64 bit emulator surface pro x

Anonymous
2021-02-24T14:23:41+00:00

I have been asking this question for some time now without a viable answer.

When I was convinced to buy this item, it came with a promise of 64bit emulator being very soon to follow, however this is now eight months later and still no idea how long we will have to wait.

I know that the emulator is currently available on the insider program, but all indicators are that its even more buggy than the somewhat limited 32bit emulator.

I'm surprised that Microsoft have not resolved the issues with this device as it would seem that they intend to peruse ARM technology in many future devices.

If the current state of play continues it could spell out disaster for this platform.

I have to say that there have been many updates for the pro x and it has improved over time, however many bugs and issues still remain and customer support for the pro x is at best very poor with the staff having little knowledge of the technical issues found on a daily basis.

Customer services have so far bricked the device on three occasions requiring hours of reloading and total loss of all data and without resolving the original problem (don't let them reset your device or set up phantom accounts) this doesn't work and creates more problems.

I have to say that given the choice again this device would not be on my shopping list.

The recent updates have made improvements and the device is now more stable than it was but without 64bit bug free emulator its very limited, Great looks and feel but don't judge the book by its cover, 

If you intend to use only store apps and basic 32bit programs for surfing and emailing all is good, but for any serious use it fails badly at present, which is truly a shame as the device has great potential but is poorly supported from my own personal experience.

At present its only a little above windows other failed ARM devices using RT which of course is no longer supported.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-09T03:22:25+00:00

    To all who have been following this thread, I wanted to report that although it is only a developer's build, Windows 11 seems to be working very well on my Surface Pro X.

    So far it has only stumbled on one, 64-bit application. That was Mindmanager 2021. However, it initially worked with the 32-bit version of that program, so I was able to. Re-download that and that 32-bit version works fine.

    I expected a lot of problems with the install but was pleasantly surprised to have none.

    Other 64-bit applications seem to be working fine. Microsoft's own Office 365, 64-bit, works without any problem. Additionally, Microsoft Teams works just fine.

    Overall, I like the interface a lot. I believe that Windows 11 will redeem the promise of what the Surface Pro X was supposed to be. It doesn't have to be the powerhouse of powerhouses, but it must be able to run 64-bit applications as the world has more or less gone to those.

    What I like most about the Surface Pro X is that there is zero fan noise. And it is exceptionally light for the power it gives you. Also, I love how you can pull the keyboard off or flip it under and use it as a stand. Microsoft's pen is superior too. Apple is great at PR, but the Surface line, with their superior keyboard and pen is better for getting real work done. Also, I think it's a better note taker. OneNote on the Surface is great. You can use either the Windows 10 version or the mobile version or both side by side.

    When I compare it to Apples the 12-inch iPad Pro, with the expensive Apple keyboard it blows it away from a functional standpoint. Personally, I dislike Apple's keyboard as the mousepad moves the cursor when you are typing. This is not something that you want to take on a biz trip to do work.

    What Apple has in their favor is their far superior App Store. Perhaps that will balance out a bit when we can run Android apps on Windows 11, but Apple will probably still hold the advantage.

    If you're looking for a light, yet powerful, real laptop, that's actually lighter than what Apple has to offer with their iPad Pro and heavy and expensive keyboard, then the Surface Pro X with Windows 11 is NOW an excellent option.

    The only real options from Apple for real work is one of their laptops, which are terrific, but lack the functionality of a touch screen, pen interface and removable keyboard. By the way, I use a 16" MBP side by side with my Surface laptops (I have the 15" too). I love Apple too, but for lightness, removable keyboard, touch interface, pen support, it's now my Surface Pro X for my brainstorming and content absorption.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-05-15T23:14:29+00:00

    You have provided no specific example to anything you have stated. "Buggy" is not an example.  "Somewhat limited" is not an example. "Staff having limited knowledge" is not an example. "Brick the device" is not an example.  "More stable" is not an example.  Hence, I have to question if you actually own a SPX. 

    After instilling the x64 bit emulator on my SPX, I'm now able to run my statistical software (SPSS and R-studio).   Edge Canary Browser, MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), Zoom, PDF annotating apps (e.g., Drawboard PDF), and Snapdrop all work great.  So far, BatteryBar is the only app I regularly use that doesn't work.  

