There are days when I simply don’t have the time to read all of the news emails that appear in Outlook, or in the half-dozen computer magazines I subscribe to. In this case, I guess I should have, because I missed a tiny story that turned out to be big news. (A lesson taught by Mrs. Jurow, when I was a fifth-grader at Ogden Elementary School in Valley Stream, NY.) Intel reported in late September 2018 there were “issues” regarding its ability to supply new eighth-generation chips — called Coffee Lake — to computer manufacturers (OEMs). You can read the announcement here: https://newsroom.intel.com/news-releases/supply-update/.
Those eighth-generation chips were the ones I was counting on to be in your new Windows 10 computers. Sad to say, that ain’t gonna happen very soon.
There is currently a “hold” on all those new Coffee Lake-based desktops and laptops. They are not in the pipeline from any of the major OEMs (e.g., Lenovo, Dell, or HP). To meet a higher demand for new computers, they are continuing to produce models with the existing seventh-generation chips (called Kaby Lake). Because of this unexpected need to switch gears at the end of 2018, shipments of all new computers are also being delayed.
How long is the delay? Higher-end models are showing a two to three month lag. In one specific case, the mid-range models I wanted to order as replacements for a client on February 12 (when I originally wrote this article) have an estimated March 25 delivery date — six weeks.
Here’s what this means for you. I am going to have to alter my timeline of deployment to include an additional six to eight weeks. That means I’ll be contacting you sooner than I had originally planned, and that you’ll probably have to wait longer to receive your new computer.
If there is any change in the status of this debacle, I will let you know as soon as possible. I’ll be able to do that because I now have a Google email alert for all things related to Intel Coffee Lake chip status.