> they will not just have angry customers, but likely also lawsuits started against them
Which is why they've prevented over-clocking the whole time, except they haven't.
Their chips that allow over-clocking and the chips that don't are physically the same chips, there's nothing special about them. Intel is doing this only so that you can't buy a cheaper processor and get a more expensive processors performance.
I bought a 600MHz Celeron once, when the range was around 600MHz-1GHz. It overclocked stably to 900MHz. In essence I got a much faster processor for a much lower price. That is what Intel is fighting against, not some mythical lawsuit over life and limb.
Which is why they've prevented over-clocking the whole time, except they haven't.
Their chips that allow over-clocking and the chips that don't are physically the same chips, there's nothing special about them. Intel is doing this only so that you can't buy a cheaper processor and get a more expensive processors performance.
I bought a 600MHz Celeron once, when the range was around 600MHz-1GHz. It overclocked stably to 900MHz. In essence I got a much faster processor for a much lower price. That is what Intel is fighting against, not some mythical lawsuit over life and limb.