In another blow for Intel’s “Arrow Lake” or Core Ultra 200S platform, testing has confirmed that SSDs inserted into an M.2 slot on a Intel X890 motherboard won’t achieve their full performance. The SSD Review (via Tom’s Hardware) found that SSDs inserted into an X890 motherboard achieved 12GB/s sequential read speeds, rather than the 14GB/s speeds the PCI Gen 5 SSDs care capable of. The site’s testing was confirmed by Intel, which said that the shortcoming was due to a longer die-to-die data path. The site’s findings affect those who have invested in the latest hardware technology. Right now, the most bang for your buck in the best SSDs probably comes from PCI Gen 4 SSDs, which are about half the price per gigabyte of their PCIe 5.0 cousins. PCIe 5.0 SSDs only make sense if the PC supports them, which is why they’re reserved for the latest AMD and Intel motherboards, including the X890 boards which power Intel’s Arrow Lake desktop chip like the Core Ultra 9 285K. Intel’s X890 includes up to 24 PCIe 4 lanes, but the chipset or motherboard really isn’t at fault. Adding the 285K Arrow Lake CPU (part of the Intel 200S desktop family) increases the number of PCIe lanes to 48, including 20 PCIe 5.0 lanes, which are routed through the processor’s I/O tile. In a statement Intel gave to the site, the company said that the PCIe lanes may exhibit increased latencies because of a longer die-to-die data path. The SSD Review’s results were pretty straightforward, though: the site tested two Gen5 SSDs on Intel’s Z890 chipset, and again on the Z790 chipset. On the Z790, sequential reads hit 14GB/s; on the Z890, they fell to 12GB/s, a 14 percent drop. Intel’s Arrow Lake chips promised parity performance with the older Raptor Lake generation but with substantially lower power. PCWorld’s tests showed a 17 percent drop in power along with poorer-than-expected performance. Intel spent the remainder of 2024 pledging to fix the problems with the chip. It’s not clear whether Intel will be able to patch this issue out, too, or just learn from its mistakes. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fantastic story with secrets, surprises, and twists at every turn Exciting and fun battles with a mix of tactics and well-balanced reactions Interesting characters who go through their own development Well-written dialogues and successful voice acting Atmospheric soundtrack Cons Relatively short playing time for the main story alone (but not a full-price title) Minor technical problems Even on the normal difficulty level, some battles are almost unfair (but always doable!) Level sections are rather tubular Our Verdict Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a magical, gripping, and technically impressive RPG that delivers a rich story, clever gameplay, and enchanting atmosphere—despite a few rough edges from its small-studio origins. Fans of complex fantasy and mystery-laden role-playing games will find much to love. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The French role-playing game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is fast becoming the surprise hit of the year. On release, the game earned some top ratings, and in our test, we’re very enthusiastic about this mix of magical game world, brutal battles, and mystery. This success is all the more astonishing when you consider that the title comes from a fairly small development studio called Sandfall Interactive. It also happens to be their first game. In this review, we’ll explain why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a must-have for every role-playing game fan. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: A story to fall in love with The first trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wowed with its creative setting, which opens up an exciting dilemma. A major catastrophe nearly wipes out humanity, leaving it stranded in the city of Lumière. However, the last survivors are anything but safe, because across the sea a huge monolith protrudes from the old continent. In front of it, seemingly asleep, lies a huge, cloaked figure: the painter. Every year she awakens and writes a number on the boulder, and shortly afterwards all the people who have reached the age previously written die. At the beginning of the game, this number changes from 34 to 33, and our main character, Gustave, has to watch his great love, Sophie, die and be blown away by the wind, as she is one year older and is consumed by the painter’s curse. But is it a curse at all, or is there something else behind it? That’s precisely what Gustave has to find out. He joins Expedition 33. Every year, an expedition group sets off for the old continent to find out the secret of the painter and stop her from wiping out further generations. Otherwise, humanity’s days will soon be numbered when the countdown reaches zero. Gustave is joined on the journey by his sister Maelle, who is actually far too young for the expedition but is determined; the inquisitive Lune; the optimistic Sciel; and other adventure-seekers (or rather those who are tired of life). Numerous dangers await them on the continent, including deadly creatures such as the Nevrons, which can range from giant stone creatures to creepy ghostly beings. Although not all of them are hostile, some are even peaceful and want to help. We have yet to find out exactly why. The world of Clair Obscur is populated by strange creatures, the Nevrons. Many of them are aggressive and hostile, but we can talk to some of them and fulfil tasks for them. Kepler Interactive An old man poses the greatest danger, possessing the ability to wipe out the entire expedition in a single stroke and appearing to have escaped the painter’s curse. What is his goal, and why have almost no survivors returned from previous expeditions? The game answers most of these questions, which we encounter in the course of the story, in a satisfying way and makes us want to keep playing to find out more. The game leaves certain aspects unresolved, allowing for individual interpretation. There is a balance between the provided answers and your own creative interpretation. