When the Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities were made public earlier this year, things were a mess. Practically every Intel processor made in the last decade had backdoors that potentially let normal programs and software access what are supposed to be protected areas of a CPU’s kernel.
There are few gambles in the tech world as big as spending billions to build a new computer processor from scratch. Former AMD board member Robert Palmer supposedly compared it to Russian roulette: “You put a gun to your head, pull the trigger, and find out four years later if you blew your brains out.” Six years ago…
Last year AMD finally gave us something we desperately needed with the release of Ryzen: A viable rival to Intel in the CPU space. The rivalry has meant faster CPUs for desktops and laptops as each company races to surpass the other, but there’s a potential problem for AMD. It doesn’t have the same track record for…
If there are two things Facebook is notoriously bad at right now, it’s maintaining the privacy of its users and developing cool Facebook-related hardware. Yet, according to a new job posting first noticed by Bloomberg, Facebook may start taking hardware a lot more seriously.
On Monday Bloomberg News dropped a bombshell report. By 2020, it claimed Apple will stop using Intel CPUs in its computers. Just picture it: The third-largest PC maker in the world might one day leave behind the biggest computer chip maker.
After Intel’s very bad last few months and AMD’s very good last few months, it seemed awfully confusing that the two rival CPU makers would team up for a new chip. Sure, it was all good for AMD—which is riding high on the success of its new Ryzen CPUs and Vega GPUs—but Intel has spent the last few months in the hot…
In the past few weeks, the entire information security industry has grown very anxious about Meltdown and Spectre, two classes of exploits that can be used to manipulate vulnerabilities in the way many varieties of modern processors (but especially Intel ones) handle a performance-improving technique called…
Famed Linux developer Linus Torvalds has some pretty harsh words for Intel on the fiasco over Meltdown and Spectre, the massive security flaws in modern processors that predominantly affect Intel products.
This week, news of massive security vulnerabilities afflicting every modern model of Intel processor went public, even as developers for practically every major platform frantically rushed to roll out fixes. Much more information has now become available about Meltdown and Spectre, a group of attack methods malicious…
AMD buddy, we’ve missed you. A few years ago there was a genuine choice between laptops with Intel inside and those with AMD. Then Intel continued to update and improve its processors while AMD did not. It was a big bummer if you wanted options when picking out a laptop, and it was particularly painful for cheap…
Today Intel launches the next portion of its 8th Generation of processors. The CPUs, designed for use in desktop PCs, are fast, affordable, and they’re probably going to leave you very confused.
A couple of weeks ago, Intel announced its first batch of 8th-generation CPUs. They’re improved versions of the current Kaby Lake chips, but with double the cores. This results is that Intel says these chips offer up to 44 percent better performance with a negligible impact on battery life. While these chips might not…
It’s that time of year when Intel, the largest maker of laptop and desktop processors in the world, announces the guts of your future PC. These CPUs are always a little faster and a a little more battery efficient. This year Intel is launching it’s latest processor on the same day as the first major solar eclipse in…
Here we go again. It’s Computex time in Taipei, and that means that Intel is announcing an insane new lineup of ultra powerful processors—some of which seemingly exist only so that you’ll pay attention to the cheaper CPUs the company sells to average humans. This year, Intel has outdone itself with the Core X-series,…
AMD has just released its fastest processor yet after more than a half decade of research and development, and Intel’s Kaby Lake processor is now available in every form that matters for a PC builder—so how you do choose the brains of the operation when you’re piecing together your own P? This guide will take some of…
Sometimes it feels like computers have reached peak speed. Often times, when trolling YouTube or playing a quick round of Overwatch the limitations on performance seem tied to something else. Your internet is too slow, or you need a new graphics card. Computer processors have gotten faster—every year Intel unveils a…
Kaby Lake, Intel’s latest processor family, wasn’t supposed to exist. Earlier this year Intel announced the end of its well-known tick-tock release schedule, whereby it trots out a new processor every September. The tick is the shrinking and improvements of the current microarchitecture, while the tock is a whole new…
If you thought the days of CPU—OS incompatibilities were behind you, think again. It’s quietly been announced that some future silicon will only allow you to run Windows 10 if you choose to opt for a Microsoft OS.
Stop. Don’t buy that new Windows laptop or tablet. Don’t pull the trigger unless you’re getting a truly amazing deal. Because today, Intel’s launching its latest processor—Skylake—and you may want one in your next PC.
Intel’s new Skylake processors fit inside practically any computer. Soon, you’ll be able to get one inside a PC-on-a-stick. But it turns out that Core M computers can get even smaller still. Intel says it’s already testing the new processors inside smartphones too.
