Apple HAS switched to lntel!!!

[Rackhir]

I have been hearing rumors about this nearly as long as people have been telling us that Apple was going to go out of buisness.

It's not inconceivable, BSD unix the core of OSX runs on X86 of course and Apple has successfully managed a transition from one incompatible achitecture (68000 to PPC) to another.

However, I don't see the reason to do it. It won't make software any more available in all probability. The barrier isn't the different microprocessor, it's the different operating system. Despite the clockspeed differences the intel chips are not significantly more powerful as to be worth the difference in switching.

The only reason I could see for doing it, would be if for some reason the PPC architecture was completely failing to progress. The clock speed advances haven't been what we might wish, but this is not the case to the best of my knowledge.

I suspect that a Power 5 derivative chip (despite the G5 moniker they are Power 4 based), possibly multi-core is more likely.

 

[Steve Jung]

As this Macworld blog entry says, maybe it's a new Apple machine that will use Intel chips, not the Mac. But, we'll find out Monday morning.

 

[caudor]

The rumors were true

Word is in that Apple HAS switched to Intel processors!

This is big news.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Looks like starting with models next year. I wonder how this will play out with the graphic design and animation people. I thought the whole "floating point" thing with PPC chips was what made Macs superior for that kind of work.

 

[drothgery]

Looks like starting with models next year. I wonder how this will play out with the graphic design and animation people. I thought the whole "floating point" thing with PPC chips was what made Macs superior for that kind of work.

It depends how you do floating point math, but with modern compilers and 64-bit x86 CPUs, Intel (and AMD) can do as well or better than a G5; the x64 instruction set ditches old-style x87 floating point operations in favor of SSE2 -- which is a lot faster on P4 derivatives, and somewhat faster on Athlon 64s (SSE2 is faster on Pentium IIIs and Pentium Ms, too, but they aren't 64-bit chips).

It's probably important to note that there aren't going to be any x86 Macs until mid-2006 (which means September in Apple-speak), so they'll be using Intel's next-generation chips. I suspect Apple will want to be dual-core and 64-bit throughout the line.

 

[Rackhir]

I wonder what this will do to apple's sales? Are you going to want to invest $3,000 in a top of the line mac if they are moving to a completely new architecture in 6 months? I have been eyeing a new powerbook, but this does make me stop and think.

 

[caudor]

I wonder what this will do to apple's sales? Are you going to want to invest $3,000 in a top of the line mac if they are moving to a completely new architecture in 6 months? I have been eyeing a new powerbook, but this does make me stop and think.

I am concerned about this as well. To keep hardware sales from drying up, they will need to release some exciting new software or something. I don't know. This is one question that remains to be answered.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I am concerned about this as well. To keep hardware sales from drying up, they will need to release some exciting new software or something. I don't know. This is one question that remains to be answered.

I'm actually thinking in the opposite direction. My iMac is starting to get a little old, but I have plenty of software. I'm thinking of trying to scrape together enough $$$ to buy a new system before the switch so that I won't find myself with a bunch of software that won't run on the new architecture.

 

[Steve Jung]

This news gives me pause about getting a new machine in the coming months. But I may still make the plunge.

 

[Kesh]

I'd say anyone who was planning to get an affordable Mac (mini, iMac or iBook) might as well get one. Those will either never be replaced (email computers) or get replaced in two or three years anyway, so you're really not out anything.

Folks wanting prosumer machines might be better off waiting, unless they need a new machine Right Now™.

Either way, I don't think the loss of sales will hurt Apple too much. They're sitting on $7 million dollars, and operating on a $1 million per year budget. So, they'll be fine on that mark. The real make-or-break point will be when the new machines come out.

I, for one, welcome our new Intel overlords!