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Approachable characters with deep traumas In addition to the numerous secrets, which we don’t want to give away here, the highlight of the story is the characters. Every character in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 comes across as well thought out and multi-layered. They also experience a wide range of emotions, and thanks to the fantastic staging, we feel and sympathize with everything. While Gustave seems confident at first and hopes to make a difference with the expedition, the horror of the continent quickly plunges him into a mix of despair, survivor’s guilt, and fear. Then he is once again determined to at least protect his little sister. The dialogues are lively and make you feel like you’re talking to real people. Unfortunately, they are not always lip-synced. Kepler Interactive His sister, Maelle, on the other hand, seems distant and less open, but she actually has a big heart and is also deeply shaken by the losses the expedition has suffered. Plagued by nightmares, she wants above all to try to protect her friends and will herself play a bigger role in the story than initially suspected. Lune stands out as the most enigmatic character due to her remarkable abilities, inquisitive nature, and unwavering determination to persevere through the journey, even in the face of others’ despair. But she finds it hard to accept that they were not prepared for the dangers of this unknown world. With each additional party member, the troupe around Gustave grows and is expanded with new personalities. The superbly written dialogues help us build relationships with the characters and learn what drives them. And desperately want them to survive this crazy journey. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: These battles have it all In terms of gameplay, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 combines classic role-playing game virtues such as a relatively freely explorable game world, grippingly staged cutscenes, character development, item search, and, of course, the battles. These are turn-based, so when we encounter an opponent, we switch to a new screen. There we combine normal attacks, powerful abilities, and items to survive against the various monsters. Understanding their weaknesses and exploiting them wisely is the most important aspect. The battles are an exciting mix of round tactics and quick time events. A skilful combination of skills, buffs and debuffs is required here. Kepler Interactive The developers combine the fairly static gameplay, in which we have to decide how best to proceed move by move, with additional quick-time events in which we have to dodge, parry, or strengthen attacks. We can also shoot freely to hit particular weak points. This makes the whole thing much more varied and exciting. What’s more, by dodging perfectly, we can also complete fights without taking any damage. Additionally, using perfect parries can trigger powerful counterattacks from the entire party, which can sometimes be decisive in battle. Each character has their own unique strengths, which can be combined with the attacks of others. Gustave builds up his overcharge meter for particularly strong attacks, marks enemies with shots so that further attacks do more damage, and strengthens his allies with buffs. Lune in turn, uses elemental attacks that can slow down, set enemies on fire, or paralyze them. Maelle, in turn, adopts special combat stances in which she either takes less damage, deals more damage, or can perform particularly powerful attacks. Each character has their own strengths in battle. The youngest of the team, Maelle, can adopt various fighting stances and deals a lot of damage with her sword. Kepler Interactive To strengthen our characters, we can level up their abilities, collect weapons and improve them in the camp, and upgrade their attributes. This process is hugely motivating, as it not only makes battles easier but also unlocks new effects and combinations. This instance includes the Pictos, which give us passive values, such as more damage from burning enemies or particularly strong bonuses that we trigger when we activate certain abilities. The combat system can be a little overwhelming at first, especially if you are not used to turn-based games like Final Fantasy or Baldur’s Gate , in which we also have to act skillfully with our hero troop to win in the end. In particular, the boss battles and enemies guarding treasures can be quite challenging. With some practice, you can master the art of reacting accurately to enemy attack patterns and combining abilities to maximize damage. The outcome is really satisfying and fun, which means that the battles never get boring. The variety of enemy types in each area adds to the excitement. The mage Lune combines various elemental attacks or can heal allies. She also floats above the ground – enviable. Kepler Interactive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Beautiful game world with a hose problem The game