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Apple and AMD Rumors

Well said

I've been selling macs for 2 yrs. Most of my customers don't give a toss about whats comming out in the next 2 yrs let alone the next 2 months - they care more about the quality of what they are producing. "Quark 5 not on OSX is as big a reason to hold back a new machine as it is the MHz difference/price, but then most of my customers are weird....!

Just got a "new new" dual gig - it's smells great and goes whiiiiiiirrrrrrrr!
 
maybe, maybe, not

Well all we can really do now is sit back and watch the show. I hope that something good happens i.e we get a new mother board, or a "ipad", or something new. well that's the optomistic side of me, here's the realistic side we won't see anything new, macworld is not far off and anything of note will be in Job's Keynote at MWSF. Ok if I am so wrong I need to be shot, then do so. :)



G4 450, Dual G4 1 Gigahertz (133), Powerbook G4 1 Gigahertz
 
Actually...I'm reevaluating my earlier post...I'm now thinking...

WiFi iPod! (either built-in, or an add-on?)

Its the best time for a new iPod, just before Xmas with new portables just announced (and isn't about a year old now?!)...Recent rumours have pointed at a major update sometime soon and this would make a lot of sense cos AMD's new WiFi chipset is cheap and not power hungry (essential!). Jobs also said next iTunes would have Rendezvous support, and this is also rumours to be close...

How great would it be to just walk into ya room, stick ya 'Pod down on the desk and have it talk to ya Mac via Airport to update all ya playlists and songs etc automatically without even pluggin it in...OK, not as fast as Firewire obviously, but how many people would really be adding 100's of MBs of new MP3's everyday?
 
Originally posted by Swinny
Actually...I'm reevaluating my earlier post...I'm now thinking...

WiFi iPod! (either built-in, or an add-on?)

Its the best time for a new iPod, just before Xmas with new portables just announced (and isn't about a year old now?!)...Recent rumours have pointed at a major update sometime soon and this would make a lot of sense cos AMD's new WiFi chipset is cheap and not power hungry (essential!). Jobs also said next iTunes would have Rendezvous support, and this is also rumours to be close...

How great would it be to just walk into ya room, stick ya 'Pod down on the desk and have it talk to ya Mac via Airport to update all ya playlists and songs etc automatically without even pluggin it in...OK, not as fast as Firewire obviously, but how many people would really be adding 100's of MBs of new MP3's everyday?
Click to expand...

Just remember that WiFi (802.11b) is about the same bitrate (and with higher latencies) as USB 1.1. This, as with BlueTooth, makes sense for synching little bits (cal, addressbook, etc), or for serving iPod tunes like iTunes is supposed to do over Rendezvous, but not for wholesale swapping in/out of gigs of music ...

Other than serving tunes over the network, I think bluetooth would be the more fitting technology to use here again.
 
an alternative perspective...

You know, if you think about this, just for a second, there are some facts staring us in the face.

(1) Motorola's semiconductor division has been losing money for a long time now.

(2) Motorola and Apple have a known public rift (over cloning), and Motorola has dropped the ball on development of newer, faster chips.

(3) Motorola hasn't made an announcement about anything dealing with desktop PowerPCs for months.

To me, this all adds up to Motorola no longer being involved actively in PowerPC development. It tells me they are just fulfilling their contracts with Apple.

If that's true, it would seem to me that the desktop chip market is something Motorola would gladly just shut down, in order to consolidate their efforts toward the embedded market, and save money.

It's also been *rumored* that Apple has (of late) taken a much more proactive effort in chip development (previously, under the AIM consortium, this was left to IBM and Motorola, and Apple concentrated more on the software).

Anyway, what I conclude from all this is that Apple has bought Motorola's intellectual property related to PowerPC. That would explain how IBM was able to develop an AltiVec clone without violating Motorola patents.

If you accept that conclusion, then you realise there's a missing piece in the PowerPC alliance. I think, for Apple's sake, it makes sense to have two different PowerPC suppliers, and two different companies contributing ideas to the PowerPC architecture.

So, could AIM simply become AIA? In other words, why not consider AMD as the new third partner in the PowerPC consortium?

That would certainly qualify as a "shattering" development, and it doesn't fly in the face of logic quite as much as Apple releasing X86 boxes. Sorry, that makes absolutely no sense with 970s on the way; Apple's just not ready for that kind of a paradigm shift right now.
 
