14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt, one of the biggest topics in IT and hardware-related news over the past couple of weeks has been Intel's announcement regarding the discovery of a design flaw in its 6 Series Chipsets (designed to work with the Sandy Bridge platform), one that has severely affected motherboard and notebook manufacturers.
However, it seems that, after careful consideration and dialogue with the companies affected by this discovery, Intel has decided to attempt to cut its losses as much as possible, and revealed the fact that it would resume shipping the chipsets, even if they're still affected by the aforementioned SATA flaw.
Although some might say that this is somewhat of an inappropriate behavior from Intel, the truth of the matter is that it's actually a very good business decision, especially since the shipments will be done in a controlled manner, as they'll be used solely in those particular PC system configurations not likely to be affected by the SATA connector flaw.
In fact, the company underlines the fact that “only computer makers who have committed to shipping the Intel 6 Series Chipset in PC system configurations that are not impacted by the design issue will be receiving these shipments.”
On the other hand, it seems that the 6 Series Chipsets featuring the redesigned SATA controller are already being manufactured, with the first shipments being scheduled in only a couple of days' time, namely at some point in mid-February.
By adopting this particular course of action, Intel's pretty much tried to do everything in its power to minimize losses, both for itself and for its partners, most of which have been quite seriously affected by this issue.
Of course, since Intel's pretty much footing the bill for all the replacements, its partners' losses will be somewhat diminished, but it ultimately remains to be seen just how end-customers will react to this whole story.