world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 deserves a mention in its own right because of the careful attention to detail and design. While we start off in a magical and appealing fantasy world with glowing trees, we later enter an underwater world or a rugged mountain range from which we can view the remnants of an ancient civilization. In addition, there are many other areas that amaze the characters and us as players every time. The world is not completely open but is divided into these smaller regions. These are in turn connected by an overworld, which we can view from a bird’s-eye view and select our next objectives. In between, we can also set up camp, rest, make adjustments to our weapons, and talk to our companions, just like in Baldur’s Gate 3. In the sections where we explore the world, we can also take a short breather at expedition flags. This is where small mechanics from Soulslikes such as refilling flasks and respawning enemies come into play. Apart from that, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not comparable to Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and so on. A particular highlight are the boss battles, in which we have to be extremely careful not to bite the dust. Especially on higher difficulty levels. Kepler Interactive This is also due to the fact that most of the levels are designed to be rather convoluted but can’t hide this as cleverly as other games. Every now and then we accidentally ran round in circles because we couldn’t orient ourselves and wanted to take another look to see if there was a treasure or a special enemy hiding somewhere. However, these levels are also manageable. Occasionally it’s even worth returning to a section to fulfill a side task or try a fight again that we failed last time. Which can certainly happen, because every now and then a single enemy suddenly raises the difficulty level to an extreme, which almost feels unfair. However, the game does a pretty good job of repeatedly holding the symbolic carrot in front of our noses so that we can move on and explore more secrets. As a result, the world continues to unfold for us, and in the end we have such a varied journey behind us that we can easily forgive even the small moments of frustration. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: The technology is convincing (with some compromises) We played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on the PlayStation 5 Pro and encountered hardly any problems. The game looks beautiful, and the strengths of Unreal Engine 5 are particularly noticeable in the detailed character models, the fantastic lighting mood, the rich colors, and the impressive views. The performance was also very good throughout, with only a few cutscenes experiencing slight stutters. In the battles, however, everything ran smoothly, even when many effects hit the enemies or our characters one after the other. We would also like to emphasize the soundtrack because it’s fantastic. The studio also brought in well-known voice actors such as Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate 3), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), Charlie Cox (Daredevil), and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI). The only drawback here is that although the dialogue sounds great, it is not always lip-synced. This is particularly evident when we click on dialogues instead of merely listening to a sequence. But we usually focus on the characters’ facial expressions and emotions, so you only notice this if you pay close attention. Dirt, blood, and tears often cover them, adding to the realism and rawness of the scene. It is especially sad that the characters sometimes get stuck on objects or twitch strangely when we attempt to jump over them. This condition also means that you need several attempts to hit the target in jump passages. These are moments when you realize that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not a AAA game but is the work of a small team. These flaws can be forgiven, however, because in the end what counts most is the vision that has been realized here and the passion with which this world, the story, and the characters have been created. The wonderful soundtrack also contributes greatly to the atmosphere. Just listen to it, and you’ll get a fantastic feel for the mood of the game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Conclusion Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a truly exceptional game because it manages to do something that many big developers and publishers fail to do these days: create an experience that will stay with you for years to come. Rarely have we looked forward so much to immersing ourselves in a world and discovering more of its secrets. We relish the opportunity to interact with the characters, who consistently deliver captivating moments and unexpected revelations. Although Clair Obscur doesn’t have to compete with Baldur’s Gate 3 and Final Fantasy VII, it’s almost on par with those titles. It almost creates its own genre and cleverly combines elements from tactical RPGs, adventure games, open-world games, and much more. We can warmly recommend it to anyone who is in the mood for creative and unusual ideas, especially as the current gaming landscape is really struggling in this respect. What’s more, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 costs $49.99 on Steam, so it’s not a full-price title. Game Pass owners can even play it for free. However, you can expect a slightly shorter playing time (around 30 hours) if you only follow the main story. But the overall experience is absolutely fair and definitely worth the price. Read...

