Intel revealed that it will not be issuing Spectre patches to a number of older Intel processor families, potentially leaving many customers vulnerable to the security exploit. Intel claims the processors affected are mostly implemented as closed systems, so they aren’t at risk from the Spectre exploit, and that the age of these processors means they have limited commercial availability.
The processors which Intel won’t be patching include four lines from 2007, Penryn, Yorkfield, and Wolfdale, along with Bloomfield (2009), Clarksfield (2009), Jasper Forest (2010) and the Intel Atom SoFIA processors from 2015. According to Tom’s Hardware, Intel’s decision not to patch these products could stem from the relative difficulty of patching the Spectre exploit on older systems.
“After a comprehensive investigation of the microarchitectures and microcode capabilities for these products, Intel has determined to not release microcode updates for these products,” Intel said. “Based on customer inputs, most of these products are implemented as “closed systems” and therefore are expected to have a lower likelihood of exposure to these vulnerabilities.”
Because of the nature of the Spectre exploit, patches for it need to be delivered as an operating system or BIOS update, and if Microsoft and motherboard OEMs aren’t going to distribute the patches, developing them isn’t much of a priority.
“However, the real reason Intel gave up on patching these systems seems to be that neither motherboard makers nor Microsoft may be willing to update systems sold a decade ago,” Tom’s Hardware reports.
It sounds bad, but as Intel pointed out, these are all relatively old processors — with the exception of the Intel Atom SoFIA processor, which came out in 2015 — and it’s unlikely they’re used in any high-security environments. The Spectre exploit is a serious security vulnerability to be sure, but as some commentators have pointed out in recent months, it’s not the kind of exploit the average user needs to worry about.
““We’ve now completed release of microcode updates for Intel microprocessor products launched in the last 9+ years that required protection against the side-channel vulnerabilities discovered by Google Project Zero,” said an Intel spokseperson. “However, as indicated in our latest microcode revision guidance, we will not be providing updated microcode for a select number of older platforms for several reasons, including limited ecosystem support and customer feedback.”
If you have an old Penryn processor toiling away in an office PC somewhere, you’re probably more at risk for a malware infection arising from a bad download than you are susceptible to something as technically sophisticated as the Spectre or Meltdown vulnerabilities.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.