Latest news with #Copilot+
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How AI-Powered Technology Is Fueling Small Business Growth
Artificial Intelligence In today's dynamic environment, business continuity is no longer a one-size-fits-all concept. Small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners are under increasing pressure to adopt innovative strategies that ensure not only sustainability but scalable growth of their enterprises. One of the most transformative tools now available to them? Artificial intelligence (AI). According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, nearly 30% of consumers already use generative AI, while another 18.8% say they're excited to experience it. This early AI adoption and growing popularity is trickling steadily among SMBs and it's not hard to see why. AI-powered tools offer flexibility, efficiency and insight that were once out of reach for smaller enterprises. While some business owners remain hesitant, many are eager to embrace AI—they just aren't sure where to begin and effectively weave AI into their operational strategies. Prosper - Heard of Generative AI The good news is that AI technology is now more accessible, scalable, and tailored to the evolving needs of smaller businesses. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Eric Yu, SVP & GM, WW Commercial Product Center & SMB Segment at Lenovo's Intelligent Devices Group; he shared valuable insights into the challenges SMBs face today, the trends shaping AI adoption and how smart integration of AI can drive lasting growth. Here are four ways AI-powered technology is helping small businesses thrive and grow, as well as some key takeaways from my conversation with Lenovo's Eric Yu: 1. AI Improves Efficiency AI-enabled devices, such as PCs equipped with tools like Copilot+ or Lenovo AI features such as Lenovo AI Now, are helping users become more productive by optimizing device performance through a blend of local processing and cloud-based AI. These tools continuously learn user behaviors, allowing them to anticipate needs, automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows. "In today's fast-paced business environment, especially for SMBs, the ability to do more with less is critical," said Yu. "AI-enabled PCs are designed to not only boost individual productivity but also enable smarter, more efficient operations across teams, ultimately freeing up time for employees to focus on innovation and strategic growth." In the Prosper survey, those already using generative AI cited high adoption for writing assistance (36.8%), research (48.8%) and customer support (26.8%), which are all core areas where SMBs can benefit from automation. This shift allows employees to focus on strategic, high-value work and efficiency gains of this nature can significantly improve overall business output. Prosper - Use Generative Artificial Intelligence For 2. AI Supports Hybrid Work Collaboration The hybrid work model is here to stay and AI is playing a crucial role in making it seamless. AI-powered collaboration tools improve communication across dispersed teams, helping bridge the gap between in-office and remote work. Devices optimized with AI can adjust to users' environments in real time, enhancing both performance and experience. Features like intelligent noise cancellation, automatic lighting and video and battery optimization help employees stay productive and professional, whether they're at home, in the office, or on the go. 3. AI Futureproofs Your Business with Robust Security Cybersecurity is a major concern for SMBs, especially those operating without dedicated IT staff. User concerns reflect this need: 32% of consumers are extremely concerned about privacy risks from AI, with an additional 26.5% very concerned, according to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey. Prosper - Concern About Privacy From AI AI can significantly bolster security strategies by providing real-time threat detection, alerting teams to potential issues, enabling rapid response to vulnerabilities and in turn, reducing downtime – as well as providing peace of mind to both owners and customers. AI-based email security, automated incident response systems and AI-powered cybersecurity platforms offer SMBs enterprise-grade protection without requiring an enterprise-grade budget. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, AI offers a flexible, scalable solution for safeguarding business-critical data and reduces the risk of costly breaches. 4. Personalizes the Customer Experience Prosper data reflects users reported using generative AI for creative writing (23.4%), content creation (18%), and chatbot development (10.2%), all of which support deeper customer engagement. AI makes it easier than ever to understand and engage your customer base. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences and engagement patterns, AI helps businesses tailor marketing campaigns and communications to individual customers—driving stronger engagement and loyalty. It also enables real-time insights into website traffic and user behavior, helping businesses identify trends, refine their digital strategies, and optimize the customer journey. These personalized experiences aren't just a nice-to-have—they're a competitive advantage that will help them break through the noise in the long run. Prosper - Use Generative Artificial Intelligence For Looking Ahead AI isn't just reshaping how big enterprises operate; it's redefining what's possible for small businesses too. As Yu emphasized, achieving success with AI doesn't always require a massive investment or a full-blown transformation. It starts with identifying the right tools for your business needs and incorporating them in ways that drive measurable impact. For SMBs looking to stay competitive, resilient, and forward-thinking, now is the time to embrace AI as a strategic partner for smarter growth.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Asus' New ProArt A16 Could Be the Best Laptop for Photo Editing
