Another settlement
Back in 2008 graphics chip-maker NVIDIA confirmed reports that some of its mobile GPUs were failing due to some weak packaging material. At the time it took a one-time charge of $200 million related to the issue, presumably to cover recalls and repairs.
There was a subsequent class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners of notebooks that had experienced technical problems as a result of ‘connectorgate', and NVIDIA offered to settle the suit last September.
Laughably, the amount of money NVIDIA has set aside to compensate claimants is a mere two million dollars. The reason we say ‘mere' is that NVIDIA has to pay claimants' legal fees of $13 million. So the lawyers are getting six-and-a-half times more money than all the people actually affected by the issue.
Still, another settlement announced last week should take some of the pain away from such parasitism.
Anyway, if you bought a Dell, HP or Apple notebook between 2006 and 2008 and found it to be a bit moody, you may be able to make a claim. NVIDIA has set up a website to assist claimants and you can find a list of all affected notebooks here.
The window of opportunity for individuals to make a claim actually opened last Thursday, but it somehow escaped our attention. The deadline is 14 March. You can find out more about making a claim here.
