News Intel releases NPU drivers with Arrow Lake support — AI PC users will have yet another component that may require regular updates

[Admin]

Intel NPUs join the list of driver updates to stay on top of, with nearly a dozen updates since Meteor Lake laptops began shipping last year. The latest release adds support for the upcoming Arrow Lake processors' NPU, along with addressing some potential security issues.

Intel releases NPU drivers with Arrow Lake support — AI PC users will have yet another component that may require regular updates : Read more

 

[DS426]

After reading the first paragraph, I thought "well sh*t, what about just disabling the thing like iGPU's on desktop CPU's?" Fortunately, the second paragraph not only confirmed it's possible but recommended it on Windows 10 systems. Umm... so what happens if it's turned off on Windows 11 24H2 and it's "new" kernel (it's not a feature enablement package this time around).

 

[Mama Changa]

Why would you need to disable it on Windows 10. Firstly 10 supports copilot if you are into that crap, secondly I presume the NPU can be leveraged by software like Topaz Gigapixel AI just like it is on MacOS. Topaz can leverage GPU/cpu and npu IIRC.

 

[emike09]

I'm the outlier that enjoys updates. Sure, I kinda get 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', but I also know my hardware is more capable with development over time. I wish my Subaru Eyesight became even more intelligent with the hardware it has based on better software because I know it can, but cars stick to 'it is what it is' (except Tesla, and other outliers). The Voyager Space Probes could have just abandoned half its missions and just kept plowing into space, bypassing massive amounts of discovery and research that had never been seen before, but software updates keep it going for 45 years and still going. SpaceX Starship could have just lobbed its ships into space and the ocean and not been caught by some chopsticks out of mid-air, but used software updates to save and re-use millions, if not billions in resources. We now have the hardware to get to space, we need the software to get to Mars and beyond. And that physical hardware was built from... software - and updates.

Sometimes updates break things, rarely they can be inconvenient in my experience. Sometimes new software and updates are lazy and could be better. Moving forward is what humans are. Sometimes we don't do it right, sometimes we make breakthroughs, sometimes we affect 1/4 of the corporate globe from a Crowdstrike update. We're an evolving species with evolving ideas and evolving solutions. Sometimes we make mistakes, but we fix them and try to do better.

So imagine being given the gift of the NPU, but it can only do x and y. You spend 3-8 years only being able to x and y, but the entire time, the NPU was capable of A-Z, we just had to figure out how to do it. But because you hate updates, you're satisfied with only x any y, so you just end up spending a ton of money on the latest and greatest later on. Because even though what you had could do it, you didn't want to update.

Long story short - quit hating on updates. If you don't like updates, DOS 1.0 was probably fine for you. Back to the stone age. Actually, go back to before the stone age. Back when you were a monkey and all that ran through your mind was bugs, monkey lady. Big cat attack. Must run. Much colds. Wish was warm. Wish Update.