Intel Mac Firmware Update Brings BIOS Support

[qtip919]

This is simply wonderful news, and something that is going to open more doors than people realize.

Additionally, if Apple wants to REALLY hit the market hard, they will open OS X up to existing PCs. If Apple did this, there would be a true halo effect.

People simply dont realize that the vast majority of PC users are not in love with hardware. The only thing they usually care about is getting an LCD display (at best)

We Apple hardware snobs, just dont seem to be on the same planet as most of these people who just cant imagine paying between 800-2000 for a new Operating System which will provide a short window of time where they will be frustrated, lost, panic-stricken, and then, finally, happy.

However, if Apple just allowed OS X to migrate its way into their household as a way to:

1. get away from the over-abundance of viruses and spyware
2. manage their digital media
3. simplify their computing experience

people will RUN to the stores to get OS X. I would expect this to provide between a 10-30% marketshare increase. This is based on real numbers too BTW.

 

[MacMosher]

time to buy some apple stock... here comes the revolution for wannabe switchers.

freakin' autoCAD on a mac.. finally!

ahah Yes. I see I have a fellow M.E. perhaps?

 

[monkeyandy]

I have done, heres the link...

you should start this thread over in Mac Hardware

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/191758/

What is the GFX perfrmance like on XP using Boot Camp for games....anyone tried it yet?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Hell, I'll take a late barn door close over one that takes hours and several attempts (including hard drive reformats) to close, and still doesn't quite work right.

Well sure, but I think the timing isn't a coincidence. Apple wants a smooth solution for its customers, not a hack.

 

[Compufix]

I cannot be bothered reading through 30 pages of inane ranting (got to page 10!) by people to find an answer to this question....whoever has installed this what is the 3d graphics performance like in XP, does it run your games well? Can't seem to find this info anywhere, let us all know!

Full Hardware Acceleration with official (at least supplied by Apple ) ATI drivers.....

20" iMac, everything (including speakers) working EXCEPT for the iSight, IR remote and Keyboard backlight.

Still testing, but it is VERY VERY fast.....

-Compufix

 

[monkeyandy]

Full Hardware Acceleration with official (at least supplied by Apple ) ATI drivers.....

20" iMac, everything (including speakers) working EXCEPT for the iSight, IR remote and Keyboard backlight.

Still testing, but it is VERY VERY fast.....

-Compufix

Nice one! Thanks mate! Thats what I've been waiting for! Let me know if you can get any games, etc to run!

 

[dakis]

This is too good. Am I dreaming?

nope, I just installed XP on my Intel Mac. It's absolutely fabulous for gaming - much faster than the Intel Pentium 4 3.2ghz PC I'm going to be selling on eBay tomorrow. iSight doesn't work, apart from that, everything seems fine.
Still like OS X MUCH better, though.

 

[dakis]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/191758/

What is the GFX perfrmance like on XP using Boot Camp for games....anyone tried it yet?

I played Need for Speed Underground on my iMac this evening. Not exactly the latest game, but very heavy on the graphics side. I was able to play it at 1280x1024 with full detail. The pentium 4 3.2 ghz box I had used exclusively for gaming until now only gave me a 800x600 at full detail... The iMac performance ROCKS. Considering the fact, that it uses a graphics card with a "Mobility" chip it's simply incredible. What was also incredible: the fan speed didn't even go up after having played for about half an hour.

 

[monkeyandy]

Xp :-(

Unfortunately I need to use XP for work

But on the good side of things there are a alot of good games that are only PC based and i'm looking forward to running these! This is the only thing tha has been holding me off from purchasing a new intel Mac so far, no excuse now!

Should I hold on till June for the new MacBook or opt for a MacBook Pro! I can't wait but i'm sure when they bring out the new MacBook i'm gonna want one!

 

[dakis]

Nice one! Thanks mate! Thats what I've been waiting for! Let me know if you can get any games, etc to run!

everything (including games) seems to be running absolutely perfectly.

 

[cyberddot]

Unfortunately I need to use XP for work

But on the good side of things there are a alot of good games that are only PC based and i'm looking forward to running these! This is the only thing tha has been holding me off from purchasing a new intel Mac so far, no excuse now!

Should I hold on till June for the new MacBook or opt for a MacBook Pro! I can't wait but i'm sure when they bring out the new MacBook i'm gonna want one!

My head is spinning with the same thoughts..for the first time! Ugh. I know I can't go wrong with the MBP if this Beta makes a strong run, but for the $cost$ of the MBP. I just want to get resale value on this *ell that I've got. Oh, but having this tough decision to make was the stuff of dreams only yesterday!

​

 

[Abulia]

News Flash: Apple Shuts Barn Door After Horse Escapes!

These pictures are obviously fakes!

 

[Stella]

It would be too long until articles, such as:
'Apple dropping OSX' come along from people who want their names in 'print'.

 

[Stella]

Well sure, but I think the timing isn't a coincidence. Apple wants a smooth solution for its customers, not a hack.

The Beta yes, but Apple have been working on this for a while.

Those people using the Hack: it won't look good on Apple when reports of people frying their Macs appear because the Windows drivers that control Cooling Fans aren't there. ( Despite not being Apple's fault ).

