Starting with productivity machines, Harukaze5719, a regular leaker on X (formerly Twitter), posted a screenshot seemingly confirming that the Asus Vivobook S 16 OLED will feature the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 processor which features 12 cores and 24 threads with an NPU running at 77 TOPs (trillions of operations per second). The chip is shown with a boost clock of up to 5.1GHz and 36MB of L3 cache.

If this leak is right, we can also see that the Strix Point AI PCs will co-exist alongside Hawk Point models which appear to feature more conventional CPUs under the Ryzen 8050 brand. Spotted processors in this category include the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS and the Ryzen 7 8845HS, high-end and mid-range solutions respectively; all of which appear to be paired with Nvidia RTX 40 series GPUs. 

This isn't the only leak that has sprung around Asus hardware, either. According to Wccftech, the entire incoming line of Asus Creator ProArt X13 and P16, the TUF Gaming A14 and A16, and ROG Zephyrus G16 laptops running Strix Point have had their model numbers and specs detailed, too. 

What's most interesting about the leaked specs is that the Asus ROG flagship will reportedly feature up to an RTX 4070 which leaves the more powerful RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 out of the equation. This is corroborated by a now-deleted retailer listing which outlines the Asus ROG Zephyrus with the model number "GA605WI-O93210G0W" running a 12-core Zen 5 APU with 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and the aforementioned GPU. 

Things are getting hot and heavy

Taking Asus as a prime example, there already appears to be some division between the AMD APUs for AI PCs and the more conventional mobile CPUs which will be found in the Ryzen 9000 and 8000 series at the same time. The naming conventions leave a lot to be desired, and the 'AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 170' is clunky to say the least.

What's interesting about AMD's Ryzen AI APUs is that they are clocked lower than we've seen from the current range of gaming processors. Should the Ryzen AI 9 HX 170 be the flagship at 5.1GHz as suggested, clearly the rest of the line-up is going to be lagging behind that clock speed. At a time when Intel's current crop of CPUs is closing on 6GHz on mobile, that's a little disappointing. 

Ultimately it's going to come down to utilization as the power is being split between the CPU, integrated RDNA 3 GPU, and the NPU which will supposedly be up to 77 TOPs (very fast). The implementation of integrated graphics paired with a discrete graphics processor means even more grunt for hardware accelerated AI processing alongside that nippy NPU on the chip. As for how this all comes together, that remains to be seen.

You might also like

• Nvidia might shortchange RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs for laptops
• 9 things we learned from Apple's Let Loose iPad event
• Samsung vows to focus on enterprise market with SSDs and storage

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #835) - hint #1 - Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #835) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #835) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #835) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #835) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #835) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #835, are…

• SEVER
• GLORY
• RADAR
• SMALL

A much easier Quordle today than yesterday's; this game is like a rollercoaster at the moment. That said, it's not without complications, particularly the fact that SEVER, RADAR and SMALL all have repeated letters. RADAR has two of them, of course, and is likely to be the word that causes you the most trouble today.

I didn't suffer unduly, because by the time I got to it, it was the only word I could see that fit, and I duly solved this Quordle with two guesses remaining.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #835) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #835, are…

• DUVET
• PLUNK
• FOCAL
• DAILY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #834, Tuesday 7 May: DEFER, BOUGH, MISER, MAGMA
• Quordle #833, Monday 6 May: STAIN, GENIE, LEVEL, RELAY
• Quordle #832, Sunday 5 May: GAZER, TWEET, FERRY, THUMB
• Quordle #831, Saturday 4 May: WAGON, QUICK, MURAL, LIEGE
• Quordle #830, Friday 3 May: NUDGE, CLASH, KNAVE, AGENT
• Quordle #829, Thursday 2 May: TULIP, PLAZA, DAILY, SINGE
• Quordle #828, Wednesday 1 May: ROUGH, SYNOD, POSSE, PARRY
• Quordle #827, Tuesday 30 April: STASH, FUSSY, REEDY, WALTZ
• Quordle #826, Monday 29 April: STAKE, PURGE, PECAN, PLANT
• Quordle #825, Sunday 28 April: LLAMA, CUMIN, CAULK, RABID
• Quordle #824, Saturday 27 April: QUACK, BERET, SKULL, LATHE
• Quordle #823, Friday 26 April: AMONG, FLING, SOUND, AGILE
• Quordle #822, Thursday 25 April: WHILE, DODGY, MACHO, LOATH
• Quordle #821, Wednesday 24 April: STEAD, CANAL, SHEEN, UNITE
• Quordle #820, Tuesday 23 April: PLANK, SPOIL, GAVEL, STOOP
• Quordle #819, Monday 22 April: PLAID, ADAGE, DIODE, ELBOW
• Quordle #818, Sunday 21 April: CASTE, FUNKY, CAVIL, MANGA
• Quordle #817, Saturday 20 April: STAMP, FORTH, DULLY, OUNCE
• Quordle #816, Friday 19 April: WOMAN, WAXEN, FLIRT, FLOAT
• Quordle #815, Thursday 18 April: MATCH, APTLY, BISON, CLINK

