Dell, one of the top three PC makers, will not use Microsoft’s Pluton chip in “most” commercial PCs, The Register reported Wednesday. A Dell representative told the publication that the security processor “doesn’t match Dell’s approach to hardware security and our most secure commercial PC requirements.”
Microsoft first announced the Pluton security processor in 2020. At that time, the chip was already being used in microcontrollers in the Xbox One and Azure Sphere to prevent hardware hacks.
On PCs, Pluton is intended to prevent hacks that could result from an attacker having physical access to the PC. Such physical hacks can result in the installation of malware or stolen data. By living on the die of the main CPU, Pluton can store protected data in an area isolated from the other components of the PC. According to Microsoft, that data cannot be deleted in any case.
Pluton can also serve as a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which Microsoft needs to run a system with Windows 11.
The main reason why Dell won’t use Pluton just yet is that Intel’s 12th-generation Core processors, including the mobile SKUs tuned for Dell’s business laptops, don’t use it. Instead, as reported by The Register last week, Intel is relying on its Platform Trust Technology, which has been used by Intel chipsets for years and uses a TPM 2.0.
In addition, Dell’s 12th-generation laptops will use modules that meet the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s FIPS 140-2 standard for cryptographic modules. The computers will also be Trusted Computing Group certified, according to The Register.
However, Dell is open to using Pluton someday. The company told The Register it will “continue to evaluate Pluton to see how it compares to existing TPM implementations in the future.” Likewise, Intel ThinkPads with Intel 12th-generation CPUs will not use Microsoft’s security chip “at launch,” according to a Lenovo representative who spoke to The Register.
The absence of Pluton in ThinkPads, a standard laptop among businesses, would be a big hit, but Pluton will get its chance in the new ThinkPad Z-series and some ThinkPad T-series laptops that hit the market in May. The laptops use AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs, which integrate Pluton. The ThinkPad X13s, which uses a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 and arrives in June, will also use Pluton.
However, Pluton features, such as saving Windows Hello credentials, are disabled by default in ThinkPads, Lenovo told The Register in January.