    The downside is that battery life has declined from 11.5-12 hours of continuous YouTube viewing (40% brightness, battery saver on) to 9.5-10 hours.  Finally, Surface products are for white-collar professionals, not gamers, video/photo editors, or YouTuber tech reviewers. 

    UPDATE: After uninstalling the "KB5003266" update, battery life has returned to 11.5-12 hours...

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-16T18:17:48+00:00

    No sure what incompatibilities with Office you're talking about as I have never experienced that. But if your machine won't even boot up properly it sounds like something may actually be wrong with your device. Mine has been a really solid device and rarely crashes.

    As I said previously in this thread, it's really unfortunate that you all were mis-lead (by sales people?) as far as what this device is capable of, and the details of the current limitations. Definitely always do your own research. It is a great device for what it is intended for - a thin, light, always connected convertible, that gets better battery life that the Pro 7. But for anyone that requires an x64 app right now, it's definitely the wrong device. That'll change in the future, and it's definitely frustrating that support would have said was x64 emulation was coming Jan 2021 as that was wrong information (unless they were talking about insider builds, though I wouldn't expect them to recommend switching to a potentially buggy build).

    I fell in love with Surface Pro X when it was announced in autumn 2019. I was researching Windows 10 on ARM64 laptops like HP Envy X2 (or something like that), but was holding back knowing that these things are 4GB RAM only, which is too little for me. 

    I knew all the limitations of ARM64 and the biggest one I´ve foreseen was lack of software for OpenVPN, but that came almost immediately from Sparklabs (Viscosity). 

    In my hands Surface Pro X (16 GB RAM) with Office 365 runs faster then on Intel i7 (32 GB RAM) from late 2018. I also use Java 16 JRE from Microsoft to run some Java 64 bit apps and it is very smooth with image processing (PMOD, www.pmod.com) as fast as on mentioned Intel.

    I got Ubuntu and Xwindows (VcXsrv), hoping to get some graphical Linux 64 bit apps to run. Here comes the disappointment: most of them are tied to AMD64 compilations for Linux (Edge, Mathematica), so I think I will need to wait for x64 emulation, unless I may get a custom build for ARM64 Windows 10 from Wolfram.

    I had an unpleasant experience with my first Surface Pro X. It was restarting when I plugged charging cable when it was in sleep mode. The reseller confirmed that, and I got a substitute in one week (Spain, shipped from The Netherland). Now it runs perfect. 

    The best experience of Surface Pro X is                                 the new type of pen and writing on the screen on PowerPoint presentations, not to say a touch screen. 

    So, waiting to get x64 emulation in official Windows 10 for ARM64 build....

    MarcinB.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-03-24T13:56:02+00:00

    The x86 emulator has improved greatly with recent updates, however most software providers no longer support 32bit legacy so the stability of the current emulator is of little consequence.

    The 64 bit emulator has been constantly pushed back and for many of us our warranty will have expired long before we can exploit the full potential of this device.

    I’m sure with time ARM will prove to be a viable competitor to Intel but without the relevant support it could easily fall by the wayside like the many other failed Microsoft ventures like RT yet another no longer supported platform. 

    And with ISPs now closing support for legacy even with windows 10 the future looks bleak.

    It sounds like your comment about "64 bit emulator has been constantly pushed back" is based on a sales person giving you a false promise of x64 emulation being released "very soon", which is unfortunate. I have seen no delay based on what Microsoft itself has said. When I got mine (December 2019) I read that it was probably at least a year before we'd see anything. Probably mid 2020 (I forget exactly) we got the memo that x64 emulation would arrive in the Dev builds in November, and that's what happened.

    Sure it would have been great for x64 emulation to have been included when the Pro X was released, but it wasn't. Again, it's unfortunate you were mislead. The Pro X is a great device, but if running an x64 app right now is a requirement, then something like the Pro 7 would be a better choice.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-04-10T23:24:20+00:00

    I spent three weeks last summer dealing with the awful MS support. I was escalated and escalated and sent to various groups to resolve incompatibilities with MS's own product lines and the device. It's ludicrous that their own hardware has incompatibilities with Office 365 software and the core operating system. I can't even start up the machine without problems. No updates have fixed it and the basically told me there was nothing they could do. I asked to be credited and swapped into an SP Laptop and they went silent. 

    This is the customer service we get now with the stores closed. After multiple SP products, I doubt I'll ever buy their hardware again. The new IOS arm devices work and review well. Looks like I'll be going back to Apple given the current state of MS customer service

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