> why the hell would this tech be put inside consumer devices Because it is cheaper to make one single CPU chip variant, that is then sold to both the corporat

> why the hell would this tech be put inside consumer devices Because it is cheaper to make one single CPU chip variant, that is then sold to both the corporate and consumer channels, than it is to make two, one with ME for the corporate channel, and another without ME for the consumer channel. Plus, once the ME was required to actually boot the CPU (note, why it became a requirement is a different argument), it then became much more expensive to omit for consumer grade CPU's because a "non-ME consumer grade" CPU would need to be a completely different chip with some alternate way to "initially boot up".