Macintosh Moving to Intel Processors [Updated]

[Dr.Gargoyle]

Mac just died.

 

[mac-er]

Apple have betrayed us all never again will i use a mac and no more will they be as pc users flock to buy osx for pentium 4s i wish i was there i would have bood

This is the most childish post I have ever seen. So you use a Mac just because it has a chip made by IBM in it?

I use a Mac because of the OS.

 

[kdawg]

Right ON!

I am not disapointed. Been waiting for a significantly faster powerbook for some time.... My buddies centrino laptop can run circles around my powerbook.

You little children whining about it need to get a grip. Intel will not make Macs into virus laden machines! Bad programming and poor manufacturing are the reasons why most windows machines suck the big one. I for one am happy since, there will be a lot more compatability between programs... And just maybe no need for Virutal PC.. wouldn't that be sweet.

This is good news... especially for anyone who wants a faster powerbook.

 

[Balin64]

What does this mean to the people that matters: potential switchers? These news will take a while to filter down and sink in with the masses. To most people, a computer is just that: a computer. I think most people purchase Macs for the design style and because of OS X. As long as those two things don't change, Apple will be fine on Intel.

I am concerned about software... I was not planning purchasing Office anytime soon, since I just bought 2004 recently. Will the PPC+Intel version be a free upgrade? Doubtful...

The Adobe Suite... I am a little apprehensive about this one: we'll see how it all shakes down.

 

[shompa]

Darth Jobs
working for Emperor Gates

 

[friendlyghost]

Apple is still Apple

Apple’s goal is to sell a whole experience, not just a processor. That experience is it’s impressive operating system, smart hardware design and articulate applications. Whether that experience is run by a really fast Intel processor or a really fast IBM one, I can’t imagine we should really be concerned. As long as it’s an Apple product on powerful hardware, we’ll be happy.

3 Reasons Why Apple May Be Going Intel

 

[daveL]

Wow

I'm stunned. IBM must have really dropped the ball. Steve said there are PPC product updates in the pipeline, but it's hard to imagine that they would be very significant, otherwise why switch? So now I have 2 G5 based Macs, both well under a year old, that basically have no future. Why would anyone waste their time optimizing for G5? I'm not feeling very good right now.

 

[milzay]

Im excited. It does make sense, come on people instantly think Pentium is the top, so now Apple will be on par with Windows. Let the games begin. Hate it or love it, i think this will make Apple a whole lot bigger. When you tell sometime 2.7ghz is really fast they dont belive it, but now its transparent. Games, too. This is actually good, i think.

 

[army_guy]

This was a decision that needed taken and I for one applaud the Apple board for having the balls to take it.

I totaly agree, the decision had to be made and Jobs was the one to do it. Ive nothing against IBM but Intel wipes the floor when it comes to manufacturing capacity, I mean how many companies can build $4.5 Billion Fabs... without blinking an eye.

 

[granex]

hard transitions

As 50% of the next 1000 posts will argue, it ultimately doesn't really matter what the processor is as long as it provides the same Apple user experience.

However, this transition is going to be extremely tough on Apple. Who is going to buy an Apple computer for the next year? Steve tried something very similar when he was at NeXT -- in that case deciding to kill off their hardware before they fully provided a transition to Intel based PCs. One could argue that NeXT was headed down the tubes well before that event, but it really killed them because they had zero revenue stream.

As an example, I need to replace my 4 year old G3 iBook. It is my traveling computer, so it has been functioning fine even if it is slow. The batteries are dead or dying, so I would rather buy a new laptop than invest anymore money in this dinosaur. I have been able to wait and so I have been waiting all of the time for a G5 laptop. That baby ain't coming now. What do I do now? (1) Tough it out for one more year with a battery that lasts only 1 hr (really painful for cross country flights) and wait for the an Intel M offering, or (2) Invest money in a current Apple laptop offering that is already pretty long in the tooth and will be viewed as a completely obsolete (in the hard sense that there will be important programs that it will be unable to run) in two years.

Prices on current hardware are going to have to completely tank to make people buy. That might be good enough for me, but Apple is going to kiss their earnings goodbye for a year or longer.

 

[bosrs1]

so now i can't sell my powerbook to my friend next year for 800 T_T

This seems to be people's biggest complaint. They won't be able to sell their current mac for as much. To that I say, "why are you so concerned with resale value? Is that why you bought the Mac in the first place?"

 

[iGary]

All I want to know is:

Are the current versions of my software going to work on these new, crap processors?

Is the G5 development over - is 2.7 all we're getting?

This better not eff me in the wallet software-wise if I decide to buy a new Appletel machine.

And if they put one Intel sticker on the case of any Apple machine, I'm done, OS or not.

 

[eva01]

This seems to be people's biggest complaint. They won't be able to sell their current mac for as much. To that I say, "why are you so concerned with resale value? Is that why you bought the Mac in the first place?"

because i am buying a powermac, ACD, and iBook, thats why it upsets me

 

[radio893fm]

Apple have betrayed us all never again will i use a mac and no more will they be as pc users flock to buy osx for pentium 4s i wish i was there i would have bood

Jajaja... I saw this coming!!! So what are you going to use now fanboy? Sun?

