Here’s something interesting to ponder. On my current Copilot+ PC — a nifty Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 — I found myself poking around in Device Manager this morning. After looking around pretty extensively, I wrote some quickie PowerShell to dump all device names into a text file. It confirmed what I’d already observed informally: there’s no mention of Intel (the well-known PC device maker) anywhere therein. Hence my claim that Qualcomm manages Intel end-around in building its latest Snapdragon X PCs. The lead-in graphic confirms my claim, insofar as showing no explicit use of “intel” or “Intel” in Device Manager friendly names.

What Qualcomm Manages Intel End-Around Means

It’s pretty hard to build a complete PC package without buying at least some parts from Intel. Cases in point: AMD-based PCs and laptops. Over the years, I have seen many designs that mixed and mingled Intel and AMD devices along with those from other vendors (e.g.  A-Volute, Microsoft, Realtek, Logitech, and more). That said, I will also note that my 2021 Asrock B-550 Ryzen 7 5800x build also comes up dry on Intel components.

In particular, I’ve seen plenty of AMD laptops and desktops that included Intel Bluetooth, USB and/or Ethernet adapters or controllers (sometimes both) as part of their bills of materials. But wow: Qualcomm seems to have pulled off an entirely Intel-free build capability. I say “seems” because I’m going off text data from Device Manager, not absolute conclusive knowledge.

Grabbing Friendly Device Names to Check for Intel

Here’s the PowerShell I used to create a text file for so-called “Friendly Name” values for devices known to DevMgr. These match the legends it uses to identify devices inside its own listings. Note: you must create the C:\temp directory to ensure the third command creates the output file properly if one doesn’t already exist on your PC.

$devices = Get-PnpDevice | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FriendlyName
$outputFile = “C:\temp\DeviceNames.txt”
$devices | Out-File -FilePath $outputFile -Encoding utf8

Then, you can use notepad (as I did in the lead-in graphic), open DeviceNames.txt in the C:\temp folder and search for the string “Intel(R) ” or “intel(R) ” (note the text-based registered trademark chars at the end of the search string ) to see if the company pops up anywhere. It doesn’t. Amazing!

Battery Saver is out, and Energy Saver is in for Windows 11 version 24H2. You can see the new power management capability in Settings > System > Power & Battery in Build 26100 on Copilot+ PCs. For example, see the top elements in the lead-in graphic. When 24H2 adopts Energy Saver, this does come with some behavioral changes, too. Read on for more info and an MS Learn link.

When 24H2 Adopts Energy Saver, Then What?

Good question, and one that MS addresses directly in an MS Learn article entitled Energy Saver (dated 6/24/2024). Basically Energy Saver kicks in at a certain level of remaining battery capacity, and restricts Windows 11’s ordinary behaviors to — wait for it — save energy. Note: here’s a shout-out to Mayank Parmar at Windows Latest for bringing this to my attention.

Energy Saver Particulars

Check out the MS Learn article for all the details, but here’s a thumbnail summary of how Energy Saver works:

1. It kicks in when remaining charge levels dip to a certain level. It’s user-settable, and defaults to 30% (see lead-in graphic).

2. Users can turn Energy Saver on or off via Quick Settings in the system tray as needed. MS recommends enabling Energy Saver all the time. It can even be set to work when a laptop is plugged into AC.

3. When Energy Saver is on, users cannot change power mode in Settings. Display brightness is reduced by 30% (users can toggle this setting, and OEMs can alter this value). Transparency effects for window backgrounds are disabled.

4. For unplugged devices with charge levels below the energy saver threshold, these other behaviors will manifest:

a. MS apps — e.g. OneNote, OneDrive, Phone Link, and so forth — may not sync to save energy.

b. Background apps will not run in the background unless specifically enabled. Certain app categories are exempted (e.g. VoIP) to preserve communications.

c. Non-critical Windows update downloads are blocked, but update scans still occur.

d. Telemetry is (mostly) blocked except for critical items (e.g. census data).

e. Task scheduler ignores IdleSettings and MaintenanceSettings, and runs tasks only if a user is logged on.

For all the details, please consult the MS Learn article. This will change how Windows behaves when PCs update to 24H2 and beyond, so these alterations are worth pondering. For further details on energy saver status tracking see the MS Learn item for SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS. Cheers!