'Intel Based Mac' Rumor Roundup...

[jiggie2g]

The natural trend is to use multiple CPUs in one box. This is because the laws of physics have limited how high processor speeds get.

PowerPCs don't use up more energy than the comparible AMD and Intel desktop CPUs.

Thus, Apple should be able to come up with multi-CPU designs just as AMD has. There are AMD boxes with 8 CPUs in them. Why can't Apple do the same?

With Apple's flair for designing coolilng systems, perhaps Apple can design a liquid metal cooling system to bring the noise down for multi-CPU designs.

Can you afford a $4000 Powermac with 4 CPU's by the way would run hot as hell, did u notice how big those G5 heatsinks are and thst's just for 2 CPU's.

They also habe to make the tower and MB much larger. u might as well be buying a full blown server. not to mention Apple would have just priced itself out of most of it's consumers budgets.

having 2 processor is one of the mainreasons macs are so expensive in the 1st place , now u wanna add to this. Dual core is the furute no fighting that.

 

[puuukeey]

"Isn't it a bit strange to be assuming that Apple haven't already looked into, perhaps already addressed, the optimization issues for their software?"


I'm with you.. people are acting like jobs is going to get up on stage and say.... 'so..... um.... IBM lied to me.. they suck sooooooooo.. heres intel' thats not the way jobs does it. hes got to say "and next.. this we think is really cool...." and it bowls everyone over. so if this rumor pans out, Id say theres more to it that meets us gossips. secret new technology. maybe utilizing zero point energy? maybe they print the chips in one of those extra dimensions on the strings from string theory. all I'm saying is its 2005 and my flying cars were due in 2000.... Kurzweil, GET ON IT.


ok I'm delerious and going smeepy

 

[Marianco]

There is an increase in general performance.

There is an increase in general performance with multiple CPUs because
1. More software is being designed for multi-CPUs.
2. Even if software can run only on one CPU, then it can completely hog the CPU while other processes are used on other CPUs.
3. Graphics intensive software have massively parallel instructions.
4. Mac OS X Tiger is deeply threaded - meaning it would clearly benefit from multiple CPUs.

Having more CPUs means your computer can walk and chew gum better - i.e. multitask better. Even without using Photoshop and Final Cut Pro - which clearly would benefit from multiple CPUs - it would be nice to be able to run iTunes and other multiple concurrent programs without slowing down the Mac. It is frustrating when even dual-CPU PowerMacs slow down when using multiple concurrent programs (e.g. running Safari, iTunes, doing a network backup, all at the same time).

If that's a valid possibility, then why stop at 4?

The more CPU's you add the less the increase in general performance, unless you're doing something that requires massively parallel instructions.

Reminds me of '7 Minute Abs'.

 

[puuukeey]

shillers' the mole..next centuries deepthroat... hes all angry cuz jobs thinks his companies invincible so hes in a jacuzzi with 9 redheads trying to find is CEO sized thinger. so shillers leaking it.

well I think I've wrapped this one up. shiller would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for this darn board.

ug I'm insane!

 

[LaMerVipere]

I agree. The chances of Intel PPC are minutely slim. Please give it up, it's not going to happen.

Absolutely, yet it keeps getting repeated again...and again...and again...

 

[liketom]

so if this goes ahead x86 and Mac , this would mean tiger 10.4 would be the last release for the true Mac


better get used to tiger lol

i'm still in shock at the thought of this !!! hows the share price at the mo i wonder ?

 

[aldo]

Just for fun, let's assume everything you say is right. The problem is still one of perception. Does Apple stick with IBM when they can't provide them with a processor for the laptop, and Freescale that doesn't have the brains to make a processor that's competitive with mobile x86 alternatives? It's Motorola all over again - stuck in a speed ditch with no way to get out, but worse, stuck with a laptop lineup that is so underpowered, it can't even run Apple's famed h.264 HD video - for either consumers or video editors. If your problems above are issues, then these are worse.

My $.02.

Exactly. This is the worst situation the Mac has been in since the PPC transistion.

While everyone is super-happy on the iPod candy, it's not going to last forever. We are already seeing sales slowing (or at least growing slower) and this is going to indicate the peak -- cell phones and things like the Yahoo Music Unlimited deal are going to put the end to the huge growth of the iPod.

The Mac is looking IMO quite doomed. Apple has no options. The notebook makes up 60% of its sales, but its top of the line can't even play back its high-def content, let alone author it, which for the much-touted creative's sidekick looks dire. Not only this, no-one is standing in the corner to pick up the notebook line from where it is. IBM basically has obviously given up caring about the miniscule numbers of chips Apple wants - it doesn't justify the huge investment that would be needed for a mobile G5. Freescale is the next option, but they are at least 6-12months off a dual core G4 which wouldn't be a huge improvement over the current ones.