 

[shamino]

Alright, now the cat's out. Time to test how well this BIOS on EFI supports legacy OSes.

I want to see screenshots, all natively installed, no VMware, no VPC:
1) Windows 98
2) Windows 3.1
3) MS-DOS 6.2

How about:

4) OS/2 (32-bit, although the 16-bit version would really impress me )
5) BeOS
6) Solaris
7) Linux

The best non-Mac operating systems are not from Microsoft.

And for style points, do them all on an iMac or a MacBook Pro (no minis, no screen to "prove" its a Mac).

Ummmm.... That won't matter much. Photos are easily doctored. Sites like Fark do it all the time with their photoshop contests.

 

[monkeyandy]

My head is spinning with the same thoughts..for the first time! Ugh. I know I can't go wrong with the MBP if this Beta makes a strong run, but for the $cost$ of the MBP. I just want to get resale value on this *ell that I've got. Oh, but having this tough decision to make was the stuff of dreams only yesterday!

​

At least i'm not the only one! It is a great predicament to be in! I'm the same I know the MacBook Pro would do me great but it's a little out of my reach financially! I do have my credit card ready to go! What does one do!?

 

[aswitcher]

January 2007 is looking very tempting for a intel Mac now...

 

[deadturtle]

Goodbye Dell Laptop, Goodbye 500mhz iBook
Goodnight G5 maybe you can be a server?
Goonight Linux box, goodnight whitebox!

Hello Macbook Pro (linux,xp,osx)
Hello Mac Pro (linux,xp,osx) (come on Apply Quad Core Intels and a gig of RAM standard, you know its time!!)

Man I could single handedly reduce my home office from 6 machines to 2 (unless apple Virtualization really kicks in, then I could live with one if I can have linux-in-a-window!)

Hot damn!

 

[gunm]

I already have a PC with Windows, a Windows laptop for home, and another Windows laptop for work, so this is really overkill for me. I don't mind having a separate box for another OS, in fact, I prefer it.

Besides, I like OS X, and it be a pain to reboot everytime I want to use one or the other.

Obviously there's a demand for it, so if it sells more hardware, then I guess more power to you, Apple...

 

[Electro Funk]

LMFAO! Those get windows on a mac contestants must feel like idiots now. Except for the winner ofcourse.

Are you kidding? yeah i would feel like a real idiot if everyone knew i was intelligent enough to do something that 95% of our population could not... and on top of that i win a cool 15g's....

Boy what an idiot i must be...

 

[shamino]

Apple was clearly working on this for some time. Not even they can slap out a firmware update, suite of device drivers, disk partition-resizing utility, etc in a few short weeks.

The contest is clearly what spurred them to release it now, and not wait for WWDC or the Leopard release. They probably don't want a lot of people installing the hacked-up solution, messing up their firmware and disk formatting, and then complaining to AppleCare when the Mac OS side never works right again.

This way, they've got a known quantity to deal with. If anyone tries to use the contest-solution and gets messed up hardware, Apple can tell them to get bent. It would be a harder thing to do with no replacement solution to offer.

I still think this won't be terribly important in the grand scheme of things, however. All the criticism previously levied against dual-booting still applies:

• It is very annoying to have to reboot when switching between Mac and Windows apps. So much so that most people will (after the novelty wears off) pick one OS and stick with it, ignoring the other. I've worked in dual-boot situations in the past (various combinations of DOS, OS/2, Windows, and Linux) and have always hated it. Far better to get a second computer or an emulation environment.
• Some activities (like sharing data between apps on both systems) will be the most inconvenient way they could possibly be. Save data, quit, reboot, launch, load data, repeat ad nauseum. Two separate computers make this much easier. Only something like VPC, however, can make this convenient.
• Most of the problems that Windows users have with their computers are due to Windows, not the hardware. These problems are not going to go away just because the hardware is made by Apple.
• Users will be completely unsupported. Apple has said that they will not support Windows. Do you think Microsoft will provide any support? Even if they do (meaning you bought a full-priced retail box of WinXP), do you think they are going to know much about Apple hardware? At least Dell customers get Windows support from Dell.

 

[cyberddot]

January 2007 is looking very tempting for a intel Mac now...

...with Merom or Conroe? Ugh (again), that carrot just keeps me running. I haven't been in this giddy and indecisive Apple mode for 6 years, and I didn't miss it!

​

 

[neymo]

booting osx on regular PC

hey, nobody say nothing about booting OSX on pc, a solution that already exist for a while, isnt it ?

did apple is gona give us an official solution too ?

 

[richdun]

How about:

4) OS/2 (32-bit, although the 16-bit version would really impress me )
5) BeOS
6) Solaris
7) Linux

The best non-Mac operating systems are not from Microsoft.
Ummmm.... That won't matter much. Photos are easily doctored. Sites like Fark do it all the time with their photoshop contests.

Oops, forgot my sarcasm tags. Though I agree about the 16-bit OS/2 version...

Linux already should work on Intel Macs, though maybe with some kernel tweaking.

 

[bigandy]

i'm still changing my underwear!!

it's good for me too, there's some windows apps i've struggled without (i refuse to buy a peecee), so this is a big step in the right direction.