Asus has updated its ProArt A16 professional creative laptop with the latest graphics from Nvidia, combining high-end performance components with a gorgeous OLED display. Its 16-inch form factor ensures plenty of screen space, and with the latest neural processor from AMD, it has everything it needs to take advantage of Microsoft's Copilot+ features. The Asus ProArt range has been one of the premier professional, creative laptops for a few generations, and this latest edition doesn't pull any punches. It has one of AMD's most powerful mobile processors, the 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and pairs it with the latest Nvidia mobile RTX 5070 graphics. This generation, the default memory configuration is 64GB, ensuring you have all the RAM you need for even the most demanding of tasks, and there's space for up to 3TB of fast NVMe storage. Credit: Asus The main upgrade this generation, though, is the display. Asus ProArt laptops are built around the idea of a gorgeous display, and the latest model meets the standard. It's a 16-inch, 3K (2,880-by-1,800) OLED panel, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, making longer documents and webpages more comfortable to read. This is a slightly lower resolution than the last-generation design, but it has a much higher refresh rate at 120Hz. That makes it better for 3D animation and for watching back high-paced videos, as well as for gaming in the off hours. It's fully VESA-certified and Nvidia Studio-validated to provide a stunning image, with incredible contrast, high brightness, and eye-catching color. This laptop has a powerful neural processor built into the CPU, offering up to 50 TOPS performance, and the GPU can manage several hundred TOPS of its own in supporting apps. This combination lets this laptop take advantage of new Copilot+ features recently integrated with Windows 11, as well as future AI releases Microsoft has planned. It can also run some of Asus' own AI-powered apps, like StoryCube and MuseTree, entirely locally. That lets you use generative AI at the edge, without any oversight, censorship, or data gathering by outside parties. Even with these new additions, the laptop remains relatively thin and light at just over half an inch thick and just over four pounds. You probably wouldn't want to use it on your lap for too long at that size, though. This laptop will be on sale soon with a starting price of $2,500. If you want to save a little, the last-generation option with an RTX 4070 and slower 60Hz (but 4K) display is still available. Elsewhere at Computex, Asus launched the fastest gaming monitor in the world, and an eGPU dock with Thunderbolt 5 support.
Indian Express
13-05-2025
- Indian Express
Windows 11 gets AI powered intelligent text actions and Settings app
Microsoft is rolling Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3964 to the Beta channel, bumping up the version to 24H2 starting Monday. Available for those on the Insider channel, the latest build brings several bug fixes as well as some new AI experiences including the much awaited AI powered agent in the Settings app. Announced last week, Microsoft says the new agent in Settings is designed to help users find and change settings on their PC. Unlike normal searches, which take keywords as input, users will now be able to describe what they are looking for using natural language and help with things like 'how to control my PC by voice' or 'my mouse pointer is too small.' However, the new feature is currently limited to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon chipset and primary language set to English, with support for AMD and Intel powered machines coming soon. Microsoft is also adding a new dedicated FAQs section on the About page located under System in the Settings app, which the company says provides information about system configuration, performance and compatibility all in one place. Another AI powered Windows 11 feature called 'Click To Do', which Microsoft unveiled last year is getting an upgrade. Available for those with an AMD or Intel powered Copilot+ PC, the tech giant says users can now use the Win + mouse click or Win + Q shortcut to highlight a text block and get options like Summarize, Rewrite and Create a bulleted list. Powered by an on-device small language model called Phi Silica, the new intelligent text actions are only available when you select at least 10 words, the default language is set to English and the user is signed with a Microsoft account. As for Windows Insider users who have set their primary language to either French or Spanish, Microsoft says the Rewrite functionality is currently unavailable and will 'return in a future update.'
Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Telegraph
Dell Inspiron 14 review: A capable and convincing budget laptop
This article contains affiliate links. The products or services listed have been selected independently by journalists after hands-on testing or sourcing expert opinions. We may earn a commission when you click a link, buy a product or subscribe to a service. Our Rating: 8/10 Pros: Long battery life Sprightly performance Good build quality Cons: Colourless display Boomy speakers What is the Dell Inspiron 14? When it comes to the best laptops for everyday use, the Inspiron 14 is the cheapest 14-inch compact laptop you can buy from Dell. It's a modern, general-purpose machine designed for basic home and work tasks that's easy to fit in your bag and carry around. When it comes to the more technical side of things, you can choose from three processors (Intel, AMD and Qualcomm), and the Inspiron 14 supports features like facial recognition and has Microsoft's AI assistant Copilot+. It also has the newer USB-C ports, a backlit keyboard and an aluminium chassis, which aren't common in laptops costing closer to £600 than £1,000. How we test laptops I have been a technology journalist for over 15 years, testing everything from laptops and electric cars to tablets and audio systems. Over the years, I've used and tested devices running all of the major operating systems, settling these days with Windows, Linux and Android. Here I focus on five testing metrics: design and usability, keyboard and touchpad, display and audio, performance and configurations, and battery life. However, I don't just look at scores on a spreadsheet. I use the laptops I'm testing as my primary device, which in my case means a lot of typing, using them on the go, general web browsing, emails and other basic productivity, as well as gaming. This gives me a good idea of what the laptop is capable of, how long the battery lasts and how it can handle intense tasks. Why you can trust Telegraph Recommended Our tech experts continuously conduct in-depth, independent, real-world tests, scoring devices against pre-set testing metrics and industry benchmarks, so we can deliver definitive and comprehensive buying advice. Telegraph Recommended reviews are never shared with product manufacturers before publication, we don't accept payment in exchange for positive reviews, nor do we allow brands to pay for placement in our articles. Visit our Who We Are page to learn more. Design and usability Score: 8/10 The Inspiron 14 is not the most visually prepossessing of laptops thanks to a staid design and unadventurous colourway (it looks as though it was designed not to offend, rather than to impress). The aluminium chassis, while a rarity at this price point, makes it rather heavy for a 14-inch notebook (1.5kg) but the rounded profile and 16mm maximum thickness makes it easy to slip into a small backpack and carry around for the day. There's a good range of ports too, with two USB-C ports and a microSD card slot on the left hand side, and a USB-A and 3.5mm audio jack on the right. There's no HDMI port but the USB-C ports support DP AltMode video output so you can hook it straight up to a monitor if wanted. Surprisingly for a machine in this price bracket, the Inspiron 14 comes with a fingerprint scanner and an infrared camera so you can use Windows Hello facial recognition, showing the benefit of buying a laptop that's as much aimed at the business user as a casual one. And getting inside the Inspiron 14 is easy enough once you've removed the seven Philips screws holding the base plate in place. You can swap out the SSD, the battery and the wireless card, but you won't find space for a second SSD if you wanted to increase the storage. Keyboard and touchpad Score: 8/10 The Inspiron 14's keyboard is a conventional but capable affair with flat-topped keys and clear white-on-black graphics. The keys offer just the right amount of resistance and travel for my typing tastes and there's an effective two-stage backlight to help with typing in the dark. At 115 x 80mm, the plastic touchpad isn't the largest you'll find on a 14-inch laptop but it works reliably. The mechanical click-action on the lower half of the touchpad is clean and precise but I did find it rather noisy compared to other laptops I have used. The webcam delivers a crisp and colourful video feed and comes with the full suite of Microsoft's Studio Effects that automatically improve lighting and cancel noise during video calls, among other enhancements. I have encountered much worse webcams on laptops that cost twice as much, and this one comes with a manual privacy