People who placed orders just before learning of the upgrade needn't fear

May 4, 2012 08:05 GMT  ·  By

When Intel released the Ivy Bridge series of central processing units, PC makers were quick to add the chips to their portfolios, Alienware included, but that left some people in a bind.

Buyers may have placed orders for an Alienware laptop prior to the formal introduction of Intel's new central processing units.

Some of those orders haven't yet shipped, and here is the good news: they will ship upgraded.

Alienware has sent e-mails to those whose machines haven't been shipped, telling them that whichever laptop they chose, and was supposed to have a previous-generation Sandy Bridge CPU, will get an Ivy Bridge chip instead.

Alienware is a brand belonging to Dell, but the company isn't doing this switch for any other laptop lines.

The laptops will get “a comparably-priced third generation Ivy Bridge processor automatically,” the e-mail supposedly read.

“Your order invoice will still show the 2nd Generation Intel processor that you originally ordered, but you can go to your Windows Control Panel, System, and you will see 3rd Generation Intel processor listed under Processor. We value your loyalty and hope that this news is a pleasant surprise.”

There is no delivery delay associated with the hardware modification and, in case you're wondering, the Dell Alienware M14x, M17x and M18x are the mobile PCs that receive the upgrade. Alas, the M11x did not.

Never fear though. If you really want such a small gaming beast, an 11-inch Clevo has been getting rebranded all over the world, by Maingear, AVADirect, etc.

Intel's Ivy Bridge series of central processing units is currently made up of quad-core Core i7 and Core i5 chips. Dual-core units, like the Core i3-3110M, will be released over the next two quarters.

We haven't learned of any other company emulating Dell in this complimentary modification to the laptop components. We'll keep a lookout, just in case.