In an unusual show of customer appreciation, gamers who bought a new EON 15-S, EON 17-S or other select Origin system just prior to the Ivy Bridge update are being given free updates to the latest generation Intel processors. The same goes for Dell customers who ordered one of the new M14x R2, M18x R2 or M17x R4 systems that have yet to ship.

Intel’s Ivy Bridge (3rd-generation Core, 3xxx series) processors were delayed slightly, but several manufacturers went ahead and launched their new designs anyway, but with Sandy Bridge (2nd-generation Core, 2xxx series) processors, since the new HM77 chipset is backwards compatible.

Ivy Bridge is by no means a ground-breaking update over the previous generation, but it offers some additional performance without increasing the power consumption, so many early adopters were no doubt disappointed when the laptops were updated with new CPUs just a couple of weeks later.

Now at least Dell and Origin PC customers can rest easy that they’re getting an upgrade to a Ivy Bridge CPU corresponding to the Sandy Bridge variant they initially ordered.

Quite a few were no doubt aware of the upcoming change considering that these are all enthusiast-class laptops. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that the early adopters are taken care of for once.