What PC Makers Are Promising Customers With Crashing Intel CPUs
It has been a tumultuous year for Intel. Beyond the company’s dire financial performance and the resulting slashing of 15,000 jobs, the company has been mired in a controversy with its 13th and 14th gen CPUs, which are irreparably damaged in some cases.
While some customers get a new Intel chip by purchasing the CPU, which can be installed in a custom PC build or used to upgrade an existing build, many purchase pre-built machines made by companies like Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and many more. The Verge contacted 14 PC makers to see how they were handling the Intel chip crashing situation, including through things like free warranty extensions or repairs.
While some companies didn’t respond to The Verge‘s request for comment, like Lenovo and MSI, others explained that they were creating new support programs for affected customers.
Asus and HP offer a two-year warranty extension, which is in lockstep with Intel’s extended warranty program for affected CPUs. Other companies, like Alienware, Dell, and NZXT, won’t promise extended warranties (yet), but Alienware and Dell did tell The Verge that “all costs are covered for our impacted customers.”
Other PC makers have exceeded Intel’s warranty program, offering four or five-year CPU warranties. Companies including Corsair, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Maingear, Origin PC, iBuypower, and Puget Systems have extended warranty programs in place. Puget Systems’ is three years, while the rest are four or five.
The complete details for each company’s support programs are available in The Verge‘s report.
As for Intel’s extended warranty, that initiative was announced earlier this month and the new two-year warranty should, theoretically, be passed directly to consumers. That appears to be Intel’s intention, at least.
It is nice to see numerous PC companies surpassing this and offering customers even more support. This week, Intel clarified the program in a community post, noting which specific 13th and 14th generation Intel CPUs are covered by the warranty extension. The complete list is below.
Intel says customers who purchased boxed processors should contact Intel Customer Support for assistance with any instability or crashing issues. Meanwhile, those who purchased tray processors should contact the place of purchase, and OEM PC buyers should contact their system manufacturers. Intel also says that affected boxed processor purchasers who were unable to get assistance through prior support tickets should try again through Intel’s customer support system.
“We appreciate your patience with this process and will continue to share updates relating to the Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processor instability issue,” Intel’s Thomas Hannaford concludes. Thus far, Intel has still not disclosed how many PCs may be affected by the CPU instability issue.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
