“Project Volterra” review: Microsoft’s $600 Arm PC that almost doesn’t suck

Two new Microsoft systems are based on the Arm processor. The first version of the Surface Pro 9 has mostly been panned by reviewers, with software compatibility being a major pain point even after two generations of the Arm powered Surface Pro X.

Microsoft tried to sell an Arm Windows developer box about a year ago, but it's no longer for sale at this time. It was like going back to the bad days of the netbook with its underpowered processor and 4GB of memory. You might be able to get some basic browsing done on it. Is it possible for someone like me who works with text and photos all day? Nope, that's right.

The hardware is powerful enough to make the kit feel like a mini-desktop in day-to-day use. The machine makes it easier to evaluate the software limitations of Windows-on-Arm. We won't be using it as a developer box, but it will give us a chance to evaluate where the Windows-on-Arm project is right now, both in hardware and software.

A Surface in all but name

The Dev Kit is not meant to be a machine for everyday PC users. There is a lot of Surface in its genes.

It begins with its design. It's a large hunk of black plastic over a metal frame with a Microsoft logo imprinted on the top; it's smaller than a Mac mini, but if Microsoft had set out to.

The Mac mini's power supply is inside the enclosure, which is one of the reasons it is smaller. The Mac mini's internals were designed specifically for their enclosure, while the Dev Kit appears to be a Surface Pro 9 with a case built around it It's less like the Mac mini and more like the Apple Silicon "Developer Transition Kit," which made the iPad Pro look like a Mac mini.

There are a bunch of unused connections at the top right of the board that can be used to drive a display and other internal peripherals in a Surface device. A Surface holdover with the same positioning and space between them is the only thing built into the board. It's a Surface Pro clone, and there is no headphone jack. The driver updates pulled down from Windows Update are Surface- branded.

The Dev Kit can connect to up to three monitors at once using its mini DisplayPort and USB-C ports, and up to two of those can be 60 Hz 4K displays. The internal display in a Surface would likely be a holdover from its Surface roots, as Microsoft says that the only display that will display a signal when you're adjusting the box's UEFI settings is the DisplayPort.

Microsoft uses the same M.2 2230 drive in the Surfaces as it does in other Surfaces, so there's only one upgradeable component in the kit. You'd have to figure out how to hold it in place yourself since there's no built-in standoff for it. It's likely that the rationale for using a short little SSD in the first place is the same as it is for reuse a Surface board, because it's cheaper to reuse a thing than to design and pay for a whole different thing.