Special Reports : CNET's in-depth features in one place.Since 1987 - Covering the Fastest Computers in the World and the People Who Run ThemĬray has won the bid to build the first exascale supercomputer for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). And some Microsoft updates to chips made by AMD reportedly caused some computers to stop working.ĭoes the Mac still matter? Apple execs explain why the MacBook Pro was over four years in the making, and why we should care.

The company is also fighting a perception that the updates will slow computer performance. On Tuesday, Intel called on manufacturers and users to halt some patches to its chips after reports the fixes were causing computers to unexpectedly reboot. The industry-wide effort to patch the design flaws has run into turbulence since the vulnerabilities became public. The Spectre flaw affects chips made by AMD and Arm in addition to Intel chips.Īpple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why the Sierra and El Capitan updates arrived after the patch to High Sierra. That was shortly after reporters revealed that security researchers found the Meltdown design flaw, along with a similar flaw called Spectre. The patch arrives more than two weeks after Apple updated its most current operating system, High Sierra. Patches to operating systems are one of the key ways to protect computers. The update means more Mac users will be safe from a vulnerability that affects hundreds of millions of chips made by Intel over the past 20 years. On Tuesday, the company released updates to the Sierra and El Capitan operating systems that will protect users from Meltdown, the design flaw that could let hackers access sensitive information from a computer's processor. You want to stay safe from hackers while still using an older version of Apple's MacOS, the underlying software that runs its laptops and desktops.

El capitan vs sierra security