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'Intel Based Mac' Rumor Roundup...

Steve Wozniak to demo new PowerBook

That would be interesting, if Steve and Steve were on the platform together announcing a new alliance between Apple and Intel, staring with a new Intel-based Powerbook (that will come out in August). That would be a kinda cool "full circle" event.

Note that Apple has gone through many processor changes. My first Mac was a 512Ke with a 7.8MhZ processor.
 
Hey iMeowbot

This might be closer to the truth ;)
 

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irobot2003 said:
I'm inclined to believe 2... Intel will produce PPCs. A couple of possibly relevant events: IBM opened most of the PPC architecture in March, and Microsoft switched from an x86 variant to a PPC variant for Xbox.

Perhaps Microsoft only made the switch to PPC under the condition that they have an alternate source for the chip... such as Intel.
Click to expand...
Intel can't do PPC legally. The IBM / Moto lawyers would love it if Appple announced Intel was going to make PPC chips. But Intel is a smart company so I'm sure the intel lawyers made sure intel wouldn't make ppc chips.
 
orion123 said:
Wouldn't it be ironic if this wasn't true but instead Sony or Disney bought Apple tomorrow?
Click to expand...

LOL!

Welcome the Mickey Mouses head-shaped iBook.

Do you all remember that book that someone wrote about Steve Jobs? Recently, I think. It supposedly claimed that Steve was notorious about ending up as the most important man in the IT-world. I believe that. Steve is not in it for the money.
 
this is a semi-fresh article with some intersting points
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,67749,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1



Getting a solid DRM scheme working is one of Intels top issues - MSFT is involved but they have their own ideas - so if Intel could use Apple as a test bed ...........

And here's a second fact - the office or biz sector is nearly at capacity for total numbe of machines --- the home market is sitting around 20 -25% total saturation ----- so a lot of possible growth for a easy to use digital content hub / net box in the home
 
alex_ant said:
[...]these news leaks are mentioning QuickTransit software by Transitive Technologies.
[...]
My only concern is that hackers will figure out a way to get Mac OS X to run on garden variety PCs. Undoubtedly Apple will be concerned about this as well and will make it a royal bitch to do.
Click to expand...

The way I read it, QuickTransit seems to be a hardware chip solution, which would allow Apple to remain "PowerPC inside" (as far as the software is concerned) while still allowing them to use whatever processor they want and still lock out wanna-be-hackers who want to run OS X on a generic x86 box (unless QuickTransit comes out with a PCI card for PCs, but that'd still be slower than putting that chip on the motherboard directly connected to the CPU).
 
LaMerVipere said:
Holy crap, is this true?

"The chips I.B.M. makes for Apple represent less than 2 percent of chip production at its largest factory in East Fishkill, N.Y. And while the microelectronics business as a whole is strategically important for I.B.M., it is a small part of the revenue of a company that increasingly focuses on services and software. A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, estimates that the company's technology group - mostly microelectronics - will account for less than 3 percent of I.B.M.'s revenues and 2 percent of its pretax income this year."

I never knew Apple was so...insignificant, to IBM.
Click to expand...

1. IBM opens up PowerPC specs.
2. IBM sells computer division to Lenovo
3. IBM makes tons more money on software and services than on hardware.
4. Intel buys PPC IP (perhaps even buys Freescale in the process)

Any thoughts?
 
Bad_JuJu said:
this is a semi-fresh article with some intersting points
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,67749,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1



Getting a solid DRM scheme working is one of Intels top issues - MSFT is involved but they have their own ideas - so if Intel could use Apple as a test bed ...........

And here's a second fact - the office or biz sector is nearly at capacity for total numbe of machines --- the home market is sitting around 20 -25% total saturation ----- so a lot of possible growth for a easy to use digital content hub / net box in the home
Click to expand...

