Intel Backtracks on i5 MacBook Pro Leak

After reports surfaced on Wednesday that Intel leaked information about upcoming MacBook Pro models with Core i5 processors, the chip maker backtracked and said that the reference to Mac computers was a mistake.

The reference to unreleased MacBook Pro models that use Intel's Core i5 processors instead of its Core 2 Duo processors was included in some channel partner marketing materials where the laptops were offered as contest prizes. Apparently the prizes were actually supposed to be HP laptops running i5 chips, but internal communication issues led to the mixup, according to faq-mac.com (translation).

Intel has already reissued new promotional images to its channel partners showing HP laptops instead of MacBook Pro laptops, and even went so far as to apologize for any confusion the mix up may have caused.

The company isn't, however, saying exactly what happened to create enough internal confusion so that its own people thought the promotion included Apple's laptops instead of HP's.