Future Tense

Intel Owes You $15 If Your Computer 14 Years Ago Had a Pentium 4 Processor

Intel HQ in 2002.

SANTA CLARA, CA - JULY 17: An Intel Corporation sign is seen at the company’s headquarters July 17, 2002 in Santa Clara, California. Intel, world’s largest chipmaker, announced July 16, 2002 that it will layoff 4000 workers. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

After 15 years, Intel is finally paying out as part of a class action lawsuit that alleged the company made up performance benchmarks for its Pentium 4 processor. Which came out in November 2000.

You may be struggling to take yourself back to that particular moment in time. That’s fair. Watch this:

If you bought a PC with a Pentium 4 processor for personal or family use between Nov. 20, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2001 you’re entitled to $15 from Intel. Unless you live in Illinois. Sorry, Illinois.

You don’t even need a receipt! Which is pretty reasonable given how long ago you would have bought this computer. The court trusts your sense of morality. That and $15 hopefully isn’t worth perjuring yourself for.

Intel specifically screwed up by fudging the Pentium 4 benchmarks to compete with the AMD Athlon Thunderbird processor, which came out in June 2000. If all of those $15 checks don’t sound very impressive to you, note that Intel also has to donate $4 millions to charities focused on education. Now we’re talkin’.