Mac OS X Snow Leopard Drops PowerPC Support

[MacRumors]

Image from LogicielMac
LogicielMac publishes a screenshot for the system requirements for Mac OS X Snow Leopard which was seeded to developers this week. The requirements list the following:

- An Intel Processor
- An internal, external, or shared DVD drive
- At least 512 MB of RAM
- Display connected to an Apple-supplied video card
- 9GB of disk space, or 12GB for developer tools

Developers received an early copy of Snow Leopard at WWDC this week. As this is an early version, requirements could change in the future, but the dropping of PowerPC support has been long rumored. MacRumors can independently verify that these are the current requirements for Snow Leopard.


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[amusiccale]

While I understand that for simplifying and speeding up the OS, intel support only could streamline the whole thing, I can't help but feel like a number of G5 owners who had gotten tired of waiting for CS3 will feel ... a small tinge of outrage?

[iMpathetic]

Can I celebrate now?

[stiles]

wow, good thing i recently purchased a mac pro

[jayhawk11]

And let the b*tching begin...

[slightly]

Inevitable, just as Classic support was dropped for Leopard. The OS has to move forwards, and if lack of PPC support is the price for lean, mean, fast code with a small footprint, I'm all for it.

Matt

[GeekLawyer]

Ouch. Good thing my shop is all Intel, save for my old G3 iMac, which couldn't hope to run plain, simple Leopard, let alone super-duper Snow Leopard.

[redAPPLE]

it is going to happen eventually, but again, i think it is a bad move (personally because i still have a lot of ppc macs).

[Yvan256]

The requirements specifically say "Snow Leopard Developer Preview", not just "Snow Leopard".

It could mean nothing, maybe the PPC code isn't up-to-date. It could also mean that PPC is a thing of the past, like the 680x0.

I do agree that leaner code should mean faster machines, so I don't mind the drop of PPC support, even though 2/3 of my Macs are G4s (and still run Tiger anyway).

[aLoC]

But other screenshots of this preview has Finder showing apps as Universal. If they were going to drop PowerPC support, surely the first thing they'd do is go through and skinny up all the binaries.

[lilstewart]

Mixed feelings, here. I've got two PPC Macs that could run Snow Leopard very well.

On the other hand... better, faster, more efficient code is always a good thing. Thank God my main computer is my MacBook Pro!

[BillyBobBongo]

Aye....was bound to happen!

*sheds tear for all those that will be left behind*

[babyjenniferLB]

All this currently means is that the current build of the developer preview is intel only. but it may mean that PPC has been ditched and will require to stay on normal Leopard only.
Since Snow Leopard is the foundation for future OSX builds it makes seance not to have PPC support as these systems will not be supported in future versions of OSX anyway which Snow Leopard is being built as the foundations of.
Anyone surprised by this needs to think logically, you don't lay a wooden foundation for a brick house.
I also note that its a good 5GB smaller than a 10.5 install.

[atszyman]

These are the requirements for the preview version it's entirely possible that the intel version has had more work done at the moment and they can get developers/testers started on that while they work out the PPC kinks if there are any.

It hasn't even been 5 years since the Intel announcement. I would think they'd keep PPC support around at least that long.

[Muffin87]

Isn't that a little bit too early?
I don't personally care and actually think dropping PowerPC support will enable Apple to provide Intel Macs owners a better product, yet people who bought a Mac in late 2005 or especially a PowerMac G5 in August 2006 (when the intel transition ended) should still be able to install the latest OS.
My personal opinion...

[BornAgainMac]

The dead giveaway for me was how you would have more disk storage for photos and music. This will be an emotional issue for some. Leopard PPC should be good enough for a few years for those folks with G5's anyways. This should help with the Q/A department with testing this and future OS upgrades and more rapid updates.

Will it only support Cocoa apps? That is the next phase to cutting out the fat.

[LloydBraun89]

goodbye ppc i will miss thee...not

[benlee]

Complainers: please try to remember that your PPC computer will continue to work as it always has. This is for the benefit of all and the advancement of the OS.

I tried.

[Cyburnclassic]

Seems like the minimum specs havent changed much from Mac OS X Leopard (10.5)

[The Menacer]

I have an Intel Mac, but I still feel that it's too early to drop support for PPC. They only stopped selling them 2/3 years ago. If Windows XP can run on computers with a 233MHz processor (which is what I had until last year), then Apple can run Snow Leopard on 2 year old computers.

ESPECIALLY G5s. That would be plain STUPID if they cut off support for G5s.

[Daveoc64]

I also think it's a little to early to call.

Apple might just not have the PPC version ready to go/is only going to test it internally.

Although I think it's entirely possible that it'll be Intel-only.

I personally expected G5 support.

[k2spitfire88]

A little earlier than I expected, but bound to happen eventually. I guess they are gonna use Snow Leopard as their foundation for the future, and because of that, they decided the PPC machines couldnt keep up. I'm sorry if you have a PPC Mac, but this had to happen at some point.

[TheAngusBurger]

I'm not surprised. Sounds like Snow Leopard is going to be an Intel Optimised version of Leopard, instead of a new OS.

[cloudnine]

Well that's a clear explanation of why the application sizes are so small... I feel like a hypocrite being excited about it, because if I hadn't bought a new iMac a couple months ago, I'd be bitching up a storm about not being able to install it on my PowerBook... hah.

[nick004]

Bummer Guess you can't live in the past forever :P