The whole point of Microsoft Copilot Vision for Windows is that it’s like an AI assistant, looking over your shoulder as you struggle through a task and making suggestions. Click here. Do this! So, I was pretty convinced that if Microsoft were to release Copilot Vision for testing, it would be able to do something simple like help me play Windows Solitaire. But no. Oh no, no, no. Sometimes, Microsoft’s new Copilot Vision for Windows feels like a real step forward for useful AI: this emerging Windows technology sees what you see on your screen, allowing you to talk to your PC and ask it for help. Unfortunately, that step ahead is often followed by that cliché: two steps back. Copilot Vision for Windows is, at times, genuinely helpful. At others, it’s just plain frustrating. What is Copilot Vision for Windows? Outside of some nostalgic tears by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the announcement of Copilot Vision for Windows was the highlight of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration at the company’s Redmond, Washington campus. It’s a visionary technology, pretty literally: you grant access to Windows Copilot to see and interpret your screen in real time, and you can talk to Windows to ask questions and seek advice. I went hands-on with Copilot Vision at Microsoft’s HQ, but the demos were short and carefully managed. Now, you can play with it yourself as long as you’re a Windows Insider. How to get Microsoft Copilot Vision for Windows Currently, Copilot Vision for Windows is just available for testing. Although Microsoft indicated that Copilot Vision for Windows would be available to all of its beta software channels, only two of my test laptops ever received the build: one on the Dev Channel and one on the Canary Channel. The first to get it, an Acer Swift Edge laptop with a Ryzen 7840U inside, runs Vision slowly, with reaction times that seemed to stretch to half a minute early on. Though the response time dropped to a few seconds, I had a far better experience with the Surface Laptop 7 or 7th Edition, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip inside. Responses were essentially instantaneous, probably due to the more powerful NPU. Open Copilot, and then click the “glasses” icon in the lower right-hand corner to launch Copilot Vision for Windows.Mark Hachman / Foundry Copilot Vision for Windows is easy to use: provided your PC is provisioned for it, just launch the Copilot app via the Taskbar or Start menu, and then tap the “eyeglasses” icon. You’ll then see a list of apps for you to “share” with Copilot Vision. Only then can it see that specific app, and just that app. I put a test version of Copilot Vision for Windows through seven quick scenarios: interpreting the contents of a PCWorld story and a list of competing airfares; testing Balatro, a popular PC game that involves playing cards; the more generic and classic Solitaire game; photo identification; examining potential airfares; and help operating Adobe Photoshop. Copilot Vision was all over the board. 1.) Copilot Vision’s first test: understanding tariffs The first and most important lesson of Copilot Vision is it only sees what you see. I realized this when I opened my colleague Alaina Yee’s early examination of the Trump Administration’s tariff plan from April. Copilot Vision for Windows didn’t immediately “see” the whole article — which is what Copilot, Google Gemini, or ChatGPT in its “research” modes likely would. What you see is what Copilot Vision gets, so looking at this screen isn’t useful until you scroll down a bit. If I scanned down, it could “read” along. But it didn’t read it into memory, either. What it didn’t see, it forgot. I asked it to confirm, and it couldn’t tell me the opening sentence. That makes its utility rather limited. What was handy was being able to ask it conversational questions: at the time, the products in question were subject to a 45 percent tariff. Being able to ask it what the price of the dock would be if a 100 percent or 145 percent tariff was applied was handy. Copilot Vision is still a little wordy, but that was okay. The bigger issue is that it was reluctant to add context, such as to point out the current state of the tariff situation. 2.) Does Copilot Vision work as a Balatro coach? One of the things I’ve been thinking about was the Minecraft demo, where Copilot Vision stepped in with help on some very specific scenarios. It made me suspicious, naturally; what I was seeing was carefully scripted to make Copilot Vision look as useful as possible. I think that’s true. I figured the popular indie game, Balatro, would be a better use of its talents. What Copilot told me is that it wouldn’t just spontaneously interject, so if it “saw” something useful or dangerous, it wouldn’t just pipe up and say something. It needs to be asked. What Copilot Vision for Windows saw on my screen, beginning a new game of Balatro. How many queens do you see?Mark Hachman / Foundry Balatro is vaguely like video poker, but with a twist: not only do you have to try and come up with the best poker hands, there are twists — “jokers” modify your hands and your score, so strategy means some careful choices. Would Copilot Vision be able to recognize what I needed to do and give advice? Absolutely not. Copilot Vision was absolutely able to recognize that I was playing Balatro, and upon the game’s opening, it identified the choices I had before me. Copilot didn’t make the decisions for me, but it