOPs is seen as the threshold that allows a device to locally run AI workloads (in other words, an AI PC).
“The new devices we announced with integrated NPUs bring exclusive AI features … to streamline everyday tasks and save valuable time, making it easier to collaborate,” Microsoft Surface Commercial Worldwide Leader Travis Ames told me about the exciting news.
We are also testing AI PCs powered by AMD and Intel and will soon be putting NPU-powered devices from Dell and HP through the paces too.
The early results are impressive, and we’ll share more soon. But initially, we have found the new chip architectures significantly accelerate workloads, making it possible to run complex AI algorithms on-device without overtaxing the PC’s normal performance. That means your laptop can perform tasks that were previously only possible on high-end workstations or in the cloud.
Why prioritize AI PC adoption?
Jeff Monday, Qualcomm’s vice president of global enterprise and channel sales, told me that adopting AI PCs now will help future-proof organizations: “In the enterprise, on-device AI is going to allow you to have a more low-latency experience. It will be faster in terms of its responses and more secure by being able to keep all the data on the device, and it’s going to be more personal because you’re actually going to be able to provide inputs into that AI model that it wouldn’t be able to get if it’s living on the cloud.”
AI PCs are designed to be more energy efficient. They can run for longer periods of time without needing to be plugged in, which is ideal for remote/hybrid work environments. This is big for me, as I’m constantly traveling to meet partners and clients, and I can’t afford to waste time worrying about whether my laptop can power through the day along with me.
I’m also finding that I’m able to save much more time bringing up documents and conversations (via email, Microsoft Teams chat, etc.) much faster based on simple keyword prompts. Another advantage when working internationally is the power of live translations, which is critically important when trying to conduct conversations as naturally as possible across languages.
So, it’s far from a question of considering whether you should introduce a new lineup of next-gen PCs to your workforce. It’s about deciding when your organization should begin to ensure the investment yields the benefits your business needs.
The short answer is to prioritize investing in AI-powered devices right away. This is particularly true as we start to enter what some are calling The Great Refresh, the convergence of several factors including aging lifecycles of devices purchased at the onset of the pandemic; a mixed fleet of devices acquired in the mad scramble of that unprecedented time, which adds extra maintenance costs; and the end of support for Microsoft Windows 10.
Today, most of those devices can’t meet the computational demands of powerful tools like Microsoft Copilot+. The new architectures of endpoint devices — laptops, tablets, smartphones — can. As Matt Skaff, Insight vice president of global IT, said in our recent AI for All Ages roundtable, “I’m not going to run an F1 car on a bumpy road.”
When your options are the complications of aging devices or the significant boost in performance from next-generation PCs, the decision to upgrade becomes more palatable. It also tells your workforce they matter when you’re providing them the best tools for work.
First steps into the next generation of PCs
The AI PC allocates resources specifically for generative AI, pulling resources locally, for better speed and performance. That way developers/coders and end users in general can be more productive. AI can improve content generation, prompting responses to emails or questions, even creating Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Whatever the need/persona, AI PCs can be the personalized answer for your end users.
Different job functions and personas must be considered when prioritizing the first wave of a refresh.
It may vary by industry, client type and service line. But the right deployment strategy involves getting the PCs into the hands of core groups that use them, conducting base-level testing and collecting feedback. It’s also important to develop small use cases, then test and measure them to prove the upfront return on investment.
Businesses also should consider the sustainability and battery life of AI PCs, which will lower the carbon footprint of each end user over an entire lifecycle. According to recent research, for every 20–50 questions asked of a GPT application, it uses the equivalent of a 500ml bottle of water to generate the electricity it needs. By investing in AI PCs, businesses reduce energy usage while also improving their efficiency.
AI is key to staying competitive.
Finally, businesses should choose a partner that can guide them through the device lifecycle journey and help match the right equipment to the right persona to maximize teammate satisfaction and productivity.
Addressing concerns around the impact of AI on work performance is important. Consider continuous education for employees to improve their skills and knowledge of the new features of AI PCs to ensure they actually take advantage of the potential at their fingertips.
According to an Insight survey conducted by The Harris Poll, nearly two in three workers believe AI devices will impact the critical skills they need to do their job. What’s great is 73% believe AI devices will help them be more productive.
So, employees should be encouraged to lean into the capabilities of AI. Job evolution is about focusing on higher-level tasks instead of potential job loss. AI can deal with the mundane, so workers can shift to tasks requiring greater creativity and critical thinking.
Overall, investing in AI PCs in the present is crucial for businesses to stay competitive and efficient in the long term. They offer a range of benefits, including improved productivity, efficiency and employee engagement. That’s a fast track to success that no bumpy road can slow.
