No Creators Update and beyond for Intel 'Clover Trail' Atom CPUs going forward, says Microsoft.

PC users who jumped on the tablet and hybrid PC bandwagon sometime between 2012 and 2014 would have to make do with the last Windows 10 feature update 1607 a.k.a. the Anniversary Update. Microsoft has now officially stated that PCs featuring Intel's 'Clover Trail' Atom line of CPUs viz. the Atom Z2760, Z2520, Z2560 and Z2580 cannot run the latest Windows 10 Creators Update as incompatible drivers for these chips would prevent users from having an ideal experience.

In an email statement to ZDNet, a Microsoft spokesperson said that in the Windows-as-a-Service model, Microsoft is aligning the support cadence with the hardware support lifecycle of a device. The spokesperson notes that Intel 'Clover Trail' Atom processors are no longer supported by Intel as they have reached end of interactive support. Without new drivers or firmware from Intel, PCs based on these processors would be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact.

Although the Anniversary Update is the end of the line for PCs sporting these processors, the silver lining is that Microsoft will be supporting these PCs with security updates till January, 2023. Originally, going by Microsoft's current support lifecycle of 18 months post release, these PCs would have been cut-off from even security updates post early 2018. It should come as a reprieve that Microsoft is considering extended support for 'Clover Trail' devices till 2023 aligning with the Windows 8.1 extended support period.

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