Intel has sunk to a new low. It's not like they don't already have the monopoly in computer chips as it is, but that's not good enough. They are trying to prey on the computer illiterate to make an extra buck. According to Buzz out loud episode 1312, Intel is selling low end to mid grade computers with chips that have features disabled. This is nothing new. People who are computer savvy have long been able to take the chips that Intel puts out and overclock them to preform better. Of course, this take someone who knows a pretty good deal with computer hardware. I consider myself to know a pretty good bit and I feel a little overwhelmed when trying to overclock my pc. Well Intel has discovered a way to cash in on our lack of computer savvy. They are selling cards for $50 that we can purchase and go to the Intel website and download software to unlock some advanced features in the chips they are putting in these low/mid grade systems. This is a slap in the face to many everyday computer users. The main question being asked is why sell me something that has the ability to do this much but limit it to do less and make me have to pay more to get the full benefit of it. To Intel's defense, they are probable just trying to give low end users a chance to overclock there chips without having a computer guru to do it for them. The problem is this is like selling someone a sports car with a v8 engine but telling them they have to buy an extra package to unlock the last 2 cylinders. Another good point brought up buy apcmag.com is how are the retailers going to handle returns. More than likely they will only take a return if the card itself has not had the covering on the code scratched off. But what about the people that buy the upgrade and can't see a visible difference in how the computer responds. Don't these people deserve a refund? But then again, once the chip has been unlocked how do you re lock it? For now, these pc's are only being sold at Best Buy. I wander what the pitch line for the card is? "Would you like to buy a 3 year extended warranty? Also, do you want to buy this $50 card so that your computer can run to its full potential?" That's going to be a hard sell. I fell Intel is opening up a can of worms that may see many low end computer users learning who AMD is.
http://apcmag.com/intel-to-sell-unlocking-cards-to-add-features-to-your-pcu.htm
Most people don’t need to pay $50 to unlock their CPU because they only need the basic speed to do what they have to do with their computers. But surely if people don’t want to buy it, the consumers will pay for it without knowing it they will include it in the price some point in time.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like Intel is about to open up a can of worms. As consumers, we do not really have much of a choice of which processor company has furnished our microchips, but if AMD were smart they would use this opportunity to run some kind of counter ads telling how they do not make you pay for extra pc potential because they already give you the best. That way consumers may actually start to actively seek out their processor installed in pcs rather than Intel. This could help raise AMD's market share from about 11% to maybe even 50% if the consumer response affects pc manufacturers enough to start listening.