Less than 20 days since the Core Duo was officially released, and T-minus ?? days until Core Solo is officially released. Yet, if we turn to Intel’s Errata documentation for the Core Duo and Core Solo lines, we already find 34 known problems. That averages out to an error-and-a-half found every day since the chips were released.
The errata are shown below, with some of the more obnoxious ones highlighed (click the image for a readable version, though you may want to save it instead of allowing your browser to resize it automatically, thus making it hard to read again):
As you can see, only one errata item is even planned to be fixed. It’s worth noting that leaving known errors in processors is nothing new, as many of Pentium 4’s 65 known errata (download the PDF) have no plans for correction either.
Still, the Core Duo and Core Solo processors are just out of the gates, and this high number of immediate errata should leave one a little chilled, I’d say. Releasing a brand new processor with 34 known errors seems almost criminal to me, especially with some of the more obnoxious ones highlighted above.
If you’re thinking about buying a Core Duo-based machine, you might want to stop by Intel’s documentation department and pick up the latest errata updates, which are promised to be released on the following dates: February 15, March 15, April 19, May 17, June 14, July 19, August 16, September 13, October 18, November 15, December 13.
Visit Intel’s Core Duo homepage, check out the Core Duo 65 nm specification page, and don’t forget to checkout the updated errata page.