Sounds like the Swedish Chef on the Muppets...
Meaning the ingredients are flying every which direction, and half the time you can't understand a word he says... Still, it was a blast to watch him.
Alright, in the AppleInsider article, where it lists the iMac, PowerBook, iBook and mini, it links to two previous articles. Together they talk about the iMac and PowerBook switching to Intel at MWSF, and the iBook and mini later in the Spring. This timetable fits the "rollout-schedule" of the Yonah dual-core ("Centrino Core Duo") from January into February, and of the single-core ("Centrino Core Solo") around late March to early May.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1431
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1368
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1359
The hints for the timing are right there. And the cost of Yonah's dual-core chips lend credence to it not going in to the mini (as it's marketed now) or the iBook. The single-core will be cheaper, and fit in to those product lines.
And the idea of sticking a dual-core Yonah (which starts around $240 for the 1.6GHz version - before any "humungo-volume" discounts) into the "sub-$500" mini and then bolting on all kinds of "DVR-wishlist" bells & whistles... Well, you've just priced & sized the mini out of its target market and purpose for existing.
I wonder if a dual-core/32bit Yonah, with its 667MHz bus, "might" be slightly faster than the single-core/64bit G5 in the present iMac (2.1GHz on 700MHz bus). It would be interesting to see if Apple would put it in the iMac at MWSF - your average iMac buyer doesn't know the difference between bits, and most of the software they will use doesn't give a rip, either... If Apple thinks that 32-vs-64bit distinction will matter, than the iMac will wait for Merom around September.
Conroe, the desktop design-derivative of Yonah/Merom is expected Fall of 2006, and fits into the PowerMac transition schedule. As for Intel designing and/or building the mobo - more power to 'em. They know x86 inside-out, but will work closely with Apple on the type and placement of components. Apple will design the case, and decide on things like FrWr, BluRay, S-ATA 150, which GPU, WiFi or WiMax, etc.
That's what distinguishes Apple from the pc world. In fact, the closest "mimic" to Apple's attention-to-detail comes from Liebermann
www.go-l.com/home/index.htm.webloc... It's downright spooky at times to see how much they... hmmm... "follow" Apple's lead.
In many respects Apple has been a pioneer, even of technology Intel invented. It was the first to embrace USB and PCI while most "beige box builders" were (are, in some cases) still playing with Serial, Paralel, PS/2, 3.5" FDHDs, EISA, etc. Look at WiFi and Apple's leap from 802.11b to 802.11g - will WiMax be on the new PowerBooks? It was slow on the AGP-bandwagon, then "went left" to PCI-X when most of the world was "going right" to PCI-Express. FireWire is another success, and the likely reason it's missing on the new iPods is because of cost savings - we should be seeing FrWr 1600 by 2007, not just "more" acceptance of FrWr 800... Here's one more: Pioneer -depending on final licensing terms - will announce their first BluRay product(s) at CES in January - it will appear first in Japan, but how soon after that will it be in an Apple?
Relax, people... 2006 looks very bright - unless you're a beta tester of Vista. Or, as the Swedish Chef might say, "Yea, borgi-sbord-ne-durningk-hahm!"