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #66) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #66) - hint #2 - clue words

NYT Strands today (game #66) - hint #3 - spangram

NYT Strands today (game #66) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #66) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #66, are…

• BINARY
• WHOLE
• LUCKY
• BACON
• DANCE
• SERIAL
• TELEPHONE
• SPANGRAM: NUMBERS

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

I thought this Strands puzzle would be easy, but not so. The theme clue – 'Can you digit?' (following 'Can you dig it?' yesterday; nice work, NYT) – immediately suggested numbers, and indeed I found that spangram running backwards across the board almost immediately. BINARY and WHOLE, both beneath the spangram, were simple solves too, and LUCKY followed by virtue of there being nothing else it could be.

But LUCKY indicated that it might be harder than I'd predicted, and here I stalled. Unlike the first couple, LUCKY is not a mathematical term (or not necessarily one), simply one that precedes 'numbers'. And that was the case with almost all of the others. It took me quite some time to come up with any of the others; I spotted PHONE, but it didn't turn blue, and it was only a while later that I realized it was TELEPHONE instead.

The others were all horrible. I wasn't thinking broadly enough to consider BACON or DANCE, and SERIAL just took ages because of all of the vowels. I got there in the end, but it wasn't exactly a cake walk.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday 7 May, game #65)

• GOLD
• SILVER
• COPPER
• ANTIMONY
• ARSENIC
• BISMUTH
• SPANGRAM: HEAVYMETAL

Putting two and two together, it appears Google could one day allow users to move data from an old phone to a new one using a Wi-Fi and cable connection simultaneously. Doing so would make the transfer process much faster – at least in theory. We don’t know exactly how much faster data transfers will become when using a wired and wireless connection simultaneously. Assemble Debug couldn’t find a whole lot of information in the files. 

He did, however, discover another line of text stating: “Want to speed things up?” This seems to hint that the faster speeds will be optional. If someone prefers to use the slower method of just connecting a cable between the devices, they will still have the choice.

New restoration tool

Another feature called Restore Anytime was also unearthed from the Data Restore Tool files, but the information surrounding it is rather confusing. 

Looking at the screenshot in the article, users can easily send over photos, contacts, text messages, and more from an old Android smartphone to a newer device. You don’t have to worry about losing any data or perform a factory reset on the older hardware. Nothing will be overwritten. And it even works when transferring from iPhone to Android, so long as the former still has its charging cable.

Here is where the confusion lies. Android Authority claims the donor phone can only send data without incident if it’s already been used to transfer files to your current device. If you try to send files to brand new hardware, you will have to first erase all the data on the recipient phone before moving forward. However, the article contradicts this by stating you can transfer data to new devices “at any point.” 

It’s a strange feature. Perhaps Google has yet to create a clear set of parameters for Restore Anytime. That would explain why the restrictions are so confusing. Or maybe the tech giant is simply experimenting with tech it has no intention of releasing. It’s hard to say for sure, but hopefully, Restore Anytime will launch in some form. Being able to move swaths of data to recently purchased smartphones without hindrances or resetting sounds very helpful.

While we have you, check out TechRadar's list of the best Android phones for 2024.

You might also like

• Google Pixel 8a brings in generative AI smarts for a great price
• Google Pixel 9 case leak shows we may get three models
• A big Google Maps redesign is now being tested on Android

While there weren't any AI announcements to rival the launch of the iPad Pro (2024) or new M4 chip, Apple did uncharacteristically mention 'AI' on eight different occasions during the event – and those covered five different new announcements about the tech.

Apple has previously been reluctant to join the chorus of AI hype, preferring to stick to the less zeitgeisty (if often more accurate) 'machine learning' during its launch events. But back in February, Tim Cook started making unexpectedly bold statements about AI, calling it a "huge opportunity for Apple" and that AI tools would be coming to Apple devices "later this year".

