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.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-19T14:46:16+00:00

    This not Linux its supposed to be the giant Microsoft that supply the 64bit emulator, My concern is that they are still selling the surface pro x with only 32bit support when they themselves no longer support 32bit anything.

    They are selling a product unfit for purpose.

    Millions of users of windows use Intel processors, Arm has very little support from software developers at present hence the most urgent need for 64bit emulation.

    As I said previously this device at present is widely unsupported with only store apps its no better than RT.

    The problem with this is MS have total control over the device life expectancy as with RT which is not an old system being based on Windows 8.1 but is now completely unsupported and not even a working browser.

    Perhaps with this in mind you will see just what the future without an emulator could bring.

    If you don't own a surface pro x I really cant stress enough DO NOT buy one.

    I'm still having stability issues and crashes and support are less than useless, if you want a fast reliable tablet buy Apple iPad Pro, I have own both of these devices for the same length of time and I have had not one problem with the Apple device and constant problems from day one with the pro x

    Dude, I realize this device is not for you since apparently there is some 64 bit app you can't live without and that has soured your opinion of the Pro X, but now you're stating untruths. The Pro X is not locked to store apps like RT devices were (Microsoft thankfully learned from that mistake). There are plenty of applications and games outside the store that have 32 bit versions it will run perfectly fine. Microsoft's Teams app has a 32 bit version that ran on the Pro X before they updated it with ARM support. Shoot, there is even a 32 bit x86 Windows 10 version still, so yes, Microsoft does still support 32 bit. And I actually do have a 1st gen Surface RT and still used it until I got my Pro X. I definitely agree with you on the mistakes that were made with that OS, which is why I was very happy when I read Windows 10 ARM Edition had none of the restrictions that poor OS had.

    I still think you may have a hardware issue with yours as mine rarely has any problem... unless trying to install a 64 bit app is something you consider a crash. Dunno. And don't run Google Chrome for a browser, stick to Edge and Firefox. Google is still sitting on their ARM version for some unknown reason...

    I am rather curious what app makes the Pro X a dud but the iPad Pro great... is it an app that is available on both?

    But I've said it before, for a potential buyer, if there is a particular app that is 64 bit only then no, the Pro X is not a good option. Since you already own a Pro X and this a deal-breaker for you, you might want to consider switching to an insiders build to get the 64 bit emulation now instead of waiting for it to reach a stable build (most expect that'll be this fall). And no, I'm not running an insider build myself... I've considered it, but really the only apps I'd want to run that don't have a 32 bit version are a few games, but I don't really need that (it'd really only be the once in awhile when I'm out of town, otherwise I have a AMD-based desktop PC).

    Side note: MarcinBalcerzyk's comment about linux - he was talking about the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that allows running linux distributions within Windows turning it into a sort of hybrid OS. It's included in Windows 10 ARM too, which is awesome.

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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
    2021-05-15T23:23:40+00:00

    Yet another post with zero specifics and a lot of unsupported claims.  As a white-collar professional I can run all the apps I use on a regular that worked on my SP7:

    1. Statistical software: SPSS, R-Studio
    2. MS Office apps:  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote
    3. PDF apps:  Drawboard PDF, PDF Pro Reader, ReadLoud
    4. Snapdrop

    The only downside is that my battery life has taken a hit and dropped from 11.5-12 hours of continuous YouTube viewing (40% brightness, battery saver on) to 9.5-10 hours.  

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

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-05-15T23:34:03+00:00

    Somehow I knew your post would end with iPad Pro. There is a reason why:

    -iPads market share has dropped from 80% to 33% over the past decade.

    -Android tablets enjoy twice the market share of iPads.

    -Apple came out with "magic" keyboard to make iPads more Surface Pro-like. 

    -You don't see people using iPads a professional conferences/trainings.

    -You don't see people using iPads in airports or coffee shops.

    -You don't see people using iPads in university or public libraries.

    -You don't see people using iPad in graduate school classrooms.

    -iPads are popular with elementary schools and senior citizens.

    Facts are iPads' are not computers so functionality is extremely limited outside of watching YouTube, browsing the internet, photo/video editing.  And people who do photo/video editing for a living use laptops or desktops, not iPads...

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-05-16T10:05:07+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...

    @MSP2020  , did you manage to install 64-bit MS Office in x64 emulator? In reviews from December2020 it was mentioned as impossible to install. I have SPX, but because of work, I prefer to wait for official release of x64 emulator than install Preview Builds due to frequent restarts. 

     My experience with SPX is great, but, as stressed by many of you, if there is specific x64 app you absolutely need AND there is no x32 version of it, don't buy SPX. I even managed to work on video with Shotcut x32, even if it doesn't see Adreno GPU acceleration. 

    SPSS exists for x32.  Microsoft Visual Studio is still x32 software, until version 2022.

     With Java apps I found OpenJDK Java 16 compiled for ARM64 by  Microsoft on Github.   MSFT will also port it to M1 ARM64 Mac. Most of the stuff works for my PMOD 4.2 for OpenJDK 11 (www.pmod.com), when you just substitute jre folder with the one from Microsoft. Still there is some stuff written specifically for architecture, so it doesn't work there.

     From  x64 software I need, there is still Mathematica 12.2 and Matlab. Mathematica installs in WSL2 in Ubuntu Linux, but its kernel is architecture specific, so it doesn't start.

     Yesterday I managed to install Docker on WSL2 with Ubuntu and run first container. Hopefully Matlab in container will work.

     Lunux got GUI official support in WSL2 in Preview builds for x64, so I hope this will be here in 21H1 update also in ARM64.

    I had hardware problem with SPX, it was rebooting silently if charger was connected in sleep mode in about 30% cases. I passed it to service, they confirmed it and I got a new one in about 10 days altogether. I also bought 4 years warranty extension.  So don't buy SPX from doubtful sources.

    I am university professor, so bought SPX due to weight AND battery life. There always will be a surprise. I have USB-C extension for RGB and HDMI displays and this thing is 15W! You can work on  SPX only about 4 hours in such setup. I don't have USB-C monitor...

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