How secure is the "DRM scheme"? Is it relatively full-proof like iTunes'?
 
amac4me said:
I just read an article at the NY Times. Here are some quotes from the article titled, "Apple Plans to Switch From I.B.M. to Intel for Chips"

Quote #1
---------
"Microsoft's decision to build its own computer hardware, with help from I.B.M., was a direct assault on a market that Intel was counting on for future growth. It is likely that Intel forged the alliance with Apple in an effort to counter the powerful home entertainment and game systems coming from Microsoft and Sony."

My comment: Perhaps, Apple gets a good deal from Intel as a result of the Microsoft move to IBM for the XBox

Quote #2
--------
"While the new partnership is a clear and long-coveted win for Intel, the world's largest chip maker, it portends a potentially troublesome shift for Apple, the iconoclastic maker of sleek personal computers and consumer electronics gadgets."

My Comment: Time & technical issues will tell

Quote #3
---------
"Mr. Jobs, who left Apple in 1985 to found Next Inc., went through a similar transition when he moved his NextStep operating system from Motorola chips to Intel's x86 processors. When Mr. Jobs sold Next to Apple in 1997 and then returned to the company to lead its resurgence, he moved the operating system to the PowerPC. But it has been widely reported that the company has kept alive a small development project called Marklar that has developed an Intel-compatible version of the Macintosh operating system."

My comment: This is the first I've ever heard of this, I've never heard of Marklar ... this sounds interesting and may be the clue to how this (speculated) partnership between Apple and Intel may work

The article is located at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/technology/06apple.html
Click to expand...

It seems that you need a userid/password to get to the page. I got to it from http://news.google.com/

Scroll down on the right you will see a section called " Sci/Tech" Then under the 1st articled titled, "Reports: Apple to switch to Intel chips" you will see a link to "all 237 related" click on that and look for the story from the NY Times.
 
~Shard~ said:
Why, is Jobs planning on announcing a 2-button mouse as well?
Click to expand...

Yes, a 2-button mouse that plays videos, is a remote for airport express, is a cell phone, and uses an Intel chip. :)
 
I changed my mind.. twice

I saw this on Slashdot, and it made absolute sense:

April fools joke, eh? Would it be even more of a joke if I said that Apple was going to raise the Itanic? The only fools here are people who think Steve is going to port MacOS to the x86.

Think about it. There is NO CHANCE IN HELL that Stevie will put an x86 processor at the heart of a Mac because it'd basically open the door to clones and homebrews of white-boxes running MacOS. Apple wouldn't dare give its users that much freedom.

No, we're talking ITANIC, baybe!

It makes logical sense, and it's a match made in heaven. AMD64 killed Intel's Itanium game plan in the short term causing sales of the machines to make a huge belly flop, plus it killed Intel's long term plans of eventually replacing the x86 with Itanium rather than slapping on 64-bit capability to the x86 architecture, which AMD did anyway and Intel was forced to adopt.

Intel sure as hell won't let billions of dollars of R&D for this new processor to go down the crapper. The solution? Move the processor to a different platform!

Intel can simply offer its wares to other architectures like the Mac. Plus, Intel has the fabs to make sure that Apple won't be starving for chips, which is a problem Apple constantly griped about with Motorola and IBM.

It'd also give Microsoft one more reason to fear Intel. If Intel is playing both sides of the PC vs. Mac war and suddenly becomes smitten with Microsoft (as they're reported to be lately), Intel would be in a position to play dirty.
 
My question is:

Even if they move to Intel, will all the other hardware remain the same? I'm concerbed about the overall quality of the piece. I enjoy rock solid stability, and knowing that apple puts extreme quality into each piece. Not like Wintel boxes that have an array of things mished together...I hate DRIVERS. Everything should work in harmony, like the macs do already

2nd question:

Will we still be based on a Unix Core? Still be rock solid like that? Still enjoy no worries of Virii or such things?
 
