First Developer Intel Macs (Photos)

[MacRumors]

ThinkSecret posts information and photos from the first of the development Intel Macs that are being offered for $999 to developers to prepare for the Intel switch over the next two years.

As described in earlier reports, Windows will install on the developer Intel Mac but at present appears to have limited graphics card support.

The graphics card is a Silicon Image Orion ADD2-N Dual Pad x16 according to ThinkSecret. A photo of the motherboard is also provided.

Of note, the developer version of Intel-Mac OS X will not install on other PCs:

As for installing Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware, attempts to boot from the included Mac OS X for Intel disc resulted in an error message on both a Dell and off-brand PC. The message states that the hardware configuration is not supported by Darwin x86.

According to the rumor site, Apple is expected to use an "EDID" chip on the motherboard of final production Intel Macs to provide protection to prevent use of Mac OS X on other machines.

Some additional comments and external photos can be seen in this MacRumors Forum thread.

 

[nsjoker]

weird looking moboard, but yeah.. cool post.

 

[rareflares]

look at all that empty space...

 

[mac-er]

ThinkSecret just isn't going to be happy until Apple takes everything they have through lawsuits...

 

[mainstreetmark]

It's like the first look at your ugly newborn baby, knowing that everyone else is looking at it too, and hoping that one day, it'll shed it's ugliness and evolve into something great.

 

[The Truth]

Yeah, this one boots up in windows but this has nothing to do with what the final Macintels will do.

 

[swissmann]

What is an EDID chip?

 

[rendezvouscp]

That's really encouraging to me that you can't install Mac OS X onto a PC, even at this early development stage. I think that just made my day.
-Chase

 

[iGary]

YUCK!

Looks like the inside of a HP.

I'm buying the bigest baddest G5 PM in the fall or early next year.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

*throws up in mouth*

 

[fluidinclusion]

Can it run dual monitors?

That's really encouraging to me that you can't install Mac OS X onto a PC, even at this early development stage. I think that just made my day.
-Chase

Or have they disabled it on this machine too?

 

[nichos]

The question is, will microsoft make it somehow inpossible to install windows on these machines in the future?

 

[AmnesiacOpera]

What is an EDID chip?

An EDID chip is an Enhanced Detrimental Immolation Device. It will effectively burst any Mactel that tries to run Windows into flames.

 

[ppc_michael]

DRM?

Has there been any word on the Intel DRM "feature" they put on their chips? I can't believe Apple would allow it...

An EDID chip is an Enhanced Detrimental Immolation Device. It will effectively burst any Mactel that tries to run Windows into flames.

rofl.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Big whoop. Waste of Aluminum, IMO. It looks nice on the outside, but it could have been 3x smaller! Stick it into an eMac case or something, I dunno. Honestly, I don't see the big deal about these boxen (personal slang ) I'm more interested in the 2007-era Macs than these...

 

[anubis]

1. The developer Mactel being distributed today is going to look NOTHING like the Mactels that will be released to the public in a year or two. What is being distributed now is only a makeshift, temporary model so software programmers can ensure their stuff works. It has absolutely nothing to do with what Mactels will look like when they're released.

2. OF COURSE Apple isn't going to allow you to install Mac OS X on any old hardware. That would completely disable the tight hardware/software integration that has defined the Mac. Imagine for a moment your computer illeterate parents/grandparents buy a crappy Dell with Mac OS X on it. It constantly crashes and runs slow, and nothing works because Mac OS X was never designed to run on that particular hardware. You think they'll know or care that Mac OS X is designed to run on Apple hardware only? No. They'll just think "Macs are bad" and never buy another one again. That's what Apple is trying to avoid by not allowing OS X to boot on just any PC.

 

[jeriqo]

The question is, will microsoft make it somehow inpossible to install windows on these machines in the future?

Why would they ?
Their competitor is Mac OS X, not Mac hardware.

 

[anubis]

An EDID chip is an Enhanced Detrimental Immolation Device. It will effectively burst any Mactel that tries to run Windows into flames.

Bull****. The EDID will prevent OS X from being installed on any PC. The prescence of the EDID is what will allow OS X to boot on Intel hardware. Jobs has already said that he won't care if people buy Mactels and put Windows on it. He's already got your money. What does he care if you delete OS X from your new Mac? The EDID won't prevent you from installing Windows on your Mac. Give the programming community a day to write the proper drivers to load Windows on your Mac and it will happen. I personally would love it if my Mac could dual boot OS X and Windows. Expect Virtual PC to be able to run a Windows Virtual Machine natively in Mac OS X (similar to Classic).

