Ever since Microsoft first introduced its Arm-based Copilot Plus laptops in June, I’ve been wondering when we might see Copilot Plus features appear on desktop PCs. Six months on, it’s clear we’re about to see mini PCs that deliver the AI performance required for features like Recall, Click To Do, and AI-powered image generation and editing in Windows 11. These mini PCs might even help Microsoft compete with Apple’s latest Mac Mini.

Asus became the first PC manufacturer to announce a mini PC that’s Copilot Plus capable in September. It then revealed the full specs of its upcoming NUC 14 Pro AI last month, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that kicks off next week. Asus’ mini PC even has a Copilot button on the front and is almost identical to the size of Apple’s latest Mac Mini.

The timing of Asus’ spec drop came on the same day that Taiwanese company Geekom revealed three new mini PCs that it will showcase at CES. Geekom is releasing a mini PC with AMD’s Strix Point CPUs inside and one with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor, meaning both will be Copilot Plus compatible. The third model is powered by Intel’s unannounced Arrow Lake-H laptop processors, which are unlikely to have an NPU sufficient enough to be Copilot Plus compatible.

I’m going to be paying close attention to CES next week to see if there are any other Windows OEMs that are ready to launch Copilot Plus mini PCs. CES is usually a launch point for Microsoft’s latest laptop or tablet initiatives, and last year the company convinced OEMs to put a Copilot key on their laptop keyboards. Asus wouldn’t be adding a Copilot button on the front of its own mini PC without Microsoft’s involvement, so I wonder how many other PC makers Microsoft has been working with to add dedicated Copilot buttons.

Geekom’s mention of Qualcomm chips inside its mini PC means we’ll start to see Qualcomm’s latest chips venture beyond laptops for the first time. Qualcomm was supposed to ship its mini PC Snapdragon Dev Kit in June alongside Copilot Plus laptops, but it ended up canceling it months later after issues with manufacturing the device. Qualcomm has also teased that its Snapdragon X Elite chips could appear in mini PCs or even all-in-one PCs, so perhaps we’ll see some Copilot Plus all-in-one PCs next week, too.

I’m still waiting to see when we might get Copilot Plus features on traditional powerful desktop PCs. Intel’s latest Core Ultra desktop CPU arrived in October with an NPU inside, but it wasn’t capable enough to hit the 40 TOPS requirement that Microsoft mandates for Copilot Plus features. We’re going to have to wait until next-gen desktop CPUs from Intel and AMD arrive to see if more capable NPUs are a priority for chipmakers. Until then, mini PCs and all-in-one PCs that use laptop processors are going to be the only way to get Copilot Plus features in a desktop PC form factor. 

While Copilot Plus features remain limited to Windows PCs, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see the main Copilot assistant appear on more devices. I’ve heard from multiple sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans that the company is keen to get Copilot on devices beyond just PCs, phones, and tablets.

We might well see Copilot appear on some unexpected hardware at CES next week, just as Microsoft has also been hinting about its ambitions for dedicated AI hardware in recent months. Windows chief Pavan Davuluri admitted in an October Notepad interview that the power of modern AI models “will free up the ability to innovate in hardware and come out with purpose-built hardware.”

Davuluri stopped short of detailing what dedicated AI hardware would look like for Microsoft, but weeks later Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, dropped some additional hints in an underreported interview with YouTuber Austin Evans. 

“These devices that see the world, that you wear on your body, on your person, I think that those combined with AI will be very valuable,” said Mehdi in late October. “It can do image recognition, it can talk to you about what’s going on. I think that’s a fascinating place that we’ll go.”

Later in the interview Mehdi also describes wearable health-related devices as exciting and “a big opportunity” for the future. Microsoft then confirmed last month that Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has hired multiple former colleagues to help run a new AI health unit. It’s hard to imagine Microsoft venturing into fitness wearables again after the Microsoft Band was scrapped in 2016, but I could definitely see the company wanting to partner with device manufacturers and offer up AI-powered health services for these types of devices.

Either way, 2025 won’t see Microsoft slow down with its ambition to get Copilot on all the screens we look at every day.

Thanks for subscribing and reading to the very end. I’ll be reflecting on Microsoft’s 50-year history in Notepad later this year, so if there’s a particular period of time you’re interested in hearing more about,please get in touch: notepad@theverge.com. 

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