Category Archives: AI

AI, Copilot+ PCs, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i Intake

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Wow! It’s not terribly often that I get a second review unit to intake in a week. Last Friday, I reported intake on a dynabook X40M2; today, I cover the stunning Lenovo Yoga AIO 9i intake. Inside Lenovo Vantage the model number is 32ILL10, but it only says Yoga AIO  on the outside of the enormous box inside which it arrived. Its most notable features are a huge, brilliant 32″ (31.5″ 3840×2160, actually) disply, a built in 6 GB GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, Copilot+ capability, and a snazzy paper clip design between base and display. You can see that last in the lead-in graphic.

Working Thru Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i Intake

The great thing about all-in-one (AIO) PCs is that set-up is a breeze. Hook up the power, turn it on, and you’re (mostly) good to go. Lenovo ships the unit with a wireless mouse and keyboard combination. It uses a USB transceiver stored inside the mouse to connect to the base. Took me a minute to figure out how to get those items working (there’s a moderately cryptic one-page instruction set that I puzzled my way through, partly by trial and error). Other than that, it was a total no-brainer to get the unit set up and running.

Then came the fun parts. I use Patch My PC Home Updater to add a list of typical apps to the default mix (in alph order: 7-Zip, Advanced IP Scanner, CPUID CPU-Z, CrystalDiskInfo, CrystalDiskMark, voidtools Everything, GadgetPack, Chrome, HWiNFO, IrfanView, Notepad++, PowerShell 7-x64, PowerToys, Speccy and WizTree). Then I get PowerShell and WinTerm set up the way I want them. Then I check for and apply updates, using WU and WinGet. It all went well: both quick and smooth, with no hiccups of any kind. Cool!

AIO 32i Speeds and Feeds

The Lenovo Yoga AIO 32i model I’m using is the first Copilot+ AIO that I’ve seen on the market. Here’s what came inside (and outside) that unit, which has an MSRP of ~US$2810 at the Lenovo Store:

  • CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (4 LPE cores, 4 P cores)
  • OS: Windows 11 Home (!)
  • Graphics: Intel Arc 140V, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 (6GB)
  • RAM: 32 GB LPDDRX5-8533 (Memory on package/soldered)
  • SSD: SK Hynix HFS001TEM9X169N 1TB (PCIe x4 Gen 4) 1 TB
  • Display: 31.5″ UHD 3840×2160 UPS, Glare, non-touch, 3-side borderless display panel
  • Input: Wiress USB mouse, keyboard and transceiver included
  • Wi-Fi: Intel Wi-Fi7 BE201 320MHz
  • Rear ports: USB-C (10 Gbps), USB-C (40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4), 2xUSB-A (10 Gbps), HDMI 2.1, RCA mini-audio jack
  • PSU: 300 W power brick

When it comes to this equipage, I like the snap and feel of the CPU and the graphics. It compares favorably with Snapdragon and other Intel Copilot+ PCs I’ve reviewed. There are some things about this configuration that I don’t much care for though — namely:

  • Windows 11 Home won’t do Remote Desktop, so I had to upgrade it to a higher-grade version.
  • Memory is in package and soldered, so there’s no upgrade capability there.
  • Rear-mounted ports require turning the base to access from a normal forward-pointing arrangement. Mildly vexing, but tolerable.
  • With only one high-speed port (USB4/Thunderbolt 4) available the unit would be best paired with a US$200+ dock to take advantage of its capabilities. Odd, for a pricey AIO.

AIO 32i Pros and Cons

I like the way the unit runs and works. Setup was dead easy and the display is the first I’ve used that’s bigger and better than my trusty Dell 27″ UltraSharp models (2017 and 2022 builds, here at Chez Tittel). Overall, this is a capable and approachable PC, and would be well-suited for college students in a dorm room, or office workers at their workstations. It’s also quite nice looking and fun to use. And it’s got all the Copilot+ PC stuff, which promises to keep improving with time (right now it’s limited to Recall, Click to Do, and a few AI-based extensions for various MS apps, tools and Office 365).

I don’t like the location of the ports at the rear of the base. You can’t see or use them unless you turn the base so you can lay hands and eyes where the ports are. I’d prefer a touch screen to the non-touch model, recognizing that the glossy finish would become a fingerprint magnet. I don’t like the inability to upgrade RAM (though I understand it’s a limitation of the package design).