So what exactly were those subtle AI announcements at the iAPd-centric Apple event? Here are the times the Cupertino crew gave us a taster of what's to come next month at WWDC 2024...

1. The M4 chip is more powerful than 'any AI PC today'

Apple's next-gen silicon had been rumored for the iPad Pro (2024), but it was still something of a surprise to see the M4 appear for the first time during a tablet announcement. Naturally, Apple was keen to flag its serious AI potential.

Tim Millet, Apple's VP of Platform Architecture, said that "the Neural Engine makes M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI", pointing to the simple example of it letting you isolate a subject from its background in 4K video with a tap in Final Cut Pro.

Clearly, Apple thinks its silicon makes for a strong foundation for AI apps, with Millet adding that "the Neural Engine is an IP-block in the chip dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads". And he finished with the bolder statement that "the Neural Engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today". We can't verify that yet, but it doesn't sound like an outlandish claim.

2. The Logic Pro 2 app has AI-powered Session Players

The Logic Pro app landed on the iPad about a year ago – and the new version that Apple's just announced has some AI-powered 'Session Players' for you to dabble with.

These are designed to play alongside the existing Drummer feature to give you something like a virtual band. Will Hui, Apple's Product Manager of Creative Apps, said: "Now Drummer is getting some new bandmates in a feature we call Session Players. We're introducing an all-new Bass and Keyboard Player, and like Drummer, they're built using AI."

Given Apple's digital audio workstation was already a lot of fun, we're looking forward to giving them an audition.

3. The iPad Pro uses AI to help you scan documents

This might not be the most wildly exciting AI use case, but sometimes the tech is best suited to helping us with more mundane tasks – and Apple reckons it does just that with the iPad Pro (2024)'s AI-powered document scanning.

This comes courtesy of a new 'adaptive' True Tone flash, which works in tandem with AI algorithms to adjust the lighting depending on the document and ambient lighting. John Ternus, Apple's SVP of Hardware Engineering said: "We've all had the experience of trying to scan a document in certain lighting conditions where it's hard to avoid casting a shadow – the new Pro solves this problem."

"It uses AI to automatically detect documents like forms and receipts," he added. "If shadows are in the way, it instantly takes multiple photos with the new, adaptive flash. The frames are stitched together and the result is a dramatically better scan."

We'll have to see how well that works in practice, but because it's built into iPadOS it'll also be in the Camera app, Files, Notes, and third-party apps, too.

4. The iPad Air 6 isn't left out of the AI party 

Apple was keen to stress that the iPad Pro (2024) isn't the only tablet in its range suitable for AI-powered tasks or future apps, despite that tablet being the only one with the new M4 chip.

Melody Kuna, Apple's Director of iPad Product Design, said that "with M2, the new [iPad] Air is also an incredibly powerful device for AI. It's blazing fast for powerful machine learning features in iPadOS, like Visual Look Up, Subject Lift, and Live Text capture."

So while the iPad Pro's M4 chip is capable of an impressive 38 trillion operations per second (which apparently makes it sixty times faster than Apple's A11 Bionic neural engine from the iPhone 8), the iPad Air 6 won't be left out of future AI apps and features on Apple's tablets.

5. iPadOS is just getting started with AI

On a similar theme, Apple's final mention of AI during its long-awaited iPad launch was reserved for iPadOS.

Will Hui, Apple's Product Manager of Creative Apps, said that "iPadOS has advanced frameworks like Core ML that make it easy for developers to tap into the Neural Engine to deliver powerful AI features, right on device".

Clearly, Apple is treading carefully with AI in its own apps, with only Logic Pro's session players and the iPad Pro's document scanning making much use of it so far. But it also put out a call to developers to tap the potential of its software (and chips) for AI-powered features. And we can expect to hear a lot more about those next month at WWDC 2024.

You might also like

• Apple just announced a new Apple Pencil Pro, and it's so much better than I expected
• Apple iPad event 2024 – 9 things we learned from the Let Loose event
• The iPad Pro (2024) just landed with a super-powerful M4 chipset and new OLED screen

Apple is also introducing a feature called Live Multicam. This allows users to connect their tablet to up to four different iPhones or iPads at once and watch a video feed from all the sources in real time. You can even adjust the “exposure, focus, [and] zoom” of each live feed directly from your master iPad.

