Intel to delay Sandy Bridge chips, iMac and MacBook Pro timetables to suffer?

For those of us waiting for new MacBook Pros, (my 15-inch AirHD 1080P in particular), Intel has some bad news:

Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel’s latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

On one note, it is good that Apple has taken to delaying putting new chips in their Macs by a few months.  On the other hand, WTF, I want a new MacBook Air!

If/When Apple starts building its own Mac chips, they’ll use this as an example of why they should do such a thing