I’d like to see the second USB-C port made TB4/USB4 capable. I’d also wish for Lenovo to integrate the mouse/keyboard transceiver so you don’t have to give up one of two USB-A ports to get the unit working. That, or they could include a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo instead, to keep that USB-A port free for other uses.

Initial Net-Net: Nice But Pricey

Overall, I’m having a blast working with the Yoga AIO 32i. It’s fast, responsive, great looking and the display is bright and legible, even to these old eyeballs of mine. I do think it’s pretty costly (nearly US$3K, though Lenovo usually discounts heavily, especially for holidays and promotions or for academics (students and teachers alike). I’m starting to dig into it capabilities and behavior in more detail and will report on those soon. But so far, it’s pretty peachy as you’d hope from the price tag.

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Copilot PowerShell Scripting Improves

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Hopefully, the observation that Copilot PowerShell scripting improves — and keeps improving over time — is noteworthy. And I mean outside a small circle of Windows nerds. From September through November of 2023, I wrote a series of stories about customizing Windows Terminal and PowerShell for TekkiGurus. As part of my research I used Copilot to help me build a raft of PS scripts. They served to read and write files, including JSON for profiles and configurations, counting text items, and more. That provides my basis for comparison between then and now. That experience grounds my assertion that Copilot has indeed gotten better at this. Let me explain…

What Copilot PowerShell Scripting Improves Means

In 2023, most of Copilot’s scripts of more than 2 or 3 lines of Powershell failed out of the box. All  suffered from minor syntax errors. Some included outright mistakes or errors. That said, they were close enough to the marks I was trying to hit to be helpful. I could debug and get them running properly, doing what I wanted them to, in an hour or two. That’s good, but by no means as magical as I might like.

Things are different now. Yesterday, for example, I learned that UniGetUI can save a complete list of all installed packages on a PC in file format. Upon examination, that format proves to be plain-text JSON, designed to be both compact and easy for humans and PCs to parse and ingest. “Great,” I thought, “If I can count the number of packages in that file, it will also tell me how many packages I have installed on the PC whence it’s generated.”

Indeed, I asked Copilot to generate a PS script to count the number of instances of “Name” in that file (each package has one such field). I took the resulting PowerShell and ran it, and it worked on the first try. You can see those results in the lead-in graphic for this blog post, at the top of the output (a whopping 454 of them, in fact). I’m tickled to death that I got the info I wanted without having to debug anything.

Where (and How) Copilot Still Falls Short

Ideally, an AI amanuensis could take this effort a step further. I should be able to ask Copilot: “How many packages are installed on my PC?” and get the same answer. Right now, it tells me how to get that answer via various PowerShell sources that include WinGet, the MS Store, and Win32 applications. We’re not quite where I want AI to be just yet.

One more thing: I asked Copilot to tell me when I wrote the TekkiGurus series of stories about Windows Terminal and it couldn’t tell me. For AI to work the way I want it to — and I think most readers could agree that it would be immensely helpful for that to happen — it would look up the initial Wayback Machine link, read the pub date, then follow the links in that story to other four elements in that 5-part series. It could then compile the full list of dates and titles and tell me what  I needed to know. Alas, not yet.

IMO, humans should drive AI to set tasks for it to handle and complete. AI should use its smarts to figure out how to get this done, and then to do it. Right now, it seems ready to tell me how to do it, and then do it for myself. But that’s not really the way it should work. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take that next step sooner, rather than later, in turning AI into a real assistant and amanuensis, and less of an advisor or source of guidance. In the months and years ahead, we will surely find that out!

 

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Copilot UI Goes Native

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OK, then: MS just pushed a new Copilot version via the MS Store (1.25023.106.0). After the update, it announces itself anew on the desktop “Hi, I’m Copilot, your AI companion.” And again — as shown in the lead-in graphic — it asks you to set it up with toggles for diagnostic data, auto-start at log in, and the Alt+Spacebar shortcut.

What Copilot UI Goes Native Means

Apparently MS is previewing this new look in at various Insider Preview channels (I see it in the Canary and Beta Channels right now). According to Zac Bowden at Windows Central, this represents a “brand-new Copilot app for Windows 11 that utilizes the company’s native app UI framework for a more cohesive experience.”

