Intel Transition, MacBook Name, and Windows on Mac?

MacRumors · Jan 10, 2006

As readers digest all the announcements from Apple at Macworld San Francisco, we've noted a few interesting tidbits:

- Steve Jobs announced that Apple's entire product line will be transitioned to Intel in 2006. This is earlier than previously announced at WWDC 2005. Jobs notes that over the coming months we will hear announcements as each product line is transitioned. All by the end of this calendar year.

- MacBook Pro naming. Steve Jobs: "It's a new name because we're kinda done with Power and because we want Mac in the name of our products." This would imply that the MacBook name may not only replace the PowerBook but the iBook as well. Also raises some questions about the continued use of the "PowerMac" name.

- Phil Schiller maintains that Apple will not prevent users from booting Windows on the new machines, though no first hand reports whether or not this is easily accomplishable.

“That’s fine with us. We don’t mind,” Schiller said. “If there are people who love our hardware but are forced to put up with a Windows world, then that’s OK.”

ahmurphy7 · Jan 10, 2006

MacBook

The 'MacBook' name isn't nearly as marketable as 'PowerBook'

macosxuser01 · Jan 10, 2006

I guessing by spring or early summer the powerbooks will be a thing the past.
say goodbye to powerbooks and ibooks and PowerPC

arn · Jan 10, 2006

Seems MacBook must replace both the iBook and PowerBook over time.

iBook -> MacBook
PowerBook -> MacBook Pro