tried to present my options, as in the screenshot above. That’s good, right? Copilot Vision saw two queens, which isn’t a good start.Mark Hachman / Foundry Well, no. Copilot Vision failed to recognize that I didn’t have a pair of queens, which meant that its advice was off from the start. It also couldn’t properly recognize the cards that I did have, like incorrectly identifying seven of diamonds when I didn’t have one. 3.) Solitaire is simpler, right? I then figured, well, let’s dumb it down a bit. I launched a new game of Windows Solitaire, specifically FreeCell, thinking that Copilot would be able to understand the simple rules and act accordingly. Absolutely not. Copilot Vision suffered the same problem that it had with Balatro: its object recognition was way off. It repeatedly invented cards that weren’t on the board, although it did understand how to move cards from column to column and to the foundation. It’s just whatever game Copilot Vision was playing wasn’t actually present on the screen. I quickly gave up. Mark Hachman / Foundry I’m not sure you’re the best Solitaire player, I said. “Fair point! It’s all about having fun, though,” Copilot replied. “If nothing else, I’ve got your back for the banter. Let’s keep playing and see where it goes. Ready for another move?” No, I wasn’t. 4.) Can Copilot stop me from being fired? Next, I tried what I thought was an easy one: I had another AI draft a complaint letter to a fictional boss, expressing displeasure at our fictional company’s corporate strategy. As I had asked Google Gemini to draft a professional note, Copilot thought that my tone and language were fine. I then added a line at the end: “You’re ugly and have a big fat head. I also don’t like your hat.” Copilot was pretty cool with me calling out my “boss” for his subpar looks and fashion choices.Mark Hachman / Foundry Either Copilot Vision didn’t recognize that I had made a possibly career-threatening edit or else didn’t care. In fact, I’m pretty sure it didn’t care, as the conversation continues. (Remember, I’m speaking here, so the transcription isn’t perfect. A plus in Copilot Vision’s favor is that it does lend itself to a conversation, rather than a series of commands.) Confirmed: calling your boss ugly is fine.Foundry Either way, it wouldn’t be a tool I would depend upon for career advice. 5.) Who are these people? I asked Copilot to identify the four actors from the iconic promotional still from The Breakfast Club, using a collection of images curated by Bing’s Image Search. Interestingly, Copilot Vision seemed like it would, but it was ordered not to. “Sorry, I can’t identify specific people in photos unless they’re famous figures,” Copilot responded. “This image seems related to ‘The Breakfast Club’ movie.” Lots of clues here as to who these actors are. Most photos have all five main actors included, and this has only four. That tripped up Copilot Vision for Windows. When I tried again, Copilot Vision for Windows identified the five actors who made up the principal cast of the film but gave the answer I was looking for when I replied that I only saw four. That felt like Copilot had been issued commands not to try and “dox” people unless they were public figures. Interestingly, Copilot Vision seemed to be able to recognize the actors by itself. When I asked it to identify a photo of Rodney Dangerfield (after it made me say that it was a famous person), it replied: “I identified him from the context provided in your window title, which mentioned “15 intriguing facts about Rodney Dangerfield.” Plus, the image matches his recognizable look. Intrigued by his comedic style?” 6.) Picking the best flight By this time I had figured out that Copilot Vision wouldn’t be much help in picking a flight, and I wasn’t wrong. Because Copilot Vision can only see what I can see, scrolling up and down a list of available flights from Oakland to San Diego didn’t provide it with much to work with, and it wasn’t sure whether I preferred a cheap flight, one with minimal stopovers, and so on. It was probably a personal preference to begin with. Some smartphones allow you to take “screenshots” of the entire length of the web page. I’d prefer something like this as an option. (It’s possible, though, that Copilot Vision works like Windows Recall, taking temporary “snapshots” that it works from. In Recall’s case, if you don’t see it, Recall doesn’t either.) 7.) Copilot Vision as a Photoshop tutor This was where I felt Copilot Vision could really be of assistance, and I still think it could be. I actually like the way that Microsoft Paint now adds layers and subtracts backgrounds, both Photoshop-like features that Microsoft’s tools have adopted. But Photoshop offers many options that Paint does not, though I’m not comfortable using them. This is where Copilot Vision shined, as I went back and forth adding images to different layers and making adjustments. The one thing it does not do is visually highlight elements on the screen for you to interact with — as Microsoft originally demonstrated — meaning that it had to literally talk me through a few things. Referring to the Move tool as a “four-point arrow” was pretty helpful. Note that it was referring to what I was working with on screen, which made it relevant. It’s a little tricky to show you what I was doing at the time, but the screenshot below will give you an idea of our conversation. I was just messing around with two related images, applying an Intel logo on top of one of its other products and playing with the results. Foundry I’m sure what I was doing was extremely