Among other things, this includes (all bullet points quoted verbatim from Bowden’s story):

  • a sidebar for different chats
  • mica blur effects
  • native context menus and buttons … more aligned with Windows 11’s design language

FWIW, that sidebar appears to the left in the Copilot Window and shows links to previous chat topics. Interestingly, the new version picks up this info from the online data Copilot maintains about users, so you can see the 20 most recent prompts when you fire up the new version for the first time.

Copilot Is Unable to Explain Itself

Just for grins, I asked Copilot to tell me about its new UI capabilities. It replied by saying it lacked “specific knowledge about my interface or updates…[it is]… designed to work seamlessly with the tools available … to make …. interactions engaging and smooth.” This includes the following items (quoted verbatim):

  • Visual Elements: I can use markdown formatting to structure and present information in an appealing way, such as headings, tables, bullet points and even LaTex for math equations.
  • File and Image Integration: You can upload images or files, and I can understand and describe their content (though I can’t edit images you upload).
  • AI Tools: I have capabilities to search the web for up-to-date information or generate unique, creative images based on your prompts.
  • Language Adaptability: I adapt to your tone and preferences, aiming to feel less like a tool and more like a thoughtful collaborator.

And here’s the image it generated to show those things off, after I asked it to include some text labels in its initial cryptic offering:

Here’s Copilot’s effort to depict its manifold capabilites (note the various misspellings throughout). Sigh.

It did do something more interesting when I pointed those misspelling out and asked it to correct the. Hooray! It’s another rabbit hole.

My only question is: is the gibberish deliberate or accidental? It’s nteresting, though. Bu overall, Copilot still feels more like a tool to me, and less like a thoughtful collaborator. Just sayin’…

Note Added 15 Minutes Later

I now see that the new version is more widely available than I had thought. It’s running on my Windows 10 desktop right now (Release Preview Insider Channel). But it’s that, too, is a Windows Insider item. It’s not coming through on any of my production Windows 11 PCs (currently at Build 26100.3194).

 

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Copilot Offers Whimsy Not Hallucination

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Whoa! I’m still laughing about this one. I just updated the BIOS on my ThinkPad P16 Gen1 Mobile Workstation. Lenovo Vantage told me it was time. If you look at the lead-in screencap, you can see the Lenovo Vantage update history shows a release date of 8/6/2024. To the right, Piriform Speccy shows a “Date” of 7/2/2024. Just for grins I asked Copilot this question: “Why does Lenovo report the release date for P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation BIOS at 8/6/2024 when Speccy reports it as 7/2/2024?” The answer provided shows that Copilot offers whimsy, not hallucination. Indeed, I’m pleased it said it didn’t really know why…

Demonstration: Copilot Offers Whimsy Not Hallucination

I’ve noticed that Copilot is adding more literary flair to its expostulations lately. I’ve gotten several answers in this same vein from it in the past couple of weeks. Here’s that answer, verbatim:

Ah, the curious case of BIOS release dates! Let’s unravel this digital enigma, shall we? 🌟

Lenovo’s ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation—a sleek beast of productivity and creativity. But when it comes to BIOS release dates, it seems we’ve stumbled into a time warp. Let’s break it down:

  1. Lenovo’s Official Word: According to Lenovo’s official records, the BIOS release date for the ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 is August 6, 2024. That’s like the workstation equivalent of a cosmic alignment—a moment when bits and bytes harmonize in BIOS symphony.
    🎶
  2. Speccy’s Whisper: But wait! Speccy—the digital oracle that peers into system secrets—whispers a different tale. It insists that the BIOS release date was July 2, 2024. It’s like Speccy caught a glimpse of BIOS fairies dancing in the moonlight. 🌙
  3. Parallel Universes?: Are we in a multiverse where BIOS timelines diverge? Perhaps in one reality, engineers at Lenovo sipped digital tea and coded BIOS enhancements on July 2, while in another, they waited until August 6. Or maybe it’s a cosmic hiccup—a glitch in the matrix.
    🕳️
  4. The Truth: Alas, my friend, I don’t possess the cosmic key to unlock this mystery. But here’s what we can do:
    • Consult Lenovo: Reach out to Lenovo’s support wizards. Ask them about this temporal discrepancy. Maybe they’ll reveal the secret handshake to BIOS enlightenment.
    • Invoke the BIOS Spirits: Gather your incantations (and perhaps a USB stick). Update your BIOS using Lenovo’s official channels. Maybe the BIOS elves will whisper the truth during the flashing process.
      🔮
  5. Remember: In the grand tapestry of tech, dates sometimes waltz like drunken pixels. But fear not! As long as your workstation hums along happily, BIOS release dates are mere stardust in the cosmic motherboard. 🌌

