Software bloat? This elevator needs an 8GB Core i5

BORK!BORK!BORK! Paris might sometimes be called "The City of Light" or perhaps "The City of Love" by the romantically inclined. Judging by this hotel's elevators, "The City of Bork" is more appropriate.

Spotted by eagle-eyed Register reader Nathaniel in a Paris hotel, what we assume to be digital signage is instead stalled on the all too familiar American Megatrends BIOS configuration screen. The computer behind the scenes also seems a bit overpowered to serve information for hotel services.

Instead of enticing elevator riders into the undoubtedly delightful bars and restaurants of the establishment (apparently a Novotel not far from the Eiffel Tower) or whatever it should be doing, this screen has temptations of an altogether more technical nature.

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BIOS configuration running down the side of the elevator doors – and yes the photo is he right way up

A CometLake CPU? An i5 no less? Sort of up-to-date. And that 8 GB of RAM? The way memory prices are going, that might be enough to buy you a nice hotel room in some cities, and at least a decent coffee and a croque monsieur in Paris.

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It all seems a bit excessive for something that an elevator user might glance at impatiently, while cursing silently at whoever jabbed the call button on the floor that wasn't theirs.

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The 10210U CPU, launched at the end of 2019, is one of Intel's 10th-generation Core i5 processors (and so acceptable to Windows 11, although we're not sure we'd want Microsoft's flagship operating system anywhere near a metal box held aloft by steel cables).

Aimed at the mobile segment – in this case, mobile in the vertical sense of the word – it wasn't a bad bit of silicon. It supported DDR4-2666 memory, which appears to be what is fitted here, and there was Intel UHD graphics as an option. Less than ideal for the latest polygon-heavy first-person shooter, but more than adequate for entertaining elevator riders for a few minutes.

Or a sideways BIOS setup screen in text mode. ®

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