Microsoft is such a massive company that you can't really have a quiet month when it comes to news. While we're eagerly anticipating the upcoming Surface hardware event and the Xbox Games Showcase, there's plenty of news to catch up on from April. Before you dive headfirst into Qualcomm-powered AI PCs, new games, and some brand-new Surface hardware, make sure to run through everything that happened last month. We saw Elon Musk talk about AI ending humanity, Microsoft reveal the cost of Windows 10 support, and Xbox take over the PlayStation Store. All in all, it was quite the eventful few weeks.
Cost of Windows 10 support
Windows 10 continues to march toward its end of support. After October 2025, the operating system will stop being supported and stop receiving security updates. That is, unless you are a commercial customer willing to pay. Microsoft revealed the cost of keeping Windows 10 devices secure after the October 2025 cutoff. Customers will need to pay $61 per device for the first year of security updates. That cost then doubles each year for three years.
We've known about the extended support program for Windows 10 since late 2023. Microsoft has been clear about the October 2025 support cutoff for years. But what has many upset is that there isn't a clear upgrade path for many PCs running Windows 10. Since Windows 11 has strict minimum requirements, quite a few computers are not able to upgrade to Microsoft's latest operating system. As a result, people will have to pay one way or another to use a secure system. The only question for those running hardware that doesn't meet Windows 11's minimum requirements is if they'll upgrade to a new PC or pay to keep a Windows 10 system secure.
Upgrading to Windows 11
Microsoft has not announced any changes to the minimum requirements of Windows 11, but the company will allow more PCs to upgrade. That's because the tech giant finally fixed a bug that affected PCs with 11th Gen Core processors running Windows 11. That bug caused Microsoft to place a compatibility hold on affected systems, preventing those PCs from upgrading to Windows 11.
The bug has since been fixed, so Microsoft lifted the compatibility hold. The news doesn't matter to owners of PCs blocked from upgrading to Windows 11 due to the operating system's minimum requirements, but it does help those affected by the specific compatibility issue. For those in the latter group, the option to upgrade to Windows 11 is likely viewed as good news.
Ads in Windows 11
Windows 11 is more than an operating system, it's a billboard. At least, that's the case if you go by Microsoft's actions. The tech giant already has several promotions and ads within its flagship operating system, but it found space for a few more. Starting with the monthly Windows 11 update that will ship in May 2024, Windows 11 will show ads within the Recommended section of the Start menu.
Microsoft also began testing an ad for Game Pass within the Windows 11 Settings app. The ad is only meant to appear for those who "actively play games" on their PC, but Microsoft didn't specify how that metric is measured.
Surface
While Microsoft did not announce any Surface devices in April 2024, we have a clear idea of what the next Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will look like. Leaked benchmarks, exclusive reports, and teases from Microsoft make it clear that May will be an exciting month for Surface enthusiasts.
The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are both expected to run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor.
Microsoft will hold a Surface event on May 20, just ahead of Build 2024. There, we expect to see the tech giant show off its new devices and hype their capabilities. Throughout Build, we'll likely hear more about Windows 11 on Arm, which is key for the success of the new Surface PCs.
Apple LLM beats GPT-4
Microsoft burst onto the modern AI scene with its investment in OpenAI alongside its own work, but other tech companies are trying to catch up. Apple reportedly has an LLM called Reference Resolution As Language Modeling (ReALM) that will improve Siri. A research paper highlighted Apple's plans to upgrade Siri with AI capabilities.
Assuming Apple does use its ReALM model to enhance Siri, the assistant that ships on a wide range of Apple hardware could get supercharged with AI. That would provide a more natural entry point to everyday AI than Copilot, which is not the default assistant on popular phones or tablets.
In addition to a supercharged Siri being more in the face of users, the assistant could be more capable than its competitors. The ReALM model will be available in four sizes. The smallest of those sizes got similar benchmarks to OpenAI's GPT-4. The paper also said that the largest ReALM model outperformed GPT-4 "substantially."
Of course, that research paper was done by Apple AI researchers. They even refer to the ReALM model with possessive pronouns like "our." We'll have to see how a hypothetical supercharged Siri stands up to real-world testing to see how it stacks up to GPT-4 and whatever OpenAI comes up with next.
AI may end humanity
AI is the hottest topic in tech, but artificial intelligence comes with a number of risks. There are security concerns about how the technology can be used and AI requires a massive amount of energy to operate. But a different type of potential issue made the headlines last month, AI threatening to end humanity.