shutter over the lens, which is a bonus. Display and audio Score: 6/10 Cheap laptops often have awful displays and, while this one isn't dreadful, the screen is an area where the Inspiron 14 shows its humble status. The 14-inch screen is bright with a healthy contrast ratio, wide viewing angles and no strange shift in colour, even when you're looking at it from the most extreme angles. There's no annoying screen reflection because of the matt finish and while the refresh rate is a basic 60Hz, that's to be expected from a budget laptop. Where the Inspiron 14 falls down is its colour registration. It struggles to give you an accurate representation of the colours you should be seeing on the screen, which robs images and videos of their vitality. There's no support for HDR content, either. Despite this setback, the display is a solid performer when it comes to everyday tasks and scrolling through sites and social media. It also has two downward-firing 2-watt speakers that can get surprisingly loud. The sound can get a little distorted at maximum volume but the bass stays punchy across the board. Performance and configurations Score: 8/10 The Inspiron 14 is available with Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processors and while the Intel models are cheaper, they don't match the performance of the Qualcomm machines. They also lack a neural processor, which means they don't have Microsoft's CoPilot+ AI accreditation. Two Qualcomm models are available, one with the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 and running Windows 11 Pro for £749, the other using the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 and running either Windows 11 Home or Pro for £679 and £769 respectively. In the Cinebench R24 CPU test I ran, the X1P-42-100 Inspiron 14 scored 642 which is 50 per cent more than I'd expect to see from the most powerful Intel-powered model in the range and roughly the same as the most powerful but less efficient AMD version, giving you an idea of how much better the Qualcomm models are. Benchmark numbers aside, in everyday use, the Snapdragon Inspiron 14 feels fast with none of the pauses, hiccups or stalls that are often a feature of a laptop with a low sticker price. It's good to see Microsoft's CoPilot+ AI certification on a laptop this cheap, making it a great machine for anyone who wants to dip their toe into all things AI without spending too much. That's thanks to the neural processor that forms part of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chipset. When placed under severe stress, the fan noise never increases above a faint whoosh. The underside does get a little warm, but not unusually so. The 512GB SSD inside the Inspiron 14 proved to be a great performer returning sequential read and write data speeds of 4,026M/s and 2,212MB/s respectively. I've seen speeds barely a third as fast on some laptops with a similar price. Battery life Score: 9/10 Despite only having a 54Wh battery, the Inspiron 14 ran for 17 hours and 6 minutes in our video rundown test. That's an excellent result for a budget laptop and means you can leave your charger at home when you head out for the day without feeling like you will run out of juice. It's another area where the Inspiron 14 punches well above its weight. Windows laptops running on Intel's latest Arrow Lake H CPUs can do better but you'll have to pay several hundred pounds more to get one of those. Technical specifications Below, I've compared the Dell Inspiron 14's specifications against the MacBook Air 13 (M4). As you can see, the Dell doesn't hold back in terms of internals, despite the significantly lower asking price. If anything, this demonstrates the sheer value for money that could be achieved if you buy smart and opt for a Windows alternative instead. Should you buy the Dell Inspiron 14? Despite the issues with the colour on-screen, the Dell Inspiron 14 still offers a lot for its price with features like facial recognition, an aluminium chassis, a backlit keyboard often adding a lot to the overall cost. The key factor here though, is the inclusion of that Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. This puts the Inspiron 14 in another power league to the dated or weak processors you usually have to tolerate at this price point and it has the added benefit of delivering great battery life. For the price, you can't ask for more. Yes, if: Your budget is tight You favour battery life above all else You need a laptop with a great build quality No, if: Display quality is your top priority You want a flashy-looking laptop FAQs Is running Windows-on-ARM a problem? In a word, no. Qualcomm's new Prism