PCWorld April 2018

Intel’s revised patches for its Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processor families have begun rolling out to address Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. With the release of the new code, just a few older processor families remain in the patch queue. According to Intel’s microcode update document, patches for several processor families have entered production, most notably the second-generation Core (Sandy Bridge) and third-generation Core (Ivy Bridge) families. The patches also cover several, more niche architectures, such as the Gladden Xeon of the Sandy Bridge generation, and the Broadwell Xeon chips. On deck are the Westmere Xeons, based upon 2010’s first-generation Core architecture, as well as Westmere’s predecessors, the Nehalem Xeon chips. Intel has issued beta patches for these, as well as some of the Arrandale and Clarkdale chips. The latter families, which…

Microsoft expects that the “majority of customers” will enjoy Windows 10 in its new S mode, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows wrote in a recent blog post. The stunning endorsement of Windows 10’s S mode—which was formally confirmed as a mode of Windows 10 only very recently—was made by Joe Belfiore, who told me via Twitter that he expected the transition to take place in 2019. Belfiore’s blog post set an even more aggressive timetable, claiming that customers would be able to buy a PC with Windows 10 S mode at or near the time when the next feature update to Windows 10 drops. That update, known as Redstone 4, is expected to appear on PCs in early April. But for those who don’t want Windows 10’s S mode, there’s another…

AMD released Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.1 late on March 19 with support for Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition and Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Providing day-one drivers for such hotly anticipated games proves yet again that Radeon has left its dark days of buggy, late software far in the rearview mirror, but newfound optimizations for e-sports games are even more intriguing. Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.1 marks the debut of Project ReSX (“Radeon eSports Experience”). “The goal of this project was to optimize the performance of some of the most popular PC games in the world on Radeon graphics cards,” AMD says. The company worked with developers for in-game optimizations, and tweaked its drivers to support the initiative. The result? Faster, smoother gameplay, AMD claims. Compared to the original Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition release,…

Huawei’s Matebook X Pro is what happens when designers boil down Microsoft’s Surface Book line to its essentials, sprinkling a bit of paranoia on top for extra flavor. Huawei’s flagship notebook improves upon the Huawei Matebook X that the company launched last year. Now with a 3,000x2,000-pixel display that takes after the Surface Book line, the 13.9-inch notebook will be sold in three configurations, with prices beginning at 1,499 Euros ($1,845 USD). Huawei will ship it to North America this spring, the company said. Three features distinguish the Matebook X Pro. First, the company is offering a discrete graphics option within a 0.57-inch (14.6 mm) form factor—not ultrabook-thin, but not as chunky as the 0.9-inch thick Surface Book 2, either. Huawei also achieved a 91-percent screen-to-body ratio, which helps pare down the…

With the first deployments of 5G high-speed wireless technology within the U.S. scheduled for later this year, Intel and its PC partners are already thinking about the next step: rolling out 5G-equipped PCs late in 2019. Intel, along with Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft said recently that the companies expect the first 5G Windows PCs to become available during the second half of 2019. That’s about the same time that Intel plans to begin shipping its XMM 8000 commercial modems, marking the company’s entrance into the 5G market. Intel will show off a prototype of the new 5G-connected PC at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. In addition the company will demonstrate data streaming over the 5G network. At its stand, Intel said that it will also show off eSIM technology—the…

With this year’s I/O still on the horizon, Google has given us our first sneak peak at Android P, and there’s a lot to digest. While it’s light on major front-facing features, there are a lot of changes that will impact flagship phones in 2018 and beyond, starting with the Google Pixel 3. Here are five things we learned from the first developer preview: 1. IT WILL PROBABLY HAVE A NOTCH It was previously rumored that Android P would include support for notched displays, but now we have some confirmation. And it’s more than a simple resolution shift. Google is baking support for “display cutouts” deep in Android P, with new platform and API layouts that help developers build immersive apps that work around the notch and use it to their advantage.…