Oh no, where to begin??
stuepfnick said:
The PowerPC G5 is a top-of-the-line CPU and every Mac application is available for PPC-CPUs.
It would be horrible to be only able to buy Intel-based iMacs, they won't benefit from Intel-CPUs, the iMacs could be upgraded to Dual-Core-G5s, I am sure, then I would buy one, but no Intel crap (yet).
You are really afraid of change. Why? Intel-based Macs may well benefit greatly compared with the anemic pace of development the PPC has had. The time for the PPC is over. Apple gave the PPC consortium more than enough time and they failed to deliver new generation processors quickly and with high performance per watt.
I want a powerful PPC-Mac to wait some years, until there is enough software for the Intel-Crap, although the Powermac is too expensive to me. Maybe if later in 2006 we get Dual-Core iMacs and Quad-Powermacs accross the line, I'll get a new Mac.
Rosetta will allow you to run PPC binaries on an Intel Mac. Universal binaries do, however, need to be released quickly by software developers. I do not want to use Rosetta for more than 1 year.
What do you want to do with Intel-Macs early 2006? Run windows on it? Why not buy a PC? You can do the same with it.
R O S E T T A.
Even in mid-2006 there won't be much Intel-OS X Software available, so this makes no sense.
R O S E T T A.
And as some of you pointed out, the G5 is a pretty powerful processor and it's up to date, so there an Intel-CPU makes no sense.
If you are happy with 0.1 GHz upgrades to the PPC every 6 months, be our guest.
Apple has to wait until Mid of 2007 to switch the Powermacs to Intel. They'll have to wait until Intel has some CPUs to offer which will offer at least the same power as the Dual-Core-G5s and that won't be until Mid of 2007.
Why does Apple
have to wait until mid 2007? Who enacted that law? According to AppleInsider's latest article which you haven't read, Apple may complete the transition by Fall of 2006 -- yes, Fall of next year. That would include the PowerMacs.
And guess what, in Mid of 2007 we will also get High-Volume productions of very-low-power PPC-CPUs from PA Semi.
This seems like a sinking ship. It's the right move for Apple to jump ship.
There will be a Dual-Core PPC Chip with Altivec, S-ATA II, PCIe, and all the fine stuff in one processor. It will use 13 Watt @ 2 Ghz. They start shipping in late 2006. In 2007 there will be Single and Quad Core types of this CPU as well.
Promises promises. Apple has been the unfortunate victim of promises. They need a far more confident, capable, and aggressive supplier. Intel is that supplier.
Apple is really doing a big mistake here. Just to get more powerful Powerbooks a half year earlier, all the effort. And then it even can't be as powerful as future PPC-Chips. It will hard for Apple to explain all the downgrades and less Perormance-per-Watt compared to PA Semi CPUs.
What future PPC chips? You are comparing vaporware with something that exists now and will continue to exist for a long time. Apple cannot partner with an unknown designhouse that probably has no fabs of its own and operates like a small company. Do you know who these guys are?
The badest thing is all the effort of all the companies who need to change their apps to Intel code. Many will jump of, there won't be any more Classic. So no old games, no old Apps.
In the best case you just click a checkbox that says "Intel Binary" and rebuild your app. That's it. In other cases there's more work, but not on the scale of a rewrite.
No one will redo all the old stuff for Intel CPUs. Many Developers will jump off. Many will offer their Windows Version only, they'll tell us: Just boot into Windows to use our Apps. The same will happen to games.
Not really. An OS is more than the processor on which it runs. Different processor architectures have provided a wider rift between OSs, but even if we bridge the processor gulf, the OSs are not the same. Linux exists for Intel and it's doing very well.
Also we can't use any of the Apps that need a G4/G5 at least, Rosetta won't run them.
These might be among the first to go native.
And have fun with your Intel Macs in early 2006 using everything with Rosetta! So you are back at the speed of early G4s. Really a big step forward. 😛
Remains to be seen.
I wish Apple will only offer one Intel-based Mac mini and keep everything else at PowerPC.
Yes, we will have to wait another 4-8 months to get fast, state-of-the-art powerbooks, but I think it's worth the waiting.
It's better to make the transition quickly and get it over with so comments like yours go away that much faster.
😉
So we won't need Rosetta, have the power to blow away all the Intel stuff again. (the only real competition to the G5 comes from AMD)
We can use ALL of our Apps natively, can continue to use Altivec, will get Altivec 2 (VERY powerful) in 2007, can continue to use ALL our classic and G4 software, etc.
You're again banking on promises and thinking that some unknown small player will be able to solve all the yield and design problems that IBM and Motorola/Freescale could not solve.
🙄
Also we will get great games coming from the PS3, XBox360 and the new Nintendo. They ALL use PPC now and they all have ALTIVEC. Also the PS3 has some Vector-processors, that work pretty similar to Altivec. AND there will be Auto-Vectorisation in the near future, as well a broad range of experienced vector-code programmers (coming from the consoles). So the PPC-future looks VERY, VERY NICE.
Not true. The CELL processor cores are not designed for general purpose computing and perform less efficiently for those tasks. It looks like performance of the XBOX 360 will be underwhelming -- it's already beginning to disappoint some people (check the Games section of Macrumors). Playstation 3 might provide more oomph, but it remains to be seen.
The only disadvantage of not using Intel-CPUs in Macs would be some months more waiting for a powerful Powerbook and not being able to use windows on our Macs. But who wants this? Just buy a cheap PC to use this crap! 😎
Don't think so. Many of your premises are unfounded, so many of your conclusions are unwarranted.
In my opinion it is the absolutely wrong time to switch to Intel. I could understand it, in the end times of the G4 Powermacs, if they did it INSTEAD of the G5.
But now we have the G5 and we will get VERY STRONG and LOW POWER PPC-CPUs soon from PA Semi. A Dual-Core 2 Ghz chips will utilize 13 Watt (compared to 130 Watt of a Dual Core Pentium).
Also Intels Dual-Core CPUs use a very weak design. The cores have to comunicate over the FSB, that slows down everything very much. The Dual-Core G5 has a Backbridge, over which both cores can talk to each other directly, speeding things up.
Also Steve Jobs argument of IBM, that they don't offer 3 Ghz chips yet is big nonsense. If they did go with Intel, Steve would tell us: In late 2004 we will have CPUs reaching 5 Ghz. (as Intels roadmap was saying).
So it won't be any difference. And the Quad 2.5 Ghz is more powerfull than any Dual 3 Ghz could be!
I just hope, ALL Powermacs (or at least the middle-one) will become Quad too.
I hope I can afford some Dual-Core iMac or Dual/Quad Powermac, before the Intel Crap comes. So I can stay with it as long as possible. I would love to run the Unreal-Engine3 on a Quad-Core Powermac. 🙄
Also I hope there will be some alternative OS, that works with PPC, with a broad User base. If yes, I am sure, I will switch. I am very excited about the cool chips from PA Semi, coming late 2006 and 2007.
Greetings,
Stefab
PA Semi is a startup company in Santa Clara backed by venture capitalists. They've been in business for 2 years. You want Apple to bank its future on this? For all we know, PA Semi might become another Transmeta.
http://www.pasemi.com/about/index.html
And I think
this is pretty cute!