Come on, it wouldn't be *that* hard for Intel to build 'PowerPC' chips. The legal stuff can easily get round all of that. Remember, they wouldn't have to make G5 chips that are identical to IBM's, all they have to do is make G5 Compatible]/b] chips and call them something else. Athlon 64s are compatible with nearly all of the code that is written for P4s yet AMD and Intel split chip designs way back when the first Pentium was introduced. Intel's dothans are compatible with Intel's P4s too. Making a Intel PowerPC compatible chip wouldn't be 'that hard' relatively speaking.
 
amac4me said:
It seems that you need a userid/password to get to the page. I got to it from http://news.google.com/

Scroll down on the right you will see a section called " Sci/Tech" Then under the 1st articled titled, "Reports: Apple to switch to Intel chips" you will see a link to "all 237 related" click on that and look for the story from the NY Times.
Click to expand...

Just use arn's front page link (also linked in the thread some pages back)- no password required at this point (just checked the link - still works). The whole thing is also posted some pages back.
 
Jschultz said:
My question is:

Even if they move to Intel, will all the other hardware remain the same? I'm concerbed about the overall quality of the piece. I enjoy rock solid stability, and knowing that apple puts extreme quality into each piece. Not like Wintel boxes that have an array of things mished together...I hate DRIVERS. Everything should work in harmony, like the macs do already

2nd question:

Will we still be based on a Unix Core? Still be rock solid like that? Still enjoy no worries of Virii or such things?
Click to expand...

Unix is on x86 as well, it's not just a PPC thing
 
Apple Plans to Switch From I.B.M. to Intel for Chips

By JOHN MARKOFF and STEVE LOHR
s.gif
AN FRANCISCO, June 5 - Steven P. Jobs is preparing to take an unprecedented gamble by abandoning Apple Computer's 14-year commitment to chips developed by I.B.M. and Motorola in favor of Intel processors for his Macintosh computers, industry executives informed of the decision said Sunday.

The move is a chesslike gambit in a broader industry turf war that pits the traditional personal computer industry against an emerging world of consumer electronics focused on the digital home.

"This is a seismic shift in the world of personal computing and consumer electronics," said Richard Doherty, president of the Envisioneering Group, a Seaford, N.Y., computer and consumer electronics industry consulting firm. "It is bound to rock the industry, but it will also be a phenomenal engineering challenge for Apple."

Mr. Jobs is expected to announce the transition to Intel chips at Apple's annual developer conference, which will begin here Monday. Apple's intention to shift to Intel chips beginning in 2006 was reported Friday by CNET News.com, a technology news service. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that Apple and I.B.M. were negotiating.

Apple, according to analysts, has become increasingly alarmed by I.B.M.'s failure to deliver a new version of its Power PC chip, called the G5, that does not generate much heat - a crucial feature for notebook computers, which do not have as much room for fans and ventilation as desktop machines.

Apple's notebooks now use the older G4 chips, made by Freescale Semiconductor, which was spun off from Motorola last year.

"That's a huge looming problem for Apple, if it can't keep up with Intel notebooks in performance," said Charles Wolf, an analyst for Needham & Company. "And that's been an I.B.M. problem. I.B.M. hasn't delivered a cool-running G5."

Apple, I.B.M. and Intel spokesmen all refused to comment this weekend on the possible shift in alliances.

The first move in the complex industry realignment now taking place was made more than a year ago when Microsoft broke with Intel and said that it would use an I.B.M. processor chip, similar to the one used by Apple for its Macintoshes, in the second version of its Xbox video game machine.

What Microsoft has made clear recently is that the new Xbox, to be called the 360, will be much more than a video game player when it reaches store shelves this fall. It will perform a range of home entertainment functions, like connecting to the Internet, playing DVD movies and displaying high-definition television shows as well as serving as a wireless data hub for the home.

Microsoft's decision to build its own computer hardware, with help from I.B.M., was a direct assault on a market that Intel was counting on for future growth. It is likely that Intel forged the alliance with Apple in an effort to counter the powerful home entertainment and game systems coming from Microsoft and Sony.

While the new partnership is a clear and long-coveted win for Intel, the world's largest chip maker, it portends a potentially troublesome shift for Apple, the iconoclastic maker of sleek personal computers and consumer electronics gadgets.

Apple was the largest maker of personal computers in the early and mid-1980's, but its share of the worldwide computer market fell steadily during the past two decades as the Windows-Intel alliance emerged as an overwhelming personal computing standard.