So, Apple is now running to Intel. But this switchover is going to be next to impossible to accomplish. Can the company really last a year on bad Mac sales? Will developers give up and move to Linux/Windows? I'd guess so. Can you really see Maya, Reason, Adobe etc investing millions yet again in optimising for a shrinking market?

To be honest I think this is the end of the Mac as we know it. I think Jobs could announce he's stepping down (how much is he willing to take after he got hit with cancer? I know very few would have the focus on something as silly -- in the grand scale of life -- as a set of transistors) shortly after. Without Jobs the company will descend into a mess. The ipod will drift them over for a few years, but after that I can't see them lasting much longer.

This is a very pessimistic viewpoint -- I know. But honestly I can't see anything good happening here. It's not as if it's even going to be the 1-2months shipping time we usually expect after a keynote - it's going to be 1-2 years and the IT industry _hates_ waits like that.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted I suppose...

 

[puuukeey]

THIS JUST IN apples next point release to offer sandskrit and esperanto as languages. apple plans to intall plants in malasia... mainly palm trees but also some lilys no really their starting a charity and donating all the 50 mHz machines to the billavers in west africa. of course their going to have bamboo slats on the side (but painted white) and AMAZING engineering feet for apple since bamboo only grows in brooklyn and LA.

 

[jiggie2g]

You know I am surprised after reading all these posts that no one has sought to realize that makybe this isn't some spontaneous move by apple and maybe it's thier Plan B that they have been emplementing for years , maybe they have been porting iLife /OSX and optimizing iit over the last year or so . maybe even b4 IBM joined the party.

 

[liketom]

You know I am surprised after reading all these posts that no one has sought to realize that makybe this isn't some spontaneous move by apple and maybe it's thier Plan B that they have been emplementing for years , maybe they have veen porting iLife /OSX and optimizing iit over the last year ro so . maybe eveb b4 IBM joined the party.

well, we will find out monday !

who said Jobsy is gonna step down

 

[puuukeey]

a mac with intel inside could only be pulled off if it some how made retro/dirty as amazing as tomwaits.. jobs gets on that stage and say.. I remember the days when we only talked on BBSs it was a beautiful stylish time.. heres the new iWaits

 

[jiggie2g]

I can really see Jobs getting booed for this when he mentions Intel in a mac

 

[LaMerVipere]

I can really see Jobs getting booed for this when he mentions Intel in a mac

I can't see that at all. I imagine jaws on the floor and such dead silence you could actually hear the stock drop.

Although AAPL will probably go through the roof for all I know.

 

[iMeowbot]

You know I am surprised after reading all these posts that no one has sought to realize that makybe this isn't some spontaneous move by apple and maybe it's thier Plan B that they have been emplementing for years , maybe they have been porting iLife /OSX and optimizing iit over the last year or so . maybe even b4 IBM joined the party.

Well yeah, that has been in the back of people's minds. That's what the old Marklar rumors have always been about.

 

[rendezvouscp]

I can really see Jobs getting booed for this when he mentions Intel in a mac

I think that there would be a huge backlash at WWDC. The Apple ideology is about thinking differently and not going "big." The 1984 commercial captured this spirit. I seriously can't imagine Apple making a move like this. Sure the whole computer industry is slowing down, but c'mon, it's Apple! Perhaps I have too much faith in them, but I can't see them doing this. If it's true, Monday is going to be a huge day in the history of computers.
-Chase

 

[modernpixel]

I can really see Jobs getting booed for this when he mentions Intel in a mac

Booed? ha-ha, I think the stage will be rushed. It will be apocalyptic.

Jobs could use his ego knocked down about 50 pegs anyway. Whenever he has a success he goes into "I can do no wrong" mode. Coming off of the iPod - I think he is at his worst.

 

[Doctor Q]

I can really see Jobs getting booed for this when he mentions Intel in a mac

If it's not true, will he mention the topic anyway? Will that produce cheering?

 

[bosrs1]

Yeah, I'm curious. All this talk is further proof that I don't know as much about computers as I thought. All I hope is that I continue to get the same reliability out of my Mac, and that they keep getting faster. Oh, and that my G5 doesn't drop in value too much once I go to sell it.

Fishes,
narco.

Maybe the value will go up since it will be precieved by some Apple fanboys as being the final true Mac.

