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Intel selling $50 codes to unlock parts of your CPU

its not bad, not bad at all!

So basically, they make a single CPU to lower the production costs of many different models, they block their capabilities to set the differences and sell it as different product.

Then you can go, buy the cheapest one, pirate it, and transform it into the fastest one! :IS2:
 
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I think it would be the other way around. Companies should pay to get capabilities blocked, as to prevent gaming for employees. But what intel is doing, just sucks.

The other approach is giving an incentive to companies to invest in new hardware, and forces the private user to pay for features. From an economic POV blocking it by default is the way to go.
 
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Quote from a Reddit commenter:

arvana said:
This is fairly standard practice in the electronics industry. If you want to release products at different price-points, it is often far less expensive from a design point of view to create one product and de-tune it than it is to do multiple designs.

Essentially you're getting what you pay for with regards to performance at that price point. So you're really not getting scammed, you're just not getting the best possible deal they could give you.
 
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Damn stupid in my opinion.

I do wonder though what are the legal implications of deliberately limiting performance in hardware are.

The only similar things I can think of are electronic limiters in cars and such gun things as limiting the number of shells a shotgun can carry, but these are all done for legal purposes, depending on the country/state.

There must be some issue with the only reason for the limiting of hardware being profit. Though I guess if that is the case since intel have little competition in the consumer market, aside from AMD, theres not much stopping them from adjusting prices and saying "that these locked chips are under priced and only when you pay the extra $50 are you paying market value". Though I very much doubt that such as that statement would be truly sincere as there are far better ways to approach cheaper hardware targeted at the low end user and business than faffing about with stupid codes that make people feel ripped off.
 
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