Re: Re: Re: AMD vs Microsoft

Originally posted by Blackcat


Microsoft does indeed see Linux as a threat but knows business needs Office and desktop applications. Linux can offer these but it's still very technical and hard to support, it also has little from Adobe, Macromedia, etc etc

MacOS X on IA64 might offer business a more viable alternative desktop with industry support. It's all perception rather than AMD being better than Motorola, suddenly Apple becomes a player rather than a rebel.

Business prefers stability over radical thinking so a non MS desktop by a real company using a real CPU might be tempting, Microsoft would hate that.

For the same reasons Linux on Opteron is no big threat, it's too obscure currently. But X offers all the nicieties of a commercial OS, and the strength of Unix. That scares Bill.
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Your comments are nice to hear for Apple fanatics but lets get real. Linux obscure? Are you still stuck in the mid-90's? Linux on the desktop? Who said anything about that?

MS has the desktop office market locked up and it'll be awhile before that can possibly ever change. The Opteron is initially targetted at the server market which is what I was referring to and is MS's only real interest in the cpu. The home market doesn't need 64 bit now or even for awhile and MS knows this.

Quite frankly MS really isn't all that worried about Macs. A few departments within MS might be because of the markets they want to dominate that the Mac is in but overall, they care more about what happens on the Linux front. Together they could be quite formidible but the Mac alone does not even come close to having Bill scared.
 
It seems funny that the ball would get dropped so soon after the iBook and Powerbook were just updated. Do you think if they announce the new machines tomorrow they will be shipping them in the next few months. If this switch to the new processor is not ready to happen for the next year or so I think Apple would say nothing yet about it. Also do you suppose that Apple might change the name of their computer line to something different then Macintosh? With x86 it is basically a PC now running Mac OSX, maybe they would call it the Apple PC, or X box, if Microsoft did not all ready use it. It just seems to me an x86 just is not a Mac, because a Mac used to represent Think Different. and now they are just thinking the same.

Also if they are actually going through with this x86 project I think they are not very smart to go with AMD they should go with Intel. As I hate Intel, it is a much larger company, supplying almost all the chips to the desktop and laptop market. Intel is always ahead of everyone on technology because they have the capital to do it. If you want the most Mhz then you have to go with Intel. Dell, Gateway, IBM, Sony, HP/Compaq all use Intel almost exclusively anymore, if Apple is going to jump on the bandwagon to be the same then Intel is the only answer. AMD is going to head the same way Motorola has in the future, they just don't have the market or the cash to compete in the end.

Come to think of it...isn't IBM a much larger corporation then AMD? I would think IBM would have what it took to give Apple everything they need.
 
Originally posted by Blackcat


You are wrong on at least 2 points.

Firstly, going AMD does not mean $500 PowerMacs. As it is, G4s are a lot cheaper than P4s, AMD might be cheaper still but don't expect ANY pricedrops.
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You really are stuck in the mid-90's. ;) Please demonstrate how the G4's are alot cheaper than P4's. If you talk top of the line for each line, "maybe". But consider the performance difference then. Compare apples to apples and you'll find G4's don't cut it in cost. Back in the mid-90's that was a different story as the PPC's were cheaper.

Originally posted by Blackcat
There is nothing much wrong with our architecture. The G4 needs a better bus but the rest is very good. Once IBM releases the 970 and G3 with VMX, problem solved.
Click to expand...

Lets not go overboard on the blind optimism. AMD is preparing to breakout this year with their new technology(finally) and Intel is more of a force than you give credit for. While Intel often gets negative criticism for their cpu architecture, they are still delivering. So what it if the clock speed runs twice as fast to get the same or better performance. The end results and cost are what matters to them in the markets they strive to be successful in and they do that. Their customers are happy with them as well for the most part.

The only thing people can really complain about Intel P4's are battery life. Overall they're very reliable and do perform well. They're not first in every benchmark but none of the cpu platforms are. There's always a first, second, and third place performer. It doesn't mean the third place one is bad but that it merely came in third. Nothing wrong with that if the price is right and it gets the job done making users happy.

Frankly I'm tired of the bickering over this topic. No one knows what Apple is going to do. Based on what I know of Apple's and NeXT's past technology I've yet to see a compelling argument for one platform over the other. They both have certain guarantees and risks.
 
Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
It seems funny that the ball would get dropped so soon after the iBook and Powerbook were just updated. Do you think if they announce the new machines tomorrow they will be shipping them in the next few months. If this switch to the new processor is not ready to happen for the next year or so I think Apple would say nothing yet about it.
Click to expand...

