> WHAAAT? Tell us more! Those samples alone are seriuos money themselves...

Freescale has always been generous at providing sample CPUs :-)

"One contact suggested I try to find a replacement CPU from Freescale, unfortunately the range had been discontinued and there was no stock left. There was some stock at a couple of other suppliers but they were only interested in selling off their complete stock in units of 36. I looked again at Freescale and checked the CPU specs, finding there were many more similar CPU's amongst which was the G4 7457.
The specs on this claimed it was a direct pin for pin replacement for the 7455 with the added bonus that it was still in production, with various choices from 933Mhz to 1.3Ghz. The specs married and the core voltage was just enough to be used on the A1. My contact had also suggested that I should ask Freescale for a sample. I had not used this method of obtaining goods since I was at school where we would regularly apply to Cadbury,s for information for our school projects and would receive an info pack and some samples. I had forgotten people still did that.
I registered on their website with my business name (I am a self-employed auto-electrician) and sent a request for a sample CPU 7457 1.3GHz. My reason for the request was to monitor the cooling properties of the CPU in an A1. All credit to Freescale, they contacted me within 24hrs with a positive response to my enquiry and said they would ship the sample.
So I waited and after a couple of weeks a package arrived with not 1 but 4 sample CPU's! I was astonished, incredulous and astounded that I had obtained replacements so easily. Freescale even paid the shipping costs."
http://www.intuitionbase.com/static.php?section=en_cpu-repair (October 2007)