Category: Hardware

XDA reports that Qualcomm has an exclusive agreement with Microsoft for Windows on ARM, made several years ago. Due to that agreement, all devices running this version of the popular OS are only based on Snapdragon chips. One more interesting thing is the agreement is expiring very soon.

Microsoft has announced the November November firmware update for Xbox consoles, available for both the Xbox Series X and S and the entire Xbox One family. It includes new color filters, improved audio output, reduced input lag and Bluetooth Low Energy support for older controllers.

Earlier this month, Microsoft released November 2021 firmware update for the first-gen Surface Duo. As with many previous updates, this month's release contained nothing but general Android security patches without device-specific improvements or bug fixes. Now the same update is available for the second-gen Surface Duo, released in September 2021. And "the same" means literally the same—only Android security updates.

All new Surface computers get four years of active support. During those four years, Microsoft releases new drivers and firmware updates with various improvements, fixes, and security patches. This month, Microsoft stopped supporting a bunch of Surface computers released from 2015 to 2017. Some of those Surface computers ended their lifecycles with more than six years of support.

The November 2021 update roundup for Surface devices continues with the original Surface Duo and AMD-based Surface Laptop joining the party. Here is what is new in the November 2021 update for the first-gen dual-screen smartphone from Microsoft and the fourth-gen Surface Laptop with AMD CPUs.

Today, during a special event, Microsoft announced Surface Laptop SE—its cheapest computer in the Surface family, aimed squarely at the education market to rival Chromebooks.

In a somewhat radical move, Intel decided to purge the DirectX 12 support from old Haswell-based processors. Beginning with the driver 15.40.44.5107, integrated graphics in fourth-gen Intel CPUs no longer work with the latest graphics APIs from Microsoft. The chipmaker says they had to remove the DirectX 12 support to fix a security issue.

Microsoft released another October 2021 firmware update. This time, it is the third-gen Surface Book to receive improvements and enhancements for Windows 11 alongside bug fixes and patches. Here is what is new in the October 2021 firmware update for Surface Book 3.

Reportedly, Microsoft plans to launch a new dirt-cheap Surface laptop to compete with Chromebooks in education markets. Sources claim the company develops a new laptop under the Tenjin codename. Here are some of its tech specs.

Just a couple of days after the launch, Surface Duo 2 received its first firmware update. Unlike the original Surface Duo, which has been receiving only Android security patches for several months in a row, the first update for Surface Duo 2 contains device-specific improvements and bug fixes.