Thanks to a settlement in a long-running class-action lawsuit, Intel is now offering cash to anyone who bought a Pentium 4-powered PC almost fifteen years ago. One dollar per year of lying and misery that you’ve had to suffer.
The suit hinges on the fact that Intel “misrepresented” the performance of the Pentium 4 processor, by inventing benchmarks that claimed to show its processor was superior to the rival AMD Athlon Thunderbird. This turned out to be a bunch of crap and as such a group of lawyers have spent most of the last decade arguing that Intel needs to pay everyone back.
The bottom line, thanks to a recent settlement, is that if you bought a Pentium 4-powered PC between 20 November, 2000, and 31 December, 2001, you’re eligible for a $US15 cash payout (provided you don’t live in Illinois). Notably, there’s no need for a receipt — only your conscience (and the dangers of perjury) lie between you and riches.
One actually productive thing to come out of this whole affair, though, is the fact that Intel is also having to donate $US4,000,000 to educational charities. Guess all those legal fees weren’t in vain after all [Intel Penium 4 Settlement via The Register]