# Windows on ARM 7 Hacker News commenters recommended Windows on ARM and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend Windows on Arm for ARM laptops that run native apps as expected and feel much improved; the most common caveat is app incompatibility and weak performance under x86 emulation. ## Why people recommend it - Much better than it used to be (2 comments): "Windows on Arm these days really isn't bad. It definitely sucked a lot several years ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025188)) "everything just works much better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47866051)) - Works fine for daily use (2 comments): "Anecdotally Windows ARM works fine for me, although to be honest most of my work is command line + browser anyway." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48353499)) "I use it daily and have zero problems." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48428726)) ## What people warn about - Driver and hardware support gaps (3 comments): "the underlying problem of drivers and other BS being able to block sleep and Windows not being able to handle it is unsolved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204865)) "Windows for ARM was kinda sunk by the fact that the GPU wasn't compatible enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45904476)) "Windows on ARM is worse and has zero drivers for Mac hardware as far as I know." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820641)) - Poor performance, especially gaming (3 comments): "Every use case I've looked at has been a minefield of app incompatibility and poor performance under x86 emulation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48360476)) "objectively terrible performance of Windows 10 on ARM at launch" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46149569)) "Even gaming doesn't work that great on Windows ARM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46526493)) - Behind macOS on hardware support (3 comments): "Windows on ARM is worse and has zero drivers for Mac hardware as far as I know." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820641)) "Windows ARM doesn't have the benefit of hardware assistance like macOS does" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46071462)) "That’s a key part in why Windows Arm is such a substandard experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47373650)) - App incompatibility and missing support (2 comments): "Every use case I've looked at has been a minefield of app incompatibility and poor performance under x86 emulation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48360476)) "MS SQL Server still wasn't supported on windows arm, which is about when I gave up on windows arm." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49997865)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows.md): 1287 recommend - [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos.md): 1041 recommend - [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux.md): 745 recommend - [Haiku](https://hackerapproved.com/p/haiku-os.md): 115 recommend - [NetBSD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netbsd.md): 100 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Windows on ARM", https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-on-arm/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).