Looking at Apple’s demo video, selecting a source expands the footage to fill up the entire screen where you can then make the necessary adjustments. Tapping the Minimize icon in the bottom right corner lets creators return to the four-split view. Apple states that previews from external devices are sent to Final Cut Pro so you can quickly begin editing.

Impactful upgrades

You can’t connect your iPhone to the multicam studio using the regular camera app, which won’t support the setup. Users will instead have to install a new app called Final Cut Camera on their mobile device. Besides the Live Multicam compatibility, Apple says you can tweak settings like white balance, shutter speed, and more to obtain professional-grade recordings. The on-screen interface even lets videographers monitor their footage via a zebra stripe pattern tool and an audio meter. 

Going back to the Final Cut Pro update, there are other important features we’ve yet to mention. The platform “now supports external projects”. This means you can create a video project on and import media to “an external storage” drive without sacrificing space on an iPad. Apple is also adding more customization tools to the software like 12 additional color-grading presets and more dynamic backgrounds.

Final Cut Pro for Mac is set to receive a substantial upgrade too. Although it won’t support the four iPhone video feeds, version 10.8 does introduce several tools. For example, Enhance Light and Color offers a quick way to improve color balance and contrast in a clip among other things. Users can also give video effects and color corrections a custom name for easy identification. It’s not a total overhaul, but these changes will take some of the headache out of video editing. 

Availability

There are different availability dates for the three products. Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 launches this spring and will be a “free update for existing users”. For everyone else, it will be $5/£5/$8 AUD a month or $50/£50/$60 AUD a year for access. Final Cut Camera is set to release in the spring as well and will be free for everyone. Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 is another free update for existing users. On the Mac App Store, it’ll cost you $300/£300/$500 AUD.

We don’t blame you if you were totally unaware of the Final Cut Pro changes as they were overshadowed by Apple's new iPad news. Speaking of which, check out TechRadar’s guide on where to preorder Apple’s 2024 iPad Pro and Air tablets. 

You might also like

• The iPad Pro (2024) just landed with a super-powerful M4 chipset and new OLED screen
• The new Magic Keyboard for the freshly debuted iPad Pro will power up your iPad experience with style and function
• The best iPad deals in May 2024

This one’s from Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), a regular leaker on YouTube (and one of the more reliable sources for GPU and CPU leaks in our experience).

MLID has the purported full details of the VRAM, and they run as follows. The flagship RTX 5090 will supposedly be keeping exactly the same configuration as the RTX 4090, which some folks will doubtless find disappointing. Meaning it’ll run with 16GB of VRAM and a 256-bit memory bus.

Where the better news theoretically comes in is with the next model down, presumably the RTX 5080 – or maybe we’ll call it the second tier Blackwell GPU (you’ll see why in a moment) – weighing in with the same loadout of 16GB of VRAM (and 256-bit bus). That’s a solid increase from the current RTX 4080 laptop GPU which has 12GB.

There’s a slight catch of sorts here, though. If you recall, the RTX 4080 mobile GPU used a lesser chip than the flagship – the AD104 chip, rather than AD103 in the RTX 4090. But with the RTX 5080, a recent rumor (again from MLID) contends that it’ll use GB203, just the same as the flagship 5090, meaning it’s potentially going to be a fair bit peppier (with that VRAM upgrade on top, too).

What this also means is that Nvidia might want to reflect that and call it the RTX 5080 Ti, rather than just the plain 5080.

And that could have knock-on effects with the rest of the range, as if that’s the plan, then the third tier GPU (RTX 4070 equivalent) might be the RTX 5080. But if the second tier Blackwell GPU is the RTX 5080, then the third tier will obviously be the RTX 5070.

You get the idea anyway, but whatever it’s named, this third tier GPU will supposedly have 12GB of VRAM, an increase on the 8GB seen on the RTX 4070.

Finally, with the fourth tier GPU – the RTX 5060 most likely, or perhaps RTX 5070 if Nvidia goes with the 5090 / 5080 Ti / 5080 naming scheme – will be left with 8GB of VRAM. (Cue a chorus of boos and hisses).

Analysis: Good, bad, and 8GB ugly

So, there’s some good and bad news here – though add seasoning, and plenty of it, remembering this is just talk from the grapevine.

On the more positive front, we could get a powerful RTX 5080 relative to the RTX 4080 – so much so that Nvidia might brand it an RTX 5080 Ti. Either way, top-end options could be bolstered, and it’s good to see whatever the third tier GPU ends up being having an increase of 4GB of video RAM (being upped from 8GB to 12GB).