That decline came despite Apple's earlier shift from Motorola microprocessor chips to the PowerPC processor, the fruit of a grand alliance that Apple entered into in 1991 with Motorola and I.B.M.

Originally intended to counter Microsoft and Intel, the alliance was never able to stop the erosion of Apple's market share, as Apple customers were forced to upgrade their hardware and software to take advantage of the newer processor chip.

Mr. Jobs, who left Apple in 1985 to found Next Inc., went through a similar transition when he moved his NextStep operating system from Motorola chips to Intel's x86 processors. When Mr. Jobs sold Next to Apple in 1997 and then returned to the company to lead its resurgence, he moved the operating system to the PowerPC. But it has been widely reported that the company has kept alive a small development project called Marklar that has developed an Intel-compatible version of the Macintosh operating system.

For I.B.M., the end of the Apple partnership means the loss of a prestigious customer, but not one that is any longer very important to I.B.M.'s sales or profits. It further underlines how much I.B.M. and its strategy in recent years have moved away from the personal computer industry that it helped create. Last month, I.B.M. completed the sale of its personal computer business to Lenovo of China.

Even as a chip maker, I.B.M. has moved aggressively beyond the PC industry, focusing on making the processors for video game consoles from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, and specialized chips for other uses, like the Internet router computers made by Cisco Systems and cellphone technology by Qualcomm. I.B.M. also uses its Power microprocessors in many of its own server computers, which run corporate networks.

By contrast, the chips I.B.M. makes for Apple represent less than 2 percent of chip production at its largest factory in East Fishkill, N.Y. And while the microelectronics business as a whole is strategically important for I.B.M., it is a small part of the revenue of a company that increasingly focuses on services and software. A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, estimates that the company's technology group - mostly microelectronics - will account for less than 3 percent of I.B.M.'s revenues and 2 percent of its pretax income this year.

I.B.M. supplies about 50 percent of the microprocessors used by Apple, providing them for desktop and server computers. Freescale makes the processors used in Apple's notebook and new Mac mini computers.

For years, according to industry analysts, the work for Apple has been barely a break-even business for I.B.M. When the two companies were negotiating a new contract recently, Mr. Jobs pushed for price discounts that I.B.M. refused to offer. For I.B.M., "the economics just didn't work," said one industry executive who was briefed on the negotiations. "And Apple is not so important a customer that you would take the financial hit to hold onto the relationship."

The attitude was very different in 1991, when I.B.M., Apple and Motorola contributed a total of 300 engineers to a project in Austin, Tex., code-named Somerset. Company executives hailed the project as a make-or-break effort to design PowerPC chips intended to be, among other things, a crucial weapon to wrest technological control of the PC industry from Intel and Microsoft.

Mr. Jobs is scheduled to take the stage on Monday to face his software developers, an important constituency he must convince of the wisdom of the shift. It is the software developers who will need to do the hard work of making their programs run on Intel chips if Mr. Jobs's strategy is to succeed.

Apple must be able to persuade software developers who make business and graphics programs for the Macintosh - Microsoft, Adobe, Quark and others - to overhaul their code.

"That's a huge challenge for Apple, to win the software developers over and drag them along," said Mr. Wolf, the Needham analyst.

John Markoff reported from San Francisco for this article, and Steve Lohr from New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/technology/06apple.html?pagewanted=print&position=
 
Caudor said:
I believe this is Apple's attempt to get back in the ring for another swing at Microsoft. Apple has the world's best OS and they know it. Microsoft reputation is at an all-time low. Longhorn is still way off and even average users tire of security issues. By gaining Intel (and possibly others like HP) as an ally, this represent the opening salvo of a new OS WAR!

It is also possible that Apple and Intel are joining forces to woo Hollywood with some grand plan.

If Apple ever plans to stand up to MS, this is a great time to do it.
Click to expand...


Microsoft best and most profitable weapon is MS Office, not Windows OS. Without a complete Office Suite, Apple has ZERO chance winning the OS war.
 
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