Sometimes, it's not what you know...
Jeff told me he was going to blog about this, but it doesn't look like he's done it yet, so I will. Jeff has been looking for a notebook recently, and since I work for Intel I'm pretty close to that particular market. I'm also working on the Verified By Intel® program, which deals directly with the notebook market, so I'm pretty clued in.
So Jeff emails me on July 3rd to ask me what the T2050 processor is. He found a notebook that includes the processor, and can't find any information on Intel.com...I verify his results, find processor information on wikipedia, and then the fun begins. I can't find information anywhere internally, which is a huge problem for me because if I can't find information, that means that Intel can't process returns on the product and there is no support documentation on the product.
Jeff emails customer support, and after being routed around (support is looking at the same things I am, so they're running into the same problem), basically gets back a non-response around July 11. I have a few internal contacts that Jeff doesn't have access to, so I email them, but Intel is in the middle of a major launch at this time, so I don't get back any response. Finally I hear back on July 25th, and the information I get back is somewhat disturbing. I find that:
- The processor is "off roadmap", meaning that it wasn't planned at all, but rather put onto the market at the last minute, without any supporting documentation.
- It's OEM-only (I support "boxed products" - these are products that you can buy in a box online or through a retailer). Being OEM only, you can only get the processor if it's already in a computer. This is why it's not in my tool for returns, but it still should be in for technical support...
- The person responsible for worldwide support of the processor didn't know anything about the processor until he bumped into one at Circuit City.
- This apparently happens all the time with desktop processors.
What a way for a company to support its products. Hopefully the drive to efficiency will help...