Microsoft drops Copilot+ branding from its new laptops

The discussion focused on Microsoft dropping the Copilot+ branding from its new laptops and quickly shifted into practical and stylistic reactions. Several commenters said the “Copilot” name is already confusing - shepardrtc said they no longer know which Copilot people mean - while others complained about the dedicated Copilot key on keyboards. Flowerlad and Rohansi described accidental key triggers that pop open a window you then must close; zdragnar explained the awkward Settings path to set the key to “None Selected,” which still opens the settings UI. Suggestions to mitigate the annoyance included PowerToys (makeitdouble) and AutoHotkey (poolnoodle), and one user noted that older peripherals like the Logitech K400 can unintentionally trigger the key.

Opinion also split over hardware features and professional implications. Some commenters questioned what an NPU actually enables (ungreased0675), while GeekyBear and wmf argued NPUs unlock local ML features such as offline speech recognition and live captions using local models. Views on Copilot’s impact on trust diverged sharply: henry2023 said they would distrust a contractor who claimed to use Copilot, while hizlikovboy27 predicted contractors who use copilots might become preferred in five years.