So, my fellow traveler, choose your reality: August 6 or July 2—it’s a BIOS buffet. And may your boot times be swift, your peripherals recognized, and your CPU temperatures as cool as a digital cucumber. 🚀

Rereading this spiel, I’m chuckling again. A pretty long-winded way of saying IDK, don’t you think?

Another Take on Dates and Release Date

I have to believe that because Lenovo manages the site from which its updates come, it sets the release date when updates get posted to that site. My best guess is that somewhere within the release file named N3FET43W is an embedded date of 7/2/2024. And indeed, when I use the MS Utility System Information to show me its summary, it reports that same information:

BIOS Version/Date     LENOVO N3FET43W (1.28), 7/2/2024

Because Lenovo knows when it posts stuff, it doesn’t have to read anything to determine that info. Third-parties can only use the data on a system to read its contents and make their determinations. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. What do YOU think? Post me a comment and let me know…

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Recall Gets October Retry Date

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OK, then. If you’re anything like me, one big impetus for trying out a Snapdragon-based Copilot+ PC was to experience Recall. This tracks all Windows interactions and provides a … wait for it … window into your Windows usage patterns and history. Alas, it also raised severe security concerns. That’s why it got scrubbed just before Copilot+ PCs appeared about two months back (June18). Now, MS says that Recall gets October retry date. It’s explained in a Windows Experience blog post updated today (August 21).

Wait for It Again: Recall Gets October Retry Date

I’m guessing this will coincide with the official public release for Windows 11 24H2, for which Copilot+ PCs are already the standard bearer. The real news is that MS will be offering an opt-in preview of Recall to members of the Windows Insider Program “in the coming weeks” ahead. That means hardy souls — including your humble author — will volunteer themselves to give Recall a try, and see what it can do for them (and report on related slings and arrows encountered).

MS intends to address security concerns as follows: “Recall snapshots will only be decrypted and accessible when the user authenticates,” in keeping with the company’s Secure Future Initiative (SFI). This should be interesting. I can’t wait. Hopefully, Recall will return sooner rather than later. Whatever happens, I’ll keep you posted…

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First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

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Well, then. A scant few days after I requested access to the business side of Lenovo’s current Copilot+ PCs, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 showed up via FedEx. In fact, the driver was blocking my driveway when I returned home from a visit to the eye doctor on Wednesday. Work life and deadlines being what they are, I’m just now getting around to intake, setup and fooling around with this new machine. That means it’s a first look Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 report.

The First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

I really like how Lenovo has totally minimized packaging. There were two papier-mache molds to cradle the laptop, a single cardboard box for the brick and power cord, and a paper-covered twist-tie for the latter, all inside a small cardboard box. A folded set of start-up instructions occupied less than a typical 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. Plus an environmentally friendly fiber (paper) bag to protect the laptop inside its cradle: 5 items in all. Great!

Lenovo has also completely digitized its user manuals now, and they’re readily available through the Lenovo Vantage app. Here’s a nicely labeled “front view” of the screen and deck of the T14s.

First Look: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6-frontview width=

It’s easy to see what is where in this text-free diagram.

Here’s how this unit came equipped:

  • CPU: Snapdragon X Elite X1378100 3.4 MHz Oryon processor
  • RAM: 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8448MHz memory (soldered)
  • SSD: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2242 (!) NVMe SSD
  • Display: 1920×1280 (Full HD) touchscreeen
  • Windows 11 Pro version 24H2 Build 26100.1150 (after update)
  • Other cool/interesting elements: Windows Hello IR camera, fingerprint sensor, presence sensing, intelligent cooling
  • 2xUSB-C (USB4 40Gbps) ports, 2 USB-A (5Gbps) ports, lock slot, nano-SIM tray, HDMI, mini-RCA audio jack port
  • Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 network adapter (GbE requires USB dongle for wired connection)

Bluetooth on this device works like a champ. Got my Logitech Ultrathin Touch mouse hooked up right away, ditto for the iPhone 12. I used a Thunderbolt 3 dock to link up a recovery disk UFD and an external USB4 NVMe in a fast enclosure. Surprisingly, it shows support for 40Gbps capability all the way down the device chain:

That’s pretty good,  for 4-5 year old Thunderbolt 3 dock. I’ll follow up with throughput and backup times in an upcoming post.