simplistic to a Photoshop pro, and Copilot Vision doesn’t detract from what legions of Photoshop tutorials already offer. But some of those tutorials are also based on older versions or interfaces, while I would think Copilot Vision would always be up-to-date. Conclusion: Baby steps AI is a polarizing subject. Some people are convinced that it could never be good for anything; others are sure that it will eventually save the world. At times, Copilot Vision feels quite competent. At others, it’s simply a waste of time. Right now, it all feels tentative. It all has enormous potential, to be sure. But Microsoft seems to tread cautiously in the consumer space. Would I allow ChatGPT to look over my shoulder as I work? Probably not. But I have to imagine that Google quietly envisions the future of Chromebooks as a space where Gemini resides as an omnipresent assistant. I’d like to see that future and enjoy the reciprocal pressures each will put on the other to build better, privacy-preserving tools that provide real-time assistance. Read...

The whole point of Microsoft Copilot Vision for Windows is that it’s like an AI assistant, looking over your shoulder as you struggle through a task and making suggestions. Click here. Do this! So, I was pretty convinced that if Microsoft were to release Copilot Vision for testing, it would be able to do something simple like help me play Windows Solitaire. But no. Oh no, no, no. Sometimes, Microsoft’s new Copilot Vision for Windows feels like a real step forward for useful AI: this emerging Windows technology sees what you see on your screen, allowing you to talk to your PC and ask it for help. Unfortunately, that step ahead is often followed by that cliché: two steps back. Copilot Vision for Windows is, at times, genuinely helpful. At others, it’s just plain frustrating. What is Copilot Vision for Windows? Outside of some nostalgic tears by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the announcement of Copilot Vision for Windows was the highlight of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration at the company’s Redmond, Washington campus. It’s a visionary technology, pretty literally: you grant access to Windows Copilot to see and interpret your screen in real time, and you can talk to Windows to ask questions and seek advice. I went hands-on with Copilot Vision at Microsoft’s HQ, but the demos were short and carefully managed. Now, you can play with it yourself as long as you’re a Windows Insider. How to get Microsoft Copilot Vision for Windows Currently, Copilot Vision for Windows is just available for testing. Although Microsoft indicated that Copilot Vision for Windows would be available to all of its beta software channels, only two of my test laptops ever received the build: one on the Dev Channel and one on the Canary Channel. The first to get it, an Acer Swift Edge laptop with a Ryzen 7840U inside, runs Vision slowly, with reaction times that seemed to stretch to half a minute early on. Though the response time dropped to a few seconds, I had a far better experience with the Surface Laptop 7 or 7th Edition, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip inside. Responses were essentially instantaneous, probably due to the more powerful NPU. Open Copilot, and then click the “glasses” icon in the lower right-hand corner to launch Copilot Vision for Windows.Mark Hachman / Foundry Copilot Vision for Windows is easy to use: provided your PC is provisioned for it, just launch the Copilot app via the Taskbar or Start menu, and then tap the “eyeglasses” icon. You’ll then see a list of apps for you to “share” with Copilot Vision. Only then can it see that specific app, and just that app. I put a test version of Copilot Vision for Windows through seven quick scenarios: interpreting the contents of a PCWorld story and a list of competing airfares; testing Balatro, a popular PC game that involves playing cards; the more generic and classic Solitaire game; photo identification; examining potential airfares; and help operating Adobe Photoshop. Copilot Vision was all over the board. 1.) Copilot Vision’s first test: understanding tariffs The first and most important lesson of Copilot Vision is it only sees what you see. I realized this when I opened my colleague Alaina Yee’s early examination of the Trump Administration’s tariff plan from April. Copilot Vision for Windows didn’t immediately “see” the whole article — which is what Copilot, Google Gemini, or ChatGPT in its “research” modes likely would. What you see is what Copilot Vision gets, so looking at this screen isn’t useful until you scroll down a bit. If I scanned down, it could “read” along. But it didn’t read it into memory, either. What it didn’t see, it forgot. I asked it to confirm, and it couldn’t tell me the opening sentence. That makes its utility rather limited. What was handy was being able to ask it conversational questions: at the time, the products in question were subject to a 45 percent tariff. Being able to ask it what the price of the dock would be if a 100 percent or 145 percent tariff was applied was handy. Copilot Vision is still a little wordy, but that was okay. The bigger issue is that it was reluctant to add context, such as to point out the current state of the tariff situation. 