Welcome back glorious PCWorld fans! It is indeed that time of the week again,
time for me to make sure you didn’t miss some of the biggest PC news since the last time we met.
This week may have been lacking in major launches but there was an excellent episode
of The Full Nerd here on the channel where the team gave their top picks for Best Of 2021.
So make sure you check that fun one out, spoiler alert: we didn’t all agree most of the time.
But what about the top news? Well, Intel has cut the cord on DX12 support for some
older processors, Microsoft’s PC store is set to unlock Xbox games and enable mod support,
Valve sent out some disappointing news regarding the Steam Deck, and Windows 11SE is looking to
take ChromeOS heads on. More to cover than you may have thought, so let’s do it to it.
When I say that Intel is shutting down support for DX12 on older platforms it
sounds pretty nefarious and gives one of those “Wait, what...why?” kind of moments.
First, let me clarify what’s getting shut off from DX12. Right now it looks to be limited
to the 4th Generation Intel Core processors and ONLY when running the integrated GPU. So that’s
the Intel Core i3, i5, and i7-4000 Series as well as their Pentium and Celeron counterparts. Again,
ONLY when using the iGPU. So if you’re running, say an Intel Core i7-4790K with a Radeon RX 580
then you’re good to go. I worry many will see the first part of the headline with this one and
just think Intel is locking out the whole system from DX12 and that’s not the case.
But why are they doing this? Well, as with most moves like this these days,
it’s for security purposes. Intel doesn’t state whether they’re working on a fix for it or not,
but my personal guess would be they aren’t that concerned.
The combinations will still work fine with DX11 and other APIs,
but games and programs running strictly DX12 won’t be able to run after the update.
But let’s move on to something that gets a fix. How about the ability to download games from the
Microsoft Store or Game Pass app to a folder of your choice? Yes Please! This is a feature that I
personally have been wanting to see come to the Microsoft Store and the Game Pass app
because I like control of where my downloads end up. Something more granular than just
WHICH drive I want the game installed on. But the big kicker here is this will open up the ability
to work in mods for these games as you’ll now have access to the folder and files unlike before.
I know some folks out there will be scratching their heads thinking
“hasn’t this been a common feature of like EVERY game launcher for a long long time?”
and you’d be right. But credit needs to be given to Microsoft here for loosening the
reigns. Xbox Game Pass for PC is one of the best values you can get your hands on in my opinion
and this update will give a bit more power to players, and it’s certainly worth highlighting.
But in true 2020 point 1 fashion we’ve got another delayed notification for something many of us,
and that includes Adam and I, have been patiently waiting to hear an
update on...the Valve Steam Deck. That’s right folks,
in a not so glorious email that went out in the middle of our Full Nerd Live Stream this week
we got word that Valve was having to delay the launch of the upcoming Steam Deck.
How long you ask? Well, according to the email Valve stated it would be delaying the launch
until February 2022. Valve went on to say “We’re sorry about this—we did our best to
work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components
aren’t reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates,”
If you already have a preorder in, then don’t worry too much as your spot in line hasn’t
shifted. However, you’re still going to have to wait as the whole line just got pushed back.
It’s not the end of the world, at least they didn’t cancel it entirely.
If you thought the real war for a PC and Windows placement over the past few years
was for the hearts and minds of gamers or work professionals then you’ve missed
one of the biggest markets: the classroom. Yeah, I know it’s not that exciting of news
but we all started somewhere with computers, and more than ever they’re being used in classrooms.
That has been an easy win over the past few years for Google
with its Chromebooks and ChromeOS but now Microsoft wants to tackle that market with gusto.
Microsoft has introduced Windows 11 SE, a super slimmed-down version of Windows 11
for very inexpensive laptops that don’t require much power to run. But, unlike ChromeOS,
Windows 11 SE is much more flexible in that it’ll support third-party applications like Chrome
and Zoom rather than through browser versions of these applications, a huge win for Microsoft.
And with it comes, of course, a Microsoft Surface product to support it.
The new Microsoft Surface SE is going to start at $249 which is insane.
Sure the specs aren’t going to convince a power user to load one
up...especially with that devil resolution of 1366x768 and powered by a Celeron processor. But
for little Johnny who needs something solid to keep up in class with, it’s perfect. Microsoft
isn’t going alone here as there will be options from Acer, Asus, Dell, and more coming very soon.
Well there we have it folks, another action-packed week wrapped up in a nice little package.
Intel may be shutting down DX12 support on older chips, but it’s not as dire as it may
sound. Microsoft is handing the keys to the folders over to its users when it comes to
the Microsoft Store and Game Pass installs. Valve officially delayed the launch of the Steam Deck,
sad face. AND Microsoft is going after ChromeOS hard with Windows 11SE and the Surface Laptop SE.
I want to thank you all once again for joining me as I rustled up the more interesting topics of the
week that you may have missed. If you enjoyed it let me know by hitting that thumbs up button
and make sure you’re subscribed here at PCWorld for even more PC Hardware and Software goodness.