 

[mklos]

Well I seriously doubt that is what the final new Mactel PowerMac will look like. It will probably be totally redesigned. In fact, I know it will be totally redesigned. They might still use an aluminum enclosure, but it won't be nearly that tall.

In fact...I think possibly that every Mac could be a totally new, redesigned Mac when they switch to Intel. Maybe an exception would be the Mac Mini. There has to be a redesign of all the cooling systems, the chips are in different positions, etc... I just hope they don't start looking more and more like normal PCs.

 

[anubis]

The question is, will microsoft make it somehow inpossible to install windows on these machines in the future?

Why on Earth would Microsoft not want you to buy their product to install on your Mac? If someone buys a Mac for whatever reason and you want to dual boot into XP or whatever, Bill Gates would be more than happy to take a couple hundred of your dollars for that priveledge.

 

[liketom]

i said in another thread that i wonder how long it would take before somone posted pics of this ....

Guess who did !! as always lol

they should change there name to Think Lawsuit

nice pics though loads of space i think Apple have loads of scope for these babys

 

[fatfish]

2. OF COURSE Apple isn't going to allow you to install Mac OS X on any old hardware. That would completely disable the tight hardware/software integration that has defined the Mac. Imagine for a moment your computer illeterate parents/grandparents buy a crappy Dell with Mac OS X on it. It constantly crashes and runs slow, and nothing works because Mac OS X was never designed to run on that particular hardware. You think they'll know or care that Mac OS X is designed to run on Apple hardware only? No. They'll just think "Macs are bad" and never buy another one again. That's what Apple is trying to avoid by not allowing OS X to boot on just any PC.

What Apple is trying to avoid is loosing sales to cheaper PC's

 

[virus1]

so does this mean somone can just rip the mac os off one of these macs and install it on thier pc? because that chip they discribed isn't there yet, i don't see why not. if this is true, it will only be a matter of days untill we see OS X for pc floating around the bittorrent sites.

Edit: Ha.. nm.. im a dumbass

 

[keysersoze]

Wow.


Fugly.


And why aren't the TS pictures oriented like a standing-up-right G5? It's a G5 case, afterall.

 

[Dr. Dastardly]

Honestly noone really needs to worry about all the concerns on this thread.

If you actually thought that you were going to be able to run OSX natively on any other PC other than a Mac... well then you don't know Apple very well do you. They have and will put every single barrier possible, both software and hardware to prevent any sort of 733t h@x0r to crack it and run on other PCs

And stated before Apple has officially announced that they will not prevent anyone from running Windows on any Mac. So you WILL be able to run Windows on any Mac natively.

And they are going to totally redesign everything in support for the new x86 Macs. At the VERY least the new Powermacs insides will look as neat and tidy as the PM G5's you've all grown to love. Apple hasn't changed as a quality company. Its just a new chip.

This new x86 Mac is going to blast Apple into the stratisphere. Everyone buy stock when it slips cause of the purchase slow down.

 

[nagromme]

1. The developer Mactel being distributed today is going to look NOTHING like the Mactels that will be released to the public in a year or two. What is being distributed now is only a makeshift, temporary model so software programmers can ensure their stuff works. It has absolutely nothing to do with what Mactels will look like when they're released.

2. OF COURSE Apple isn't going to allow you to install Mac OS X on any old hardware. That would completely disable the tight hardware/software integration that has defined the Mac. Imagine for a moment your computer illeterate parents/grandparents buy a crappy Dell with Mac OS X on it. It constantly crashes and runs slow, and nothing works because Mac OS X was never designed to run on that particular hardware. You think they'll know or care that Mac OS X is designed to run on Apple hardware only? No. They'll just think "Macs are bad" and never buy another one again. That's what Apple is trying to avoid by not allowing OS X to boot on just any PC.

Thank you and thank you.

Add to that: it would be expensive for Apple to TEST OS X on infinitely varied hardware, and then expensive to provide SUPPORT for those users. AND Mac hardware/software vendors would be dumped in the same boat having to support all those configs.

That's a can of worms MS is suffering from--Apple doesn't want to go there.

And it's not just the LOOK that will change, but all the internals right down to the CPU used are likely to be TOTALLY different in any shipping Mac.

I'll repeat in bold

"only a makeshift, temporary model so software programmers can ensure their stuff works."