Intel’s latest CPUs can break your browser

When you buy the latest technology you generally expect it to work without a hitch. That’s probably why some users who have the latest 12th-gen Intel processors are pissed, as their Chrome and Edge browsing sessions freeze up on brand new machines. Intel has acknowledged the problem and which specific Alder Lake CPUs are being affected, and offered up a few potential solutions.

Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, et cetera) are seeing frustrating hang-ups and freezes when loading multiple tabs on machines with both 12th-gen Intel Core CPUs and the lower-power integrated graphics chip, UHD Graphics 770. That includes 18 desktop and laptop CPU models from late 2021 and early 2022, across i5, i7, and i9 lines. Some of these are very popular models, including members of the powerful i7-12700 and i9-12900 series. Intel notes that the problem is especially bad when using an old-fashioned hard drive or using many tabs at once. The support page was spotted by a Twitter user and TechRadar.

To fix the problem, Intel recommends the usual steps: update your browser, update Windows, update your graphics driver with a clean install. You might also try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser. Installing a discrete graphics card would also bypass Intel’s integrated graphics, preventing this issue. A fix from Intel itself is presumably in the works, but it might be a while before it gets here.