 

[puuukeey]

I think that there would be a huge backlash at WWDC. The Apple ideology is about thinking differently and not going "big."
-Chase

the apple ideology has been sold to us. sorry. I love apple buts a big faceless corp like all the rest. the fact that it has huge branding realestate is ONLY a function of its marketers and has very little to do with its business practeses.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-9706395-0432142?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

EDIT: fixed url

 

[rendezvouscp]

the apple ideology has been sold to us. sorry. I love apple buts a big faceless corp like all the rest. the fact that it has huge branding realestate is ONLY a function of its marketers and has very little to do with its business practeses.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-9706395-0432142

That's true: the 1984 commercial was about taking down Big Blue, but to replace it with what? I believe that in the true Apple "believers," (I know I'm making it sound like some religious cult) this still is true. I know I use an Apple because it's better and it's different.

I just hope that Apple doesn't make this move. I think that it'd be a huge mistake, but we'll see. Also, I think that if there is a big CPU announcement and it's not about the move to Intel, Steve will mention the rumors in a joking manner and then announce the great news.
-Chase

 

[avus]

Stay tuned to the WWDC Keynote on Monday, June 6th at 10am. We will provide live coverage of the event and have dramatically expanded our delivery resources to provide the best Keynote coverage experience possible.

I sincerely hope that MacRumors will accomplish this because the responsibility for reporters is larger than ever since there will be no broadcasting of this event. I would rather hear from Steve Jobs himself than obnoxious and pretentious posters here.

 

[aswitcher]

Very true! Thinksecret has been conspicuous by their absence. Either they know nothing or the fear of god has been put into them by the legal powers at Apple.

Or, Apple got their deepthroat...

 

[deanbo]

Choose Optimism

Exactly. This is the worst situation the Mac has been in since the PPC transistion.

While everyone is super-happy on the iPod candy, it's not going to last forever. We are already seeing sales slowing (or at least growing slower) and this is going to indicate the peak -- cell phones and things like the Yahoo Music Unlimited deal are going to put the end to the huge growth of the iPod.

The Mac is looking IMO quite doomed. Apple has no options. The notebook makes up 60% of its sales, but its top of the line can't even play back its high-def content, let alone author it, which for the much-touted creative's sidekick looks dire. Not only this, no-one is standing in the corner to pick up the notebook line from where it is. IBM basically has obviously given up caring about the miniscule numbers of chips Apple wants - it doesn't justify the huge investment that would be needed for a mobile G5. Freescale is the next option, but they are at least 6-12months off a dual core G4 which wouldn't be a huge improvement over the current ones.

So, Apple is now running to Intel. But this switchover is going to be next to impossible to accomplish. Can the company really last a year on bad Mac sales? Will developers give up and move to Linux/Windows? I'd guess so. Can you really see Maya, Reason, Adobe etc investing millions yet again in optimising for a shrinking market?

To be honest I think this is the end of the Mac as we know it. I think Jobs could announce he's stepping down (how much is he willing to take after he got hit with cancer? I know very few would have the focus on something as silly -- in the grand scale of life -- as a set of transistors) shortly after. Without Jobs the company will descend into a mess. The ipod will drift them over for a few years, but after that I can't see them lasting much longer.

This is a very pessimistic viewpoint -- I know. But honestly I can't see anything good happening here. It's not as if it's even going to be the 1-2months shipping time we usually expect after a keynote - it's going to be 1-2 years and the IT industry _hates_ waits like that.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted I suppose...

No doubt, Powerbook sales are extremely important, but a G5 in a Powerbook I believe is quite feasible and not much further away I believe.

I remember when people asked for a G5 iMac, it was described as a huge thermal challenge. It was intended to be released 3 months later (WWDC 2004). Only short supply stopped it.

IBM has given up? They probably came through the best in regards to shifting to 90nm.

How long have Apple been with IBM for sole supply for PowerMac chips. 2 years? And where they would be now with Motorola?

2.7ghz is mighty fast, and as for dual core, have you seen the prices from AMD?

Dual core is in it's infancy, and will barely made an impact in the consumer market in the foreseeable future. No doubt due to its price.

 

[ElderBrE]

Hrm..

http://www.transitive.com/products.htm

There you go for the switch. Heh.

This is looking more and more credible as the hours pass..

 

[SiliconAddict]

Yes but now we will have the intel script kiddies on our side. I bet a fix for this is written the first week these systems come out.

http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/

Been there...done that. If it can be hacked it will be hacked. The biggest hurtle up til now in regards to running X on x86 is PPC emulation. With that hurtle out of the way. It will be done.