 Earlier this year two major vulnerabilities were discovered which affected the core processes of the computer. Named as Spectre and Meltdown, these “speculative execution” vulnerabilities meant hackers could steal data by simply visiting a website. Though there were no known incidents of these vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, the processor microcode patches could have up to a 30% impact on the performance of PCs that have been patched. Various tech companies have been working on mitigation for this, and in Microsoft’s latest move, they are working to implement Retpoline in the next major version of Windows 10, 19H1 due early next year. For the rest of us it means that Spectre will no longer make our processors feel 5-10 years older than they are, and in general cause Spectre mitigation to only have an impact of 1-2%, or as Mehmet Iyigun from the Windows Kernel team notes, bring it down to “noise level” for most use cases, which is certainly good news. Some are however complaining that Microsoft does not appear to be planning to backport the fix, meaning Windows 10 users will need to update to the latest version of the OS to get their performance back, which is somewhat controversial, especially for business users who prefer a well-tested and stable OS. For more turn your attention to OUR FORUM.  With the arrival of the Magic Leap competition is heating up in the Mixed Reality arena, but Microsoft’s successor to the HoloLens appears to be slipping further and further into the distance. Petri.com reports that Microsoft was planning to show off the HoloLens 2 sometime this year, but due to development issues, they are now targeting late Q2 2019. Petri does not identify the cause of the delays, but we have earlier speculated that, like many of Microsoft’s other projects, the headset was waiting for Windows Core OS to become available. The report states that the HoloLens 2 will address much of the issues that held back HoloLens 1, including a larger field of view and longer battery life. We already know the next HoloLens will have an improved Holographic Processing Unit with more AI capabilities, and an improved Kinect-like depth camera. HoloLens 2 will reportedly be powered by the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 processor, which has been designed with the express purpose of delivering a “high quality” VR and AR experience. With the Surface Phone, Surface Hub 2x and HoloLens 2 all apparently waiting for Windows Core OS, did Microsoft put too many eggs in one basket? There's more to read on OUR FORUM.  Microsoft at its October 2nd event announced the new Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 in black. The devices are now available for purchase in select markets starting today. Both the devices come with an 8th gen quad-core Intel processors to boost the performance of the devices. However, as was expected both the devices don’t come with the USB-C port. The Surface Pro 6 supports up to 13.5 hours of battery life and comes with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Microsoft has priced the device at $899.00. If you are looking to buy the black variant then you would need to choose the model with 256 GB SSD and has been priced at $1,199. Microsoft has made minor changes to the keyboard and thermal system of the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2. Microsoft is selling the Black version of the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 along with the existing Platinum, Burgundy, and Cobalt Blue. The Surface Laptop 2 comes with the new Intel Core 8th Gen processors with i5 and i7. The devices are paired with Intel UHD Graphics 620 card. The Surface Laptop 2 comes in two variants of 8GB and 16GB of RAM and you can expand the storage up to 1TB. However the Surface Laptop 2 doesn’t come with the USB-C but Microsoft has left the connectivity options similar to the 1st generation which means that users will be getting one USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort and a Surface Connect Port. We have all the necessary links posted on OUR FORUM. |
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