Skip to main content

Microsoft will extend Windows 7 support … for a price

Support for Windows 7 officially ends on January 14, 2020, but that date can now be postponed — provided you’re willing to pay. In a new blog post, Microsoft has announced that it will continue to offer IT support for Windows 7 in exchange for a monthly fee. This means that if you want to continue receiving security updates for Windows 7 then you’ll need to pay a monthly fee. Microsoft has announced the specific amount yet but has said that it will increase every year.

Doubtless, there are going to be some people who are going to be upset over having to pay in order to receive security updates. On the other hand, this does mean that those organizations who are reluctant to upgrade to Windows 10 will still have an alternative. At least until this promotion ends in 2023.

Recommended Videos

The blog post says that this extended service option will “be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing, with a discount to customers with Windows software assurance.” Based on that wording, we can reasonably assume that this means any individuals who have not upgraded to Windows 8 or 10 will need to do so if they want to continue to receive support and security updates from Microsoft.

Those who don’t want to pay for the extended support can, of course, continue to run Windows 7, but they will be at a higher risk of security vulnerabilities and other issues. Unfortunately, those who do want to upgrade to Windows 10 will have to pay a hefty price. The more affordable Windows 8 is no longer being sold and the free upgrade period for Windows 10 has expired.

It will be interesting to see how this extended support promotion plays out for Microsoft. Currently, more than 38 percent of computers worldwide run on Windows 7. It’s likely that there are going to be some organizations willing to pay for the extended support. On the other hand, there are probably plenty of people who have avoided upgrading due to the cost of the software upgrade. Given that this extended service must be purchased for each device in use, it is likely that some will find it more affordable to simply upgrade to Windows 10.

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
AMD CPUs should support CUDIMM memory soon, but not this generation
Official product render of the G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo memory for AMD.

AMD processors can't make full use of CUDIMM memory just yet, but it may well do before the end of this socket. In a recent interview with DigitalTrends, AMD's product management lead for gaming and workstations, Sourabh Dhir, told us that there was no reason that AM5 couldn't support CUDIMM, but wouldn't be draw on a timeline of when we might see it.

Considering we expect AM5 to be AMD's flagship CPU socket for the next couple of generations at least, that probably means we don't have long to wait for the added memory speed support.

Read more
Intel Arc GPU users lose Deep Link features as support ends without notice
The back of the Intel Arc B580 graphics card.

Intel has quietly discontinued its Deep Link technology, the suite of features designed to enhance collaboration between its CPUs and GPUs. Notably, the confirmation did not come through an official announcement, but via a developer comment on a public GitHub thread, where an Intel representative acknowledged that Deep Link is “no longer actively maintained.”

Launched in 2020 alongside Intel’s push into discrete graphics, Deep Link aimed to improve performance and efficiency in systems combining Intel 11th, 12th, or 13th generation processors with Intel Arc GPUs. It bundled several features like Dynamic Power Share which redirected power between the CPU and GPU based on load, Hyper Encode that enabled multi-engine video encoding, and Stream Assist for offloading media tasks to the GPU during live streaming.

Read more
I tested the Asus ZenBook A14 and now can’t imagine using any other Windows laptop
Half-open rear view of the Asus ZenBook A14 laptop.

Over the past four years, the MacBook Air has been the primary driver of my computing duties. My prerequisites for finding a light, powerful, and reliable laptop that suits my digital nomad lifestyle often led me to the Apple Store, despite testing my fair share of Windows laptops over the years. 

Things started to look promising when I tested my first Windows on Arm machines powered by the Snapdragon X series processors. After spending some time with the stunning Dell XPS 13 and Asus ProArt PZ13 tablet, I switched to the Asus ZenBook A14. 

Read more