I'm considering getting an ARM-based Windows laptop for work, and my primary concern is battery life. I've seen conflicting reports on Reddit about how long these machines can actually last on a charge. I understand that usage varies widely—some users run apps that may not yet be fully optimized for ARM architecture, which naturally affects performance and battery.
My key question is about the impact of screen readers like JAWS and NVDA, as well as other book-reading apps. Since this will be a work machine (I already own a MacBook Air, where battery life has never been a concern), I need to know whether JAWS and NVDA noticeably affect battery life, generate more heat, or trigger constant fan activity.
Moving from a silent and efficient Mac to a device with active cooling and potentially shorter battery life would be a significant shift for me. I've read that JAWS is optimized for ARM-based PCs—does that mean it consumes less power or runs more efficiently compared to NVDA?
I’d really appreciate it if anyone could share concrete experiences regarding how JAWS and NVDA affect battery life, thermals, and overall performance on ARM laptops. Thanks in advance for your help!
By Maldalain, 26 June, 2025
Forum
Windows
Comments
Avoid, avoid, avoid!
Well, you've already read what I have to say on other threads and are looking for fresh perspectives, but I just have to express wistful regret for ever purchasing this machine instead of an Intel computer. The hit to battery life is a big reason, because I've demonstrated, at least to my own satisfaction, over and over again since purchasing it that the necessity of the Prism translation for NVDA, and particularly NVDA + SAPI, devours battery life in comparison to using Narrator. I'm talking 30%-40%. JAWS is a mix of components compiled for ARM and not. From what I saw examining the demo, its version of eloquence is not ARM, plus a few other components like Convenient OCR. The poster who said they guestimated they were getting roughly 12ish hours is doubtless fairly accurate for their own case. I get a little over 8 with Eloquence and a little over 10 with One Core while editing word docs. Not even Microsoft claims anyone can get 20 hours in a daily-use situation. The newer smaller Surface Laptop does somewhat better, they say. What applies categorically to ARM, and not just my model, is that yes, battery life takes a significant hit. Still depends on how long you're away from a plug as to whether that's a real issue or not.
With the latest Intel core ultra 2 "lunar lake" chips running so cool, which means fans very rarely kick on under normal use, and battery life actually getting what's advertised, and many laptops coming in around the $1k price point, I see no reason for anyone to buy an ARM laptop, unless $200 for some models is a deciding factor. The laptop can be a good laptop and the one that works for you. I feel safe in saying, though, that ARM doesn't yet bring distinct advantages over Intel.
Here are some other problems I'm having, though it's only my suspicious nature that wants to blame everything on ARM. I'll just say my other PC has none of these issues:
* very slow bootup and shut down.
* Freezes for several seconds almost every day.
* Switching back and forth from NVDA to narrator reveals what I think is a memory leak in one or the other, because NVDA will become too unresponsive and need to be restarted.
* Inconsistent behavior when waking from sleep: sometimes takes forever so that I have to pull out my phone to check on it, sometimes saying it's coming out of hibernate, even though I have hibernation disabled, sometimes requiring my pin and others not, and other things.
* No support for my old scanner, just FYI, since I knew that was going to be the case.
* On this particular machine, the accidental Fn Lock issue I noted has continued to be awful for me, though this is mainly a Mac muscle-memory issue.
* Outlook Classic was unusable for me, because NVDA hung on links in a message. Thunderbird turns out to be really great for accessibility and usability now, but it's not compiled for ARM and I hear NVDA progress indicators pretty much the whole time. Not a functional issue; just weird.
* I *finally* heard the fans kick on once, after I noticed the laptop getting hot as a toaster oven. I wasn't doing anything but idly looking at the Framework laptops site. Some users talk about it running hot under load, and I can now believe it. That's the only time, though.
I mean, all this doesn't add up to it being unusable. I'm on it now and will be on it all day, contentedly unless one of the above rears its head. I *still* am not sure there was another computer out there for me, since they all seem to have their vents on the bottom and at least some of their speakers there as well, and I use mine 100% in my lap, given that I have a separate desktop.
What I've learned, after obsessively researching virtually every machine on the market today, is that there are no shortages of computers that top 12 hours battery life these days, so ARM with a non-ARM optimized screen reader doesn't stand out in any way, as far as that goes.
Ryzen
So glad I am not, "behind the times", with my Ryzen based HP laptop.
Nobody should get hp, but…
Nobody should get hp, but this is another topic. Writing on a $3000 hp btw.