Although they were only released in 2016, reports indicate that Intel Apollo Lake processors are dying earlier than expected.
According to a Product Change Notification (PCN) document, currently not available online, but reported by Tom's Hardware, Intel plans to replace four of its Celeron and Pentium Apollo Lake processors due to performance degradation.
According to Intel, "identified a problem with the Low Pin Count (RTC) interfaces, the SD card interfaces on the Intel Celeron N3350, J3355, J3455 processors and the Intel Pentium N4200 processor, causing degradation of these signals to a speed exceeds Intel's quality goals after several years of use. "
For the most part, Intel claims that these Apollo Lake processors, based on the Goldmont microarchitecture and the 14nm process node, could die before the end of the warranty. Therefore, Intel plans to upgrade the full Apollo Lake range.
Affected Budgeted Laptops
Intel Apollo Lake processors are primarily used in laptops and desktops, as well as 2-in-1 devices and all-in-one computers. The processors in question are the Celeron J3455, J3355, N3350 and Pentium N4200.
Intel had already had issues with LPC bus degradation, which appears to be the issue here, with its Atom C2000 processors as well as its E3800 series processors, prompting Intel to create a backup fund to cover the costs. . processor replacement. .
Affected Apollo Lake processors will downgrade from the older B1 version to the new F1 to avoid the issue, and the new processors will carry the suffix "E" in their name to help customers identify the new CPUs. . Celeron J3455E, J3355E, N3350E and Pentium N4200E.
According to Tom's Hardware, Intel is asking customers to upgrade from their existing processors to newer versions. Of course, this is easier said than done, because many of the Apollo Lake processors in question cannot be easily upgraded, which means you may have to buy a new device.
We have contacted Intel for more information and will update this story as soon as we receive the response.