emulator means that the vast majority of x86 native programs will run perfectly well on ARM laptops while most popular programs are available in native ARM versions. What configurations does the Inspiron 14 have? You can choose from seven chipsets; Intel's Core i3-1305U, Core i5-1334U and Core 7 150U, AMD's Ryzen 5 8540U and Ryzen 7 8840U and Qualcomm's X1P-42-100 and X1P-64-100. All models have a 512GB SSD but the cheaper Intel models only have 8GB of RAM. What is the difference between the Intel and AMD models of the Inspiron 14 and the Qualcomm models? The cheaper Intel Inspiron 14's have less powerful CPUs and GPUs, while the AMD models have similar performance but they are less efficient and lack the neural processor that drives Microsoft's CoPilot+ service and supports the webcam's Studio Effects filters. What's the difference between the Inspiron 14 and Inspiron 14 Plus? The main differences between the Inspiron 14 and Inspiron 14 Plus are that the Plus model has a better display with 100 per cent sRGB coverage and a superior sound system with the speakers firing upward on each side of the keyboard. The Plus model is, however, more expensive with the Qualcomm models starting at £1,019 and Intel models at £819.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI PCs encouraging businesses to upgrade faster, targeting personalized employee experiences
In 2025, AI is starting to feel like a buzzword to the general public — but for a business, it's a day-to-day reality and the path toward accelerated growth. According to an IDC white paper that was sponsored by AMD, AI PCs are driving a major PC upgrade cycle. They're pushing businesses toward switching to PCs that integrate neural processing units (NPUs) to run AI tasks locally. The white paper is based on a survey which targeted IT decision makers (ITDMs). Taking place in November 2024, the survey comprised 670 respondents from large companies (500 employees and up) located all around the world. Many were from large corporations — 195 respondents were managers (or higher) in organizations with over 5,000 employees. There's also a broad range of industries here, including design and manufacturing, finance, and telecommunications. A whopping 73% of surveyed businesses say that the release of AI PCs in the last couple of years has had a major impact on their plans, accelerating the need to refresh their PC hardware. With that said, many of these companies still run on Windows 10 (58%), which will contribute to the urgent need to upgrade. Windows 10 is reaching the end of its life cycle, which means greater security risks for companies. However, 60% of companies that are still running Windows 10 plan to upgrade to Windows 11 AI PCs that support Copilot+. Of course, the businesses in question are already using AI in their day-to-day operations; 95% of the surveyed companies already use or test AI in the cloud. AI is widely applied in manufacturing (predictive maintenance), retail (AI-driven recommendations), finance (fraud detection), and healthcare (AI-enhanced diagnostics). As seen on the above chart, employees use AI for a lot of different tasks, including summarizing documents, content creation, and automation. The benefits of AI for businesses are plenty, and the decision-makers are well aware of that fact. They cite personalized user experiences (77%), enhanced data privacy (75%), and better security (74%) as the top advantages in a business setting. Companies also expect that AI will make the lives of their employees easier, with 82% of respondents saying that they expect AI to have a positive impact on their workforce. AI will eliminate repetitive tasks (as said by 83% survey participants), help employees shift focus to the important things (79%), and increase productivity (76%). Managers remain aware of the challenges in AI adoption, however. Data privacy concerns (36%), security risks (26%), high costs (31%), and regulatory compliance issues (25%) are among the top obstacles that companies need to face. Those risks are mitigated by the use of AI PCs, which process data locally instead of turning to cloud-based solutions. AMD plays a big role in the development of new AI PCs. The company says that it's working with OEMs like Dell, HP, and Lenovo to build AI directly into their systems; it's also doing a lot of work on the software side to ensure that the most recognized AI applications are optimized for AMD-based PCs. This survey makes it clear that AI PCs are here to stay, and businesses are embracing that fact. With Windows 10 reaching end of life in October, we might see the adoption of AI PCs rise exponentially over the next year.