2.) Does Copilot Vision work as a Balatro coach? One of the things I’ve been thinking about was the Minecraft demo, where Copilot Vision stepped in with help on some very specific scenarios. It made me suspicious, naturally; what I was seeing was carefully scripted to make Copilot Vision look as useful as possible. I think that’s true. I figured the popular indie game, Balatro, would be a better use of its talents. What Copilot told me is that it wouldn’t just spontaneously interject, so if it “saw” something useful or dangerous, it wouldn’t just pipe up and say something. It needs to be asked. What Copilot Vision for Windows saw on my screen, beginning a new game of Balatro. How many queens do you see?Mark Hachman / Foundry Balatro is vaguely like video poker, but with a twist: not only do you have to try and come up with the best poker hands, there are twists — “jokers” modify your hands and your score, so strategy means some careful choices. Would Copilot Vision be able to recognize what I needed to do and give advice? Absolutely not. Copilot Vision was absolutely able to recognize that I was playing Balatro, and upon the game’s opening, it identified the choices I had before me. Copilot didn’t make the decisions for me, but it tried to present my options, as in the screenshot above. That’s good, right? Copilot Vision saw two queens, which isn’t a good start.Mark Hachman / Foundry Well, no. Copilot Vision failed to recognize that I didn’t have a pair of queens, which meant that its advice was off from the start. It also couldn’t properly recognize the cards that I did have, like incorrectly identifying seven of diamonds when I didn’t have one. 3.) Solitaire is simpler, right? I then figured, well, let’s dumb it down a bit. I launched a new game of Windows Solitaire, specifically FreeCell, thinking that Copilot would be able to understand the simple rules and act accordingly. Absolutely not. Copilot Vision suffered the same problem that it had with Balatro: its object recognition was way off. It repeatedly invented cards that weren’t on the board, although it did understand how to move cards from column to column and to the foundation. It’s just whatever game Copilot Vision was playing wasn’t actually present on the screen. I quickly gave up. Mark Hachman / Foundry I’m not sure you’re the best Solitaire player, I said. “Fair point! It’s all about having fun, though,” Copilot replied. “If nothing else, I’ve got your back for the banter. Let’s keep playing and see where it goes. Ready for another move?” No, I wasn’t. 4.) Can Copilot stop me from being fired? Next, I tried what I thought was an easy one: I had another AI draft a complaint letter to a fictional boss, expressing displeasure at our fictional company’s corporate strategy. As I had asked Google Gemini to draft a professional note, Copilot thought that my tone and language were fine. I then added a line at the end: “You’re ugly and have a big fat head. I also don’t like your hat.” Copilot was pretty cool with me calling out my “boss” for his subpar looks and fashion choices.Mark Hachman / Foundry Either Copilot Vision didn’t recognize that I had made a possibly career-threatening edit or else didn’t care. In fact, I’m pretty sure it didn’t care, as the conversation continues. (Remember, I’m speaking here, so the transcription isn’t perfect. A plus in Copilot Vision’s favor is that it does lend itself to a conversation, rather than a series of commands.) Confirmed: calling your boss ugly is fine.Foundry Either way, it wouldn’t be a tool I would depend upon for career advice. 5.) Who are these people? I asked Copilot to identify the four actors from the iconic promotional still from The Breakfast Club, using a collection of images curated by Bing’s Image Search. Interestingly, Copilot Vision seemed like it would, but it was ordered not to. “Sorry, I can’t identify specific people in photos unless they’re famous figures,” Copilot responded. “This image seems related to ‘The Breakfast Club’ movie.” Lots of clues here as to who these actors are. Most photos have all five main actors included, and this has only four. That tripped up Copilot Vision for Windows. When I tried again, Copilot Vision for Windows identified the five actors who made up the principal cast of the film but gave the answer I was looking for when I replied that I only saw four. That felt like Copilot had been issued commands not to try and “dox” people unless they were public figures. Interestingly, Copilot Vision seemed to be able to recognize the actors by itself. When I asked it to identify a photo of Rodney Dangerfield (after it made me say that it was a famous person), it replied: “I identified him from the context provided in your window title, which mentioned “15 intriguing facts about Rodney Dangerfield.” Plus, the image matches his recognizable look. Intrigued by his comedic style?” 6.) Picking the best flight By this time I had figured out that Copilot Vision wouldn’t be much help in picking a flight, and I wasn’t wrong. Because Copilot Vision can only see what I can see, scrolling up and down a list of available flights from Oakland to San Diego didn’t provide it with much to work with, and it wasn’t sure whether I preferred a cheap flight, one with minimal stopovers, and so on. It was probably a personal preference to begin with. Some smartphones allow you to take “screenshots” of the entire length of the web page. I’d prefer something like this as an option. (It’s possible, though, that Copilot Vision works like Windows Recall, taking temporary “snapshots” that it works from. In Recall’s case, if you don’t see it, Recall doesn’t either.) 