Remember the problem with Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset we posted almost a week ago? The support chip on the 2nd generation Intel Core processors have this design flaw that would result to degradation of your SATA ports. This problem will significantly delay the distribution of systems running on the new Sandy Bridge chipset.
Fortunately for laptop seekers, Intel and OEMs found a workaround to this problem. Working with notebook vendors, Intel has agreed to ship affected boards as long as OEMs promise not to use the last four SATA ports which are the only ports affected. The first two SATA ports does not have this problem.
What does this mean for consumers wishing to buy the latest Intel Core 2011 laptops? As long as the system has at most one hard drive and one optical drive or an eSATA port, you’re good. If the laptop uses three or more SATA ports, make sure that it uses a third-party controller card for those extra ports.
This is just a workaround though and it’s not confirmed as of this moment if notebook vendors will indeed ship their new products with this workaround. Intel was not at liberty to disclose vendors nor the arrival of laptops using this workaround.