Think. Think. Think. Think: IBM did not deliver, Intel will (hopefully) and has always done it right. It took Steve sooo many years to realize it, it will take some years for you to realize it too... but in the end, it was the best thing to do!

 

[bosrs1]

Mac just died.

If anything I think the opposite is true. They just saved themselves and rejuvinated themselves.

 

[Mr Maui]

I'm stunned. IBM must have really dropped the ball. Steve said there are PPC product updates in the pipeline, but it's hard to imagine that they would be very significant, otherwise why switch? So now I have 2 G5 based Macs, both well under a year old, that basically have no future. Why would anyone waste their time optimizing for G5? I'm not feeling very good right now.

What kind of updates do you think IBM is going to throw their focus behind knowing that they are the has beens in the Mac world? I'm not betting IBM is going to make any more effort than they have for the past couple of years when they had the Apple business. PPC updates will be minimal at best IMO.

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

As long a Apple doesn't have to put that dumbass Intel 'Tune' in their ads!!!!

What adds are you talking about???

 

[DakotaGuy]

so now i can't sell my powerbook to my friend next year for 800 T_T

No kidding! I hate to inform everyone, but their PPC Mac re-sale value just hit the floor. I would image anyone who needs a nice G4 or G5 will be able to pick one up on eBay for a few hundred now. Anyone who would buy a brand new PPC Mac right now would be nuts, I would urge everyone to wait until next year.

Steve was nervous when he kept stating, oh we still have great PowerPC products in the pipeline. My guess is you won't see any new PowerPC products from this point forward, only price drops to try and close out all the stock they will have lying around in warehouses.

It might be a great thing for Apple in the future, but Apple Computer, Inc. is going to be dipping into that cash reserve over the next year or two. I can't wait to see where the sales figures go for hardware.

 

[fitinferno]

This seems to be people's biggest complaint. They won't be able to sell their current mac for as much. To that I say, "why are you so concerned with resale value? Is that why you bought the Mac in the first place?"

That is in fact part of the reason I like the Mac as I've said in the other posts I've made. Having a high resale value allows me to be able to afford to have the best hardware...as a lowly student, I don't have much money, so I need the money from my old Macs for my new Macs...

Oh...and the virus free thing has been REALLY nice

 

[brap]

IBM must have really dropped the ball.

Either that, or Jobs was looking for an excuse. IBM were having problems meeting supply -- but the comment about PPC (ergo, POWER) having a poor roadmap isn't true. A POWER5 derivative would have been drool-worthy.

 

[PCMacUser]

Darth Jobs
working for Emperor Gates

Hmm, not sure what Bill Gates has to do with Intel - he's Microsoft remember?

 

[bosrs1]

because i am buying a powermac, ACD, and iBook, thats why it upsets me

My point is you shouldn't be using your old computer as a meal ticket to your next one. It's retarded to do that. Computer's always loose value unexpectedly.

 

[bosrs1]

Either that, or Jobs was looking for an excuse. IBM were having problems meeting supply -- but the comment about PPC (ergo, POWER) having a poor roadmap isn't true. A POWER5 derivative would have been drool-worthy.

But it would have created enough heat to keep a family of 5 warm all winter. IBM has been sucking lately, and Apple has called them on it.

 

[iMeowbot]

I just can't shake the feeling that the same chip that is running in some POS DELL is RUNNING IN MY BELOVED MAC.

The Apple II and the toy Commodores had the same CPU.
The original Mac and the toy Ataris had the same CPU.
The current Mac and the toy Xbox 360 have the same CPU.
And now, the new Macs and the toy peecees will have the same CPU.

Somebody's got to show those toys how to act when they grow up

 

[Damek]

My hope is that MS can make Virtual PC run full speed on Mac OS X for Intel. Or maybe just give users a WinXP compatiblity program (no user interface) for OS X for Intel users so that we can use all of our Windows programs on an Intel Macintosh.

I'm thinking along the same lines. Yeah, there's some risk (and bad timing, what with Mac Minis just having been released not more than 5 months ago) involved in Apple switching their chips again, so for anyone bellowing "NOOOOOOO" doom-and-gloom based on that, go right ahead, I understand. But I bet a lot of people are so negative about this news just because the idea of using Intel chips means a hit to their over-inflated Mac-nerd egos. People, you're still going to be able to have a Mac, with all the delicious software that entails.

Even better, if the Intel chips are close enough (or identical) to the ones that power Windows-based machines, it may become much, much easier to run PC software on Macs. Hellooooo? Games, anyone? If this move makes it easier to get popular games running on Macs much more quickly and easily, people will be much more willing to switch to Mac for the hardware and software stability and design. I'm hoping this makes a revolution of sorts in Mac gaming. Particularly older games that only have classic versions for the Mac. The PC versions might be easy to port to an Intel-based OS X... Or maybe not, I don't know diddley. I just think this is probably going to be much better for Apple and OS X than most people seem to think. A lot of people want to switch, but don't want to lose certain PC software. If it's at all possible to run PC software more easily, speedily and cheaply, people will switch much more readily.