READ MORE: Microsoft President compares AI to the Terminator
AI safety researcher and director of the Cyber Security Laboratory at the University of Louisville, Roman Yampolskiy, thinks the probability of AI ending humanity is 99.999999%. Before you build a bunker, celebrity Elon Musk said that his estimate is only about a 10-20% chance of AI ending humanity.
Xbox takes over PlayStation Store
Over on the gaming side of things, Microsoft has been hard at work expanding its reach to more platforms. Microsoft has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in gaming in recent years, and we're starting to see that pay off. At one point in April, Microsoft had more games in the PlayStation Store's top 25 than Sony.
Call of Duty, Overwatch 2, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded were among the titles topping Sony's charts, but there were some unexpected additions on the back of a popular TV show coming out.
Fallout TV show
Season 1 of the Fallout TV series came out in April, shooting the popular franchise into the public eye and in front of millions of potential new players. Amazon shared that over 65 million people have watched the Fallout TV show. That figure is high enough to earn Fallout TV the title of second-most watched Prive Video show of all time.
It should be no surprise that Fallout Season 2 has already been confirmed. But the Fallout TV show's popularity did more than ensure a second season of the series. The Fallout franchise saw a resurgence in player counts across several games, including Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
Minecraft April Fool's joke
Mahjong, the makers of Minecraft, kicked off April with an April Fools' joke called the "Poisonous Potato Update." While Minecraft is the most purchased game of all time, it hasn't received significant new content for quite a while. Despite being a joke, the Poisonous Potato Update breathed new life into the popular sandbox game.
The update made many yearn for more new content for Minecraft. There's a difference between additions that are polished enough for a full release, but the Poisonous Potato Update gave people a taste of new Minecraft content.
While Minecraft is known for large gaps between updates, the game did receive a hardcore mode in its Bedrock Edition, though the mode is only in testing for Bedrock players. Perhaps that will satiate hungry Minecraft fans.
Xbox handheld
Gaming handhelds make up a relatively new category, at least when it comes to PC gaming. It appears that Microsoft may be interested in making a gaming handheld of its own, though at this point it appears the tech giant is just gathering information. The company sent out a seven-minute survey asking questions like "what motivated you to get a gaming handheld?" and "what features do you like most about it?"
Our Rebecca Spear went through all 28 pages of the survey to try to get an idea of what Microsoft is looking for. Could Microsoft be doing market research to see if it's worth making its own handheld console to compete with the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go? It certainly seems possible.
Microsoft's current strategy seems to focus more on getting people to play Microsoft-owned games and sign up for Game Pass than buying Xbox consoles in particular. It will be interesting to see if that trend makes the company more or less likely to make its own handheld console.
Editorials
Considering our team spend every day looking at and following tech, it's hardly surprising that we have some strong opinions. Sometimes, those pour out onto the web. From advice on how to get Steam onto Xbox consoles to becoming addicted to Minecraft, here are the hottest takes and most passionate editorials from the past month.
- I finally tried Windows 11 on ARM after four years of unfairly dismissing Qualcomm's misunderstood platform (and I'm obsessed)
- If Microsoft really IS bringing Steam, Epic Game Store, etc. to Xbox consoles, it needs to answer these big questions
- PSA: It doesn't matter if your computer runs on ARM, all of your apps will work on Windows 11
- We chat Diablo 4 microtransactions with Rod Fergusson
- My partner became a Minecraft addict because of XREAL's AR glasses
- Microsoft's latest Copilot coercion forced me through the five stages of grief
Reviews
Each month our experts go hands-on with the latest gadgets. Some, like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, are devices you've heard about and may have even owned a previous version of. Others, like the SK Hynix Tube T31 are likely unknown to many but are worth checking out. Every device listed below earned at least a 4/5, and many earned perfect scores from our team.
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) review: A legendary enterprise laptop gets a gorgeous redesign
- I review tons of laptops, and I've never seen one handle intensive graphics this well before — it's incredibly powerful
- SK Hynix Tube T31 review: This SSD-based USB flash drive is absolutely incredible
- This carrying case kept my ASUS ROG Ally safe for thousands of miles
- This ultraportable AI laptop wants to travel with you, and it's got insane battery life to do it
- Baseus 240W Digital GaN Desktop Charger review: One hub to charge all your devices
- Audeze LCD-GX review: The ultimate gaming headset upgrade
- Keychron Q6 Pro review: The ultimate full-size mechanical keyboard
Deals
The best deals on games, gadgets, and accessories are often for a limited time. But every once in a while, discounts remain live for several weeks. That's the case for all of the discounted devices below. Some of the prices are a tad higher than they were throughout April, but they're all still great deals.
