HP Offers Refunds On PCs With Flawed Intel Chip

Following the news that Samsung Electronics is refunding customers for computers containing flawed Intel chips, HP is doing the same.

The company announced today that customers who had purchased computers were eligible for a refund or replacement by a comparable model.

A statement from HP says that only computers ordered since Jan. 9 include the flawed chip, though only a small portion of those computers would be affected by the issue. HP stopped producing computers with the flawed chips on Jan. 31.

Samsung offered refunds for PCs on Feb. 1 after Intel announced the day before that it had discovered a flaw in the Cougar Point chipsets that affects a certain percentage of those shipped. Intel estimates the cost at $1 billion in repairs and revenue loss.

The problem is that the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the Cougar Point chipsets may degrade over time. This could in turn affect the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD drives.

HP did not return calls for comment.

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