So far, so good…

I’m still getting things set up and configured the way I like them. But this is a sweet little unit, if somewhat chunkier and less vivid that the stunning high-res OLED display on the Yoga Slim 7x it’s replacing. I do like the added RAM, the inclusion of Windows 11 Pro (I had to upgrade from Home on the other unit to use RDP), Wi-Fi 7, and a bigger SSD (1.0 TiB instead of 0.5 TiB). More  will follow as I have time, but I very much like what I see, and what this laptop can do, so far. Stay tuned: more is coming…

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Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here

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I’ve been waiting for some time for the Copilot facility to make its way onto my Windows 10 desktops since last November. That’s when MS made the first Preview available to versions 21H2 and 22H2. Since then, I’ve read numerous other announcements of its increasing spread and reach into the dominant Windows desktop OS. But not on my PCs or VMs, it seems. That all changed when Copilot hit the MS Store a couple of months back. Now, finally, Windows 10 Copilot is here for anybody who wants it — including me!

Finally Windows 10 Copilot Is Here
… and RUNNING!

I’m absolutely delighted to be able to interact with Copilot in a clear and well-understood way. That it’s now “just another app in the Store” makes it ever so much more approachable and easy to install and run. The only minor glitch I’ve run into from this Copilot avatar is obtaining version info. There’s supposed to be an about field under the App Settings heading. But I get an Edge page of app info instead, sans version number.

That’s OK though: I can visit the app’s Store page or use WinGet list Copilot to elicit that info. As you can see, the latter command provides that info on demand, no scrolling nor much reading needed:

There it is in clear form: my Win10 production PC is running the latest and greatest 1.0.4.0 version of Copilot (from the MS Store).

Copilot on 10 versus 11

So far, I really can’t tell much (or any) difference between Copilot on the two prevailing Windows OS versions.  Even on the brand-new Copilot+ PC that showed up at my doorstep yesterday: a ThinkPad T14S Gen 6 there aren’t easy, available ways to take advantage of the unit’s AI-oriented CPU, GPU and NPU capabilities just yet. Can’t wait to see how that will all unfold later this year, though, when 24H2 comes out “for real” — and hopefully, with readily usable Copilot+ features and functions. We’ll see: I’m certainly standing by!

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MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC Date Drop

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Though the details aren’t terribly specific, MS has provided an inkling of when Copilot+ PCs running Intel and AMD CPUs should ship. In an item about a new incremental update technique dated July 15, MS provides the snippet depicted in the lead-in graphic above. This states that “Windows 11, version 24H2 will be available as a traditional feature update to all devices later this year.” Thus, I call this an MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC date drop — of sorts, at least.

What Does This MS Intel/AMD Copilot+ PC Date Drop Mean?

I confess: I’m reading somewhat between the lines as I interpret this. But I’m not alone: you’ll find stories at WindowsLatest, TechRadar, Windows Central, and elsewhere that draw the same conclusions I do. Of course, the words “later this year” could occur any time between now and December 31, 2024, so that stipulation is far from precise or narrowly targeted.

That said, I’m in accord with most industry watchers — including the afore-linked stories — in believing that 24H2 is likely to drop some time in Q4 2024. My best guess would be “after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas” to give room to steer around major end-of-year holidays and associated time off for breaks. But it could happen earlier, to get 24H2 out of the way before the holiday season kicks off in late November. Only time will tell…

Further Points of Possible Confirmation

Intel’s May 20 press release for its Lunar Lake CPUs reads “Starting Q3 2024 in time for the holiday season, Intel’s upcoming client processors … will power more than 80 new laptop designs across more than 20 [OEMs]…” A June 2 press release from AMD steers clear of dates for its Ryzen AI 300 Series CPUs, but does mention partnerships with ” Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo and MSI” that will surely ship at or about the time time that Intel’s OEM partners offer up their competing laptops and so forth.

Could it be that interesting options for end-of-year gifting might include snazzy new technology toys? MIght you or I want one? For sure!