The not-so-great chatter here is, of course, not increasing the VRAM of the flagship mobile GPU for Blackwell, and worse still, maintaining a configuration of 8GB with that fourth tier GPU (RTX 5060 most likely – or as mentioned this could even be the RTX 5070, perhaps).

For gaming moving forward – remember, these are next-gen GPUs that’ll be reigning for a couple of years, through until 2027 (at least) – those two VRAM loadouts are far from great, and the choice of 8GB lower down seems particularly shaky.

Assuming Nvidia does go this route, of course, and we should underline it may not happen at all – so it’s too early to start worrying overly about these prospects.

However, regarding the possible level of accuracy here, MLID says this info comes from some of his best sources. We’re talking folks who have come up with the goods with early pics of GPUs before now – properly connected Nvidia leakers, in short. Given that, MLID is putting a good deal of weight behind these forecasts.

As ever, let’s see if other leaks fall in line with MLID’s predictions. But if this is true, the very top and bottom of the Blackwell spectrum of GPUs for gaming laptops is in danger of disappointing. In theory, these mobile graphics cards should be pitching up fairly early in 2025, most likely with a March release, as per previous spillage.

You might also like

• These are the best graphics cards across all budgets
• Top gaming PCs: great rigs for serious PC gaming
• Best PC games: must-play titles you don't want to miss

Innovative technology to empower your creativity

You can see a great example of innovation in action in the new MateBook X Pro, which is based on the groundbreaking HUAWEI Cloud Falcon architecture. Its lightweight and compact Modular PCB makes the entire laptop more compact while simultaneously making room for a larger fan, a bigger battery and a great-sounding speaker system. That means there's no need to compromise between power, performance and portability.

One of the key challenges that HUAWEI's engineers successfully solved was how to deliver class-leading heat dissipation in such a small space. The result is the fully upgraded HUAWEI Shark Fin heat dissipation System, with a new three-dimentional air inlet and outlet design to deliver smoother and more efficient airflow while the AI temperature control algorithm monitors and adjusts the temperature control policy in real time. That means that your MateBook X Pro will keep its cool during even the toughest tasks such as 4K video rendering and programming.

The third part of the equation is the brand new Super Turbo technology, which can optimise your MateBook X Pro based on the apps you actually use. The results are startling: you can be up and running within 1 second of opening the cover, and startup is as fast as twisting the cap. It's so fast that it can render 4K video twice as fast as Apple's MacBook Pro M3.

A beautiful place to create and enjoy art and entertainment

With a HUAWEI PC or tablet you can immerse yourself in creativity. That's because HUAWEI's PCs and tablets come with innovative and immersive technologies that enable you to experience sound and vision in new and exciting ways.

Take HUAWEI SOUND technology, which intelligently analyses the sonic information in the same way that your brain does. It then separates and remixes the audio so that you hear fuller human voices, brighter instruments and deeper drums, with a soundstage that feels wider and more realistic – something that's particularly apparent with fast-moving objects in movies and in games.

Whether you're working, studying, creating or playing, what you see looks just as good as what you hear. HUAWEI X-True display technology works with a clever display enhancement algorithm to deliver a smoother, more immersive experience. Each and every HUAWEI MateBook X Pro has been professionally colour-corrected before leaving the factory, ensuring professional-grade colour performance in Adobe sRGB, RGB and P3 colour gamuts. 

HUAWEI has another superb display technology to help you create and enjoy beauty. The PaperMatte Display of the HUAWEI MatePad reduces screen reflection, scattered light and blue light radiation, and when you write on it it feels like paper, not glass. Put your stylus aside to use your fingers and the touchscreen responds instantly. It stays fingerprint-free when you're browsing web pages or documents on your PC or tablet – and the screen has been designed to be easier on your eyes during even the most protracted reading sessions.

Amazing apps to create your own beauty

In addition to its innovative hardware, HUAWEI has been making innovative software too. Its GoPaint and HUAWEI Notes apps are designed to make digital creation more convenient and more efficient. 

To create GoPaint, a drawing and painting app with incredible realism, empowering tools and breathtaking results, HUAWEI assembled a team of experts from eight different fields including materials, physical optics and graphics rendering to create an illustration app like no other. And with HUAWEI Notes, which comes with a new Note Replay feature, you can sync audio playback and handwritten notes, automatically applying advanced audio processing and intelligent algorithms to store and sync every sound and stroke. You can even search through your handwritten notes and get the results back instantly.

