The UEFI has officially seen the light in 2017 when Intelannounced this new technology that would replaced the old BIOS in newly manufactured chipsets.
There are many differences between these two systems although, wanting to simplify the discussion, they both perform the same functionswith the difference that UEFI is a solution that guarantees better efficiency and is perfectly integrated with the new hardware currently on the market.
Being the mechanism behind modern computers it is worth delving deeper into the topic and finding out more about UEFI and why it is a much more efficient product of the BIOS.
What is BIOS and what is it for
BIOS is the acronym of Basic Input-Output System. It’s a little chip ROM memory (in reality it is memory with EEPROM technology), integrated into the motherboard, which contains all the basic information so that the hardware components of the computer can be turned on when the machine is started, are recognized correctly and, immediately afterwards, the operating system can take control of it.
The BIOS also contains basic settings related to PC operation: for example, it is through the BIOS that you decide from which disk (if there is more than one) the operating system will start.
Furthermore, you can change the BIOS (but it is only valid for some CPUs). processor working frequency and of RAM and many other settings that can affect the operation of the device.
Per access the interface To configure the BIOS, when turning on the system, you need to press one or more specific keys, which is usually enough OF THE o DELETEbut the configuration may vary from one motherboard to another.
When you access the BIOS you are generally faced with a very “old-fashioned” graphic interface: very low resolution and navigation/selection of settings can be done exclusively from the keyboard.
What is UEFI and why it replaced BIOS
As mentioned at the beginning, the BIOS, in reality, has no longer been installed on the most modern computers for some years, where it has been replaced by UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) which we could define as a BIOS updated e enhanced.
Compared to the old technology, in fact, UEFI has practically the same purposes but much more efficient functionality.
Very simply, therefore, we find ourselves faced with a direct evolution of these technologies which, despite covering the same tasks in all respects, guarantee much better performance compared to the past and, obviously, many additional features that are taken for granted on modern PCs but which, in reality, are not at all.
So, in a nutshell, UEFI replaced the BIOS because it represents a system more performing, more reliable it’s a lot more precise, which allows you to make the most of the new generation hardware specifications and guarantees better integration between all the different components of a PC.
When UEFI technology was born
UEFI technology, in turn, is the evolution of EFI created in 2003 by Intel.
The consortium was born in 2005 UEFI-Unified EFI Forum which brings together dozens of companies with the aim of develop a single standard for the BIOS successor.
The UEFI chips normally found today in PCs and notebooks around the world are based on a 2006 Intel patent, which was further developed by the UEFI Forum. For many years, however, UEFI technology was not used despite its obvious advantages over the old BIOS.
This is for a very simple reason: Microsoft Windows It only supports UEFI since version 8, released to the public in late September 2012.
Linux, however, has supported this system since its inception. The first PCs with UEFI arrived on the market in 2010 and within a few years, after the breakthrough of Win 8, all new machines no longer had BIOS but UEFI.
Why UEFI is better than BIOS
As just said, UEFI is a very good solution more efficient than BIOS and allows the user to access a whole series of improvements that can really make a difference in the use of their PC.
The first feature that catches the eye, for example, is the graphical interface: possibility of use high resolutions of modern graphics cards and all the modern features relating to the graphics sector that make the most recent versions of the operating systems much more attractive than in the past and with a decidedly more refined design.
But that’s not all: unlike the old BIOS, the new UEFI can recognize and manage it hard drives over 2TB of storage space, with the ability to create an infinite number of partitions.
Moreover this system is also much faster compared to the previous one and allows a more immediate start of the operating system.
By accessing the UEFI menu (in the exact same way as the BIOS) you will also notice greater care in settings management and a much more immediate control system which, among other things, also allows you to use the mouse while navigating through the various options.
Among the new features not to be overlooked there is also the Secure Booti.e. secure boot: a feature that allows you to make sure that even when your PC gets infected a virus o one malwareit is not loaded and started before the operating system itself.
This happens because Secure Boot technology prevents bootloaders from loading and drivers without a digital signature considered valid among those present in the database loaded on the UEFI.
Finally this new technology allows you to manage easily multiple operating systems on the same disk making it easy to choose which OS to boot with your computer.
To know more: The computer: how it is made, how it works, how to improve it