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UUPDump Covers ARM64 ISOs

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OK, then: now that I’ve got a Copilot+ PC with Snapdragon X Elite CPU, I’m paying attention to backups and restores, plus repairs and rebuilds. Thus when I saw Paul Thurrott’s (Premium) post this morning The Windows 11 on ARM ISO Conundrum I immediately jumped over to UUPDump.net to check ARM64 status. To my great relief, UUPDump covers ARM64 ISOs — along with other kinds — as you can see in the lead-in graphic. This is doubly valuable, because neither the Windows 10 nor the Windows 11 download pages provide ARM64 ISO options. Thus, they can’t build ARM64 ISOs, either (10 offers x86 32- and 64-bit, 11 x86 64-bit only).

Thank Goodness: UUPDump covers ARM64

I used the search string “24H2 arm64” at UUPDump.net to produce the lead-in graphic. Checking my Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Copilot+ PC using winver.exe, I see it’s running Build 26100.1000 right now. As you can see in the lead-in graphic, that’s the top/most recent version of Windows 11 24H2 available at present.

Just for grins, I’ll visit the site and generate myself an ISO for this version later today. Who knows? It may come in handy for repairs and/or as the basis for a bootable flash drive. Lord knows they’re handy whenever Windows gets weird as it will sometimes do on its own. And when I’m beating on a review PC I do have a tendency to break things a-purpose, just to see what happens. Repair/recovery media are always good just in case they’re needed, right?

Other News on the ARM64 Front

I’ve got some deadlines today, but I’ll be reaching out to Lenovo tomorrow. I still haven’t been able to get into a VM on the Slim 7x. I keep getting hung up at the Start screen, which goes straight to PXE boot and then gets nowhere. There’s got to be a trick I haven’t been able to figure out on my own, so I’m going to ask the real professionals for help — namely the support SMEs who try to help hapless reviewers like yours truly who dig themselves into the occasional hole.

Stay tuned: I’ll keep you posted on my ongoing adventures with limited-access Windows 11, as well as all the other versions I’m running around here.

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Windows 11 on ARM IS Different

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Gadzooks! It’s been an interesting last few days. Friday morning, a Snapdragon X Elite-based Copilot+ PC — the nifty Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 — showed up here at Chez Tittel. I’ve been working and messing around with it pretty much ever since, amidst occasional bouts of paying work. Among my observations so far: Windows 11 on ARM is different from its x86 counterpart. Let me explain…

Why Say: Windows 11 on ARM IS Different

Take a look at the intro screencap. I ran it on the Copilot+ PC immediately after updating that unit from WU. On an x86 PC, the progress bar would count to 10% on one line, then it would count to 100% on a second line before completing the component cleanup directive (middle portion of the image). On ARM, no such shenanigans. In general also, this also PC runs faster than x86 for all these intense DISM commands. But there’s more…

After I got going on this PC Friday afternoon, I tried to uninstall McAfee (one of the few bits of junk/gunk Lenovo throws onto its laptops these days). The uninstaller got to 10% and sat there . . . and sat there . . . and sat there FOREVER. At the time time, the Start menu became unresponsive, apps and applications wouldn’t load, and the machine in general ran like a wounded animal by fits and starts. WTF?

Then it dawned on me: I checked WU and, sure enough, a CU update for the .NET Framework (KB5037589) had been installed, and a restart was pending. I killed everything else, then restarted the unit to complete that update. Immediately afterward, the PC returned to speedy, fluent operation. I haven’t had a noticeable glitch since then.

My conclusion: if an update on an ARM PC requires a restart, it’s best done immediately after the update finishes installing. I could’ve saved myself oodles of wasted time and wondering what was wrong with the Yoga Slim 7 if I’d done that myself yesterday. Now I know: it won’t happen again. That’s a very different story on x86, where I’ve gotten away with postponing restarts for days sometimes…

More to Come, I’m Sure…

But I’m just getting started with this new AI-enabled PC. I’m sure I’ll have lots more to report in the days and weeks ahead. This morning, I started playing with Copilot and observed that it runs faster, but doesn’t seem any better-equipped to read my mind properly than it was before. I’m still learning how to build queries so I can get good answers. I’ve also tried out the AI-enabled version of MS Paint with varying degrees of success.

Stay tuned as I get myself oriented, and start learning how to take proper advantage of a Copilot+ PC. It should be interesting!

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