7.) Copilot Vision as a Photoshop tutor This was where I felt Copilot Vision could really be of assistance, and I still think it could be. I actually like the way that Microsoft Paint now adds layers and subtracts backgrounds, both Photoshop-like features that Microsoft’s tools have adopted. But Photoshop offers many options that Paint does not, though I’m not comfortable using them. This is where Copilot Vision shined, as I went back and forth adding images to different layers and making adjustments. The one thing it does not do is visually highlight elements on the screen for you to interact with — as Microsoft originally demonstrated — meaning that it had to literally talk me through a few things. Referring to the Move tool as a “four-point arrow” was pretty helpful. Note that it was referring to what I was working with on screen, which made it relevant. It’s a little tricky to show you what I was doing at the time, but the screenshot below will give you an idea of our conversation. I was just messing around with two related images, applying an Intel logo on top of one of its other products and playing with the results. Foundry I’m sure what I was doing was extremely simplistic to a Photoshop pro, and Copilot Vision doesn’t detract from what legions of Photoshop tutorials already offer. But some of those tutorials are also based on older versions or interfaces, while I would think Copilot Vision would always be up-to-date. Conclusion: Baby steps AI is a polarizing subject. Some people are convinced that it could never be good for anything; others are sure that it will eventually save the world. At times, Copilot Vision feels quite competent. At others, it’s simply a waste of time. Right now, it all feels tentative. It all has enormous potential, to be sure. But Microsoft seems to tread cautiously in the consumer space. Would I allow ChatGPT to look over my shoulder as I work? Probably not. But I have to imagine that Google quietly envisions the future of Chromebooks as a space where Gemini resides as an omnipresent assistant. 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Since AI has diffused into every aspect of the technology sector, I’ve been more than a little tempted to try my hand at some of AI’s cooler applications. That growing temptation finally culminated in me building a desktop PC just for AI — to try my hand at vibe coding apps just for fun. My budget wasn’t that high, so for the build I landed on an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G CPU with a base clock speed of 3.6GHz, and an Nvidia RTX 3090 video card. That combination was validated by my fellow PC builders online as entirely suitable for AI, so I felt confident I was onto a good thing. And they weren’t wrong! My new PC worked well for my newest hobby, allowing me to dabble in making simple apps in DeepAgent. But with the gift of hindsight, I now realize that I made a big mistake with my build, and I deeply regret it. The issue was and still is that I had built a PC suitable for one use case only, and in doing so it has since become obsolete to my life. I arrived at my rig’s configuration by unknowingly breaking one of life’s less spoken-about rules: “Know thyself.” By that I mean two things: The first is that (with the exception of my work PCs that are just for work) in my life I have Buckley’s chance of compartmentalizing my personal devices for just one use — I’m just too busy. My phone is the classic example of that –- it’s my mobile calendar, my repository for holiday snaps, and my communication’s hub, all in one. Secondly, I had overlooked a personality trait that I sometimes exhibit, one that I share with the character Toad from the classic children’s story The Wind in the Willows, and that is the tendency to get all worked up over a new hobby that can last for several months but then I lose interest quickly and stop it abruptly. Of course, I should have known that AI was the most recent of these temporary hobbies, soon to be replaced by something else. These two oversights would have been no problem at all had I selected more versatile hardware for my AI PC. But I had chosen potato-like components, suitable for running LLMs but not much more. That aha! moment came after a lengthy coding session when I decided to give the neurons a rest and loaded up a game of CounterStrike: Go. My spiffy AI PC, which until then I had otherwise been chuffed about, at that very moment became an insubordinate nuisance. Yes, I had a decent graphics card, but my PC was severely bottlenecked at the CPU and no number of settings changes were going to improve that. Like most gamers, I have a minimum frame rate that I simply can’t bear to play beneath — that’s 60FPS. The best I could achieve on my AI PC, even in games with cartoony graphics, was a measly 40FPS — so it was of little use to me for any kind of serious gaming. Building a PC with limited capability was not a great idea.  Pixabay: Andreas160578 Sure, I could have just changed out the CPU for a more powerful one, but I had other bottlenecks too; Like the slow 8GB RAM onboard, and a PSU so underpowered it was only really suitable for running the lights in a chicken coop. If I had to find a moral in all of this, like in a family talk session at the end of a cheesy 1990s sitcom, it would be this: Don’t build a PC for just one application; reach higher with your hardware specs right from the get-go and build a more powerful and versatile rig capable of a whole bunch of stuff. If you do, you will save yourself a ton of hassle and possibly a ton of money too. And, no matter what your next hobby is (composing music? VR gaming? Heck, even snapping time lapse videos of your cat!) you will have a powerful enough rig to cover your needs! Further reading: I regret buying into the RGB hype for my gaming PC Read...