Dell Accidentally ‘Confirms’ New Windows 10 Ultra Edition – Forbes

Dell’s redesigned XPS 13 2-in-1, a laptop powered by Intel’s new 10nm, 10th generation Ice Lake-U processors. Then I took an extended look at the spec sheet Dell made available to press, and there it was under “Operating System.” An OS I’ve certainly never seen before: Windows 10 Ultra 64-bit, nestled just below the expected inclusion of Windows 10 Home 64-bit.

What’s this, then?

Well, Computex 2019 is underway and it’s an event known for being especially “leaky.” As far as I’m aware this is the first mention of a new Windows 10 Edition called “Ultra,” and a cursory Google News search reveals little more than the same discovery at Neowin and a short piece today by Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet.

There is a clue lurking out there though. As Foley reminds us, last year leaked Microsoft documents revealed an edition called “Windows 10 Home Advanced” that never saw the light of day. Microsoft never discussed what the key differences were between the unannounced Windows 10 Home Advanced and and the standard Windows 10 Home edition.

Thurrott.com claims (article is behind a Premium paywall), that this is the very same “Advanced” SKU concept but shipping a year later under a new name.  Emails are out to both Microsoft and Dell, but we’re left scratching our heads for now. Will this be an incremental upgrade designed for high-end PCs? Will it have more advanced features like Windows 10 Pro’s deferred updates? BitLocker encryption? Hyper-V? What kind of PCs qualify for Windows 10 Home Ultra? What do those minimum required specs look like?

We know this much: Dell’s revamped XPS 13 2-in-1 launches this June alongside Intel’s Ice Lake, so answers should be forthcoming, and soon.

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Earlier today I was writing about Dell’s redesigned XPS 13 2-in-1, a laptop powered by Intel’s new 10nm, 10th generation Ice Lake-U processors. Then I took an extended look at the spec sheet Dell made available to press, and there it was under “Operating System.” An OS I’ve certainly never seen before: Windows 10 Ultra 64-bit, nestled just below the expected inclusion of Windows 10 Home 64-bit.

What’s this, then?

Well, Computex 2019 is underway and it’s an event known for being especially “leaky.” As far as I’m aware this is the first mention of a new Windows 10 Edition called “Ultra,” and a cursory Google News search reveals little more than the same discovery at Neowin and a short piece today by Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet.

There is a clue lurking out there though. As Foley reminds us, last year leaked Microsoft documents revealed an edition called “Windows 10 Home Advanced” that never saw the light of day. Microsoft never discussed what the key differences were between the unannounced Windows 10 Home Advanced and and the standard Windows 10 Home edition.

Thurrott.com claims (article is behind a Premium paywall), that this is the very same “Advanced” SKU concept but shipping a year later under a new name.  Emails are out to both Microsoft and Dell, but we’re left scratching our heads for now. Will this be an incremental upgrade designed for high-end PCs? Will it have more advanced features like Windows 10 Pro’s deferred updates? BitLocker encryption? Hyper-V? What kind of PCs qualify for Windows 10 Home Ultra? What do those minimum required specs look like?

We know this much: Dell’s revamped XPS 13 2-in-1 launches this June alongside Intel’s Ice Lake, so answers should be forthcoming, and soon.