I couldn't afford this dream computer..
Posted on 06/04/2005 2:32:50 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt, subscription required -
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Computer Inc. is expected to announce Monday that it will begin shifting its Macintosh computer line next year to Intel Corp. chips, people familiar with the situation said.The move is a major change in strategy by Apple, a high-profile win for Intel, and a potential blow to International Business Machines Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., suppliers of the PowerPC chips that Apple has long used in its Macintosh systems.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I disagree, but it doesn't really matter. The hottest, fastest chip in the world does you no good at all if your supplier can't make enough of them for you to sell to everyone who wants one. And it doesn't help when you make your best customer look like a fool for promising 3 GHz chips you can't deliver ;)
I couldn't afford this dream computer..
Yes, that's why I said there would have to be an emulator running under the operating system, but not having to emulate the chip would make it simpler than a complete emulation.
So9
You know, the funny thing is that all these stories say "Intel", but none of them really specify x86. It would be funny if they had something else in mind, maybe I2 or some such. That would be a major shocker. ;)
Why, yes. I am married to a lovely, warm, vivacious woman who is a scholar and has exquisite and demanding taste.
Well, that's obvious because she chose me. 
I miss my Model II - Z80A @ 4mhz. It was a real sweetheart running Xenix.
3ghz? xbox 360 3 core cpu is 3.2 ghz....
They are already there...
I think you replied to the wrong post. I am a windoze user who would like to migrate gently to a reliable operating system. Right now I am dual booting Win XP Pro and Red Hat Linux, but Linux seems unlikely to ever have all the aplications I play with and Windows seems unlikely to ever really be reliable.
So9
>>What xBox 360? Oh, you mean the one that doesn't actually exist yet except on paper? The one that'll have something different besides the desktop G5 that Jobs promised would be running at 3 GHz "within 12 months" back in 2003?
Actually, current development sets are dual core.. Tri-core development kit is being sent out...
It would be way too big of a risk for MS to promise vaporware at this point. If they are announcing, it's ready for production.
There is also a Intel/AMD based OSX and supposedly Apple has usually kept a version for each of their previous OSs just in case it was needed.
Apple wouldn't do this if they didn't feel forced. IBM has been pushing Linux on every corner, signing new deals with everyone else under the sun, while starving Apple for chips, or being unable to provide the laptop processors they need. According to this report today, portables are now outselling desktops, and may have been at Apple for some time already.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050604/ap_on_hi_te/notebooks_vs_desktops
Being a long time Apple supporter going back to the Apple ][ days, who lived through the bitter IBM/Apple rivalry that existed back then, I was much more surprised they actually started using IBM CPU's at one point than I am by this change now. That was much more shocking than this development is, and one that I felt would leave Apple at IBM's mercy much as it has.
PowerPC is IBM's platform more than it is Apple's, and IBM obviously prefers to sell Linux on Power, which is something Apple obviously has no control over, nor is it likely to change. Jobs is smart enough to realize that, although he did make the original mistake of trusting his former nemesis IBM to be his provider. But only Intel can give him what he desperately needs right now - capacity to produce all the chips he could want, a powerful low power processor for laptops, and a huge number of existing systems that he could eventually market a shrink wrap version of his product to if/when he feels that is prudent.
Unfortunately for Jobs there seems to be incredible outrage by his current customers over the mere possibility of the change, who don't seem to sense the same level of urgency that Jobs realizes. They will have to make their own decisions about whether they remain loyal Apple customers, or move to Microsoft, or IBM/Linux. But apparently Jobs has already made his decision. In my opinion, it was the best one he had available.
According to a statement released earlier this year, Apple Computer reported their 2005 first quarterly revenue and net income as the highest in the history of their company, with 74% revenue growth.Apple shipped 1,046,000 Macintosh® units during this quarter, representing a 26% increase in CPU units over the year-ago quarter.
According to US News and World Report, Macintosh owners buy 30% more software than their Windows counterparts.
Further, Macintosh software comprises over 18% of all software sold, according to the Software and Information Industry Association.
In addition, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) estimates that 16 percent of computer users are on Macs.
What's your installed base at home or work now?
I havent' a clue as to what the technical problems will be, but if this is true, I'm for it.
If it works and you can choose between OS X, Windows or Linux on the same box, without buying new desktops - excellent. May the best OS win.
That's pure projection on your part. The concern, now somewhat abated, was that software would be obsoleted, not that the Mac would now be running on a (ugh...) PC processor. Geeeeezzz
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