No one really knows what Apple is going to do but I can assure you that the odds are against them announcing any new systems to replace their current lines tomorrow. It would be suicide not just for xmas but for their customer base that just bought the new system released not long ago. As for announcing ahead of time they've done it before with the PPC announcement. The scenario is a little different but *if* they were to incorporate x86 into their product line, look for them to do it for one or two product lines only at first. Probably PowerMacs and Xserves initially. Wait a year or two and then move on if the advantages are there. They need to convince folks that PPC isn't just getting dropped like a rock.

Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
It just seems to me an x86 just is not a Mac, because a Mac used to represent Think Different. and now they are just thinking the same.
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Not at all. The debate over this will carry on for years among many Mac fans but many believe it's the OS that makes a Mac a Mac. Case design can carry over and frankly most users don't really care what's inside as long as it works, is fast, and fits well with their budget.
 
Didn't they say the earth shattering announcement would involve a company located in the north eastern US? That eliminates Apple as a possibility.

Titanium.X
 
Re: Re: Re: Apple at Comdex

Originally posted by MisterMe
For all the weeping and wailing and knashing of teeth, it would seem that the Apple/AMD announcement will be about this. For those of us who want Apple to continue to concentrate of the PPC, we have nothing to worry about. For those who want Apple to risk suicide by switching processors, it looks like that ain't gonna happen.

Read it and weep.
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I'd guess at this point that you're dead on but we'll know soon enough. This does sound like exciting technology for the marketplace whether Apple adopts it or not. I'd be shocked if they don't.
 
Originally posted by Titanium.X
Didn't they say the earth shattering announcement would involve a company located in the north eastern US? That eliminates Apple as a possibility.

Titanium.X
Click to expand...


Seriously... well, who else IS in the north east? I can't think of anyone AMD would sell to...
 
My 2 cents:

AMD will announce a Hypertransport chipset for Apple. They will not be making G4 processors.

There are several reasons AMD will not produce Hammer based Athlons for Apple, the primary one is their relationship with MS and the need for a 64 bit version of Windows XP. Selling Athlons to Apple would tick off MS in a big way.

If, and this is a big if, AMD WERE to start selling 64bit Athlons (Opteron is the server chip, Athlon will be the consumer version) to Apple, you can bet that Apple will have a proprietary motherboard or bootROM to keep the whitebox market from building their own Macs.

Much as I would love to see it, I just don't think there is a chance in heck of Apple using AMD chips. It's a shame, I think it would be good for both companies.
 
No way.

Ok, there's no way apple is going to be switching to x86 - especially with the somewhat slow adoption rate of OS X. I'm still waiting for a good chunk of the software I use to be ported. There's no way they'd put developers through another major architecture switch so soon. It would be damned near suicidal even with all the portability stuff built into the development tools and OS.

As for AMD producing PowerPC-compatible chips at some point, I wouldn't rule that out at all. I once read a detailed comparison of the Athlon and G4 processors. The processors were remarkably similar (aside from extra layer required to decode x86 instructions of course). Actually, it's been a long time but wasn't there some relationship between AMD and motorola around development of the original Athlon?
 
Since I am only on a modem, :(, I have not taken the time to read all the posts, BUT, with that said, here is my 2 cents.

Since this would be a earth shattering announcement (for Apple to use AMD) I highly doubt that Steve would not want to make the announcement himself. Whether greatly or minutely publicized.

:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Phipple
Apple bought AMD.
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Very unlikely but it would be earth shattering. Intel would be grinning ear to ear.

I still say the odds are more in favor of a wireless product(s) being announced using AMD's wireless technology. It makes the most sense at this point.
 
Maybe he meant they bought into AMD. as in a few million shares. i doubt apple would buy AMD outright. Do they even have enough cash to do that???
 
I haven't read all of the threads about OS X on the x86, and perhaps I should before commenting, but here I go. Especially since this is a 5 page thread (currently) and no one is likely to read this.

I just don't uinderstand why it seems so unreasonable that a company could produce a killer OS that runs on virtually any machine and make money doing it. Do I really need to point out the fact that a company with a crappy OS has made more money than God by doing the same thing?
 
Re: Re: Re: AMD vs Microsoft

Originally posted by Blackcat



We're not in PowerPC hell! We're in Motorola hell but the IBM 970 looks promising, and although it hasn't been confirmed, who else needs Altivec?
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Hundreds of thousands of multimedia creators, musicians (like myself), filmmakers, video houses, graphics guys & girls, producers, composers, etc. who use Altivec enhanced products.
 
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