Super Device brings your creative world together

We often create across multiple devices, and that's something HUAWEI has made easier with Super Device. It's designed to help you focus on your inspiration and creation, automatically collaborating between your PC and tablet so your content is available on whatever device you're currently using. 

Super Device also enables your different devices to work together. You can drag from PC to tablet and vice-versa, use your tablet as a drawing board for your PC while the PC does the heavy lifting in your most demanding apps and even transfer colours from the gallery, web browser or other apps on your tablet so you can use them in the drawing or document you're creating.

Whether you're making movies or immersive audio, creating amazing artworks or producing intricate illustrations, HUAWEI PCs, tablets and apps are designed to boost your creative brain, power up your productivity and help you do what you do best.

Click here to discover how HUAWEI can help you with the creation of beauty.

The Apple M4 chip is built on a 'second-generation' 3-nanometer process, which the company says provides the same performance as the Apple M3 with greatly improved efficiency, offering the iPad Pro desktop-like performance in a tablet without tanking its battery life.

On the spec side, the M4 chip brings to the iPad Pro the same kind of advances that the Apple M3 brought to MacBooks and the iMac last year, including mesh shading, hardware ray tracing, and dynamic caching. It includes a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, and Apple says the CPU is 50% faster than the M2's, and the GPU is 400% faster than that of the M2.

Of course, given the huge push on AI, Apple is touting the neural engine inside its M-series silicon, which is Apple's name for its SoC's NPU. With 38 trillion operations a second, this is one of the fastest NPUs on the market, something that will especially help creators who are working with generative AI or AI-enhanced tools in apps like Adobe Photoshop and more.

New Apple M4 comes at a bad time for Microsoft and Intel

With the announcement of the new M4 chip, Apple continues to pull away from Microsoft and Intel in terms of performance. It's especially notable that Microsoft Build, the tech giant's yearly conference, is less than two weeks away. While it's primarily a developer conference, there's even more pressure on Microsoft to offer something that can compete with Apple, namely Windows on Arm. 

With Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite chips that promise Apple M3-levels of performance, it might be Microsoft's best chance to keep up with Apple, even though it is now behind yet again.

And then you have Intel. Intel's latest processor, the Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra series, aren't exactly blowing away performance records, and they still lag behind Apple's M-series chips considerably when it comes to efficiency and battery life. How Intel plans to rectify that isn't clear, but they absolutely must come up with some answer to the Apple M-series silicon, and the latest Intel Core Ultra chips aren't it.

You may also like...

• Apple event live blog: Get ready for new iPads and more
• Apple's iPad Air 6 launches with a bigger 12.9-inch screen and MacBook-level chipset
• iPad Air 6: new sizes, cameras, features, and everything we know so far

The old system of updating didn’t really make a lot of sense - why would you download an update just to reboot and download yet another one to get to Windows 11?

I’m glad that the process has become a bit more streamlined, and it seems like the option will be offered to more and more people in the coming weeks. If you are yet to update to Windows 10, I’d recommend holding off until you’re prompted to jump straight to Windows 11 23H2 - if only to save yourself the headache of a lengthy double-update.

Make it worth it, Microsoft 

If you’re planning to hold onto Windows 10 as long as possible, you’ve got about two years of Windows 10 support before Microsoft will start really pushing for you to upgrade (though the in-OS nagging has already begun). Windows 10 losing support won’t mean the end of the operating system entirely - you’ll still be able to use it as you normally would once the deadline for support has passed. 

However, you’ll no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or any new features for Windows 10. That leaves you vulnerable to cyber-attacks and annoying system glitches, so you’ll have to weigh up whether staying with Windows 10 is worth it. Microsoft has made it quite clear in recent months: get on board with Windows 11 or get left behind.

Windows 11 is not without its flaws; the most recent update to the system has been riddled with bugs for a while, with a fix only recently being dropped for struggling users. In my view, if Microsoft is so keen to get users to upgrade, it ought to be 100% certain the alternative it’s offering is worth the changeover - and many users clearly don’t think that’s the case. It may be that the only real solution may be to just put everything into Windows 12 and make an operating system that everyone can finally get behind.

You might also like...

• This Windows 11 installation setting can cut your SSD performance in half. Here's how to disable it.
• Windows 11 users, watch out - you’re in for an upgrade you can’t ignore thanks to mandatory adverts
• The latest Windows 11 update is riddled with bugs, but Microsoft has finally addressed the problem