A recent lawsuit involving Dell and some of our Chinese customers has received attention in blogs and press like this recent Xinhua Net story. On his blog, Sam Flemming provides a timeline about the issue. I manage the team responsible for contacting affected customers and wanted to clarify additional details.
The fundamental issue revolves around two different processors: Intel’s Core Duo T2300 and the T2300E. In China, and in other countries around the world, we shifted from the T2300 to the T2300E processor in some notebook models. What’s the difference between those processors? The T2300E does not support Intel’s Virtualization Technology, a feature primarily aimed at server and workstation customers interested in running multiple operating systems on the same machine. In all markets of the world where we offer it, the T2300E allows us to provide a better value for customers who are not interested in virtualization.
Here’s what caused the confusion: We did not update marketing materials in China prior to making the change to the T2300E processor. In response, here are the steps we have taken:
- We have acknowledged the issue, and we have corrected the error in all materials.
- We have directly apologized to Dell China customers who were affected, and also informed them of the difference between the two processors.
- For customers who were not satisfied with these actions, we offered full refunds for returned T2300E-based systems.
Many customers have accepted our apology, some have accepted our refund offer. We are still working it out with others.
A Chinese version of this post appears below.