The Surface Pro 9 may have been announced just last week, but it's already brought me back to a time from Microsoft's past. It was 2012 and Microsoft released the Surface RT, a fancy new 2-in-1 tablet that reinvented how we thought about the laptop PC. But there was one thing that Microsoft also included that ended up being the prime reason that device failed: Windows.

As things often go with Microsoft, it happened again a few years later in 2019 with the Surface Pro X. It brought a bold and redesigned take on the Surface Pro, which mainly had a rinse-and-repeat design, but Windows 10 clearly wasn't cut out for the tablet.

You see, the Surface RT was powered by a locked-down, Arm-specialized version of Windows 8 known as Windows RT, which had a very bad app store and couldn't run classic Win32 apps. The Surface Pro X, while it did run select Win32 apps in Windows 10, also suffered performance issues due to what enthusiasts like me have come to know as "Windows on Arm."

However, the Surface Pro 9 brings an Arm-based chip to one of Microsoft's main PCs for the first time — and not a breakout product like the Surface Pro X. With it, Microsoft is showing that it's learned from Windows and Surface past, and has finally made Windows on Arm ready for the mainstream.

All about that app emulation

The main reasons the Surface RT failed had a lot to do with its inability to run classic Win32 Windows apps and web browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Years later, Microsoft tried to fix those mistakes with the Surface Pro X by ensuring the device was compatible with a smaller library of Win32 apps through emulation.

On the Surface Pro X, many apps that weren't coded by developers to be native to Windows on Arm architecture ran under 32-bit emulation. As good as it sounded, that emulation performance was still behind expectations. This was because, at the time, many developers were already pushing their apps to 64-bit formats, which weren't compatible with the Windows on Arm emulation layer.

Just ask all the tech reviewers who tried running Google Chrome, only to have it crash or not run properly. Heck, even I dismissed the Surface Pro X as "the Surface I tried to love but ended up hating."

Well, in 2022 that's now changed. Thanks to Windows 11 on the Surface Pro 9, you can now run 64-bit apps on Windows on Arm without issues. Just like how 32-bit app emulation was built-into Windows 10 on Arm, Windows 11 now includes 64-bit app emulation on Arm-based systems. Yes, it is true some apps and games still won't work properly even with this layer of emulation, but this still unlocks the benefits of better performance so that apps could pull more memory on Windows on Arm systems.

And speaking of performance. The last point I want to mention brings me to the power of the chip inside the Surface Pro 9. I haven't tried one yet, but I know that it is based on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cX Gen 3 inside the ThinkPad X13s. The previous generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cX chips were very underwhelming in terms of performance. Between 8cX generations, you'll be getting 85% faster CPU performance and 60% faster GPU performance.

This isn't nearly as good as what Apple has done with a MacBook M1, but it's a huge step forward. I've found that the performance is even as good as an older 10th-generation Intel Core i5 CPU. Putting this powerful Arm-based chip on a Surface Pro 9 right up against Intel shows that Windows on Arm is ready. Microsoft wants you to try it, and enjoy it. And I hope it helps the Surface Pro 9 end up as one of the best Surface devices the company has ever made.

Microsoft shows it cares about Windows on Arm

When the Surface Pro X was released, it was a strange time for Microsoft. The Windows team and Surface team were separate. In 2022, Panos Panay is now in charge of both. He's been pushing great software for Windows as well as hardware, and it shows in a few different moves that Microsoft has made over the last few months. This is another reason why the Surface Pro 9 shows Windows on Arm is ready.

You see, unlike when the Surface Pro X was around, Microsoft is showing developers that it's finally taking Windows on Arm seriously. Visual Studio, which developers use to code apps, is now natively coded for Windows 11 without emulation. The Microsoft Edge browser works without emulation, and even the Camera app on the Surface Pro 9 is now optimized for Arm, with powerful Windows Studio visual effects that can blur your background. Other apps like Microsoft Teams are optimized, too.

To sum it up, the basic apps people use every day on a Surface Pro 9 are optimized and ready for Windows on Arm.

Microsoft is even working on Project Volterra, an Arm-based mini PC just for developers to use to code apps. If that doesn't show that Windows on Arm is getting serious, then I don't know what else will. Outlying apps like Photoshop might not work the best on Windows on Arm, but for productivity, Windows on Arm is ready. Microsoft did its part, and now it's up to developers to jump on the platform.

Closing thoughts: Microsoft is listening & the future is bright

To close, I want to mention something that a lot of people have complained about in the past. Microsoft is clearly listening to feedback now when it comes to Windows on Arm. It's no longer just something that feels like an afterthought. Microsoft wants Windows on Arm to fit your needs. It just needed the correct flagship software.

What's the best display of that? It's the recent arrival of an Arm-native Xbox app. This was one of the missing pieces for those who might want to game on Windows on Arm, and it's finally here. Again, it might have taken Microsoft a while to get that right, but it's now there. And if that has been fixed, I'm sure the other things Windows Insiders have complained about will, too. I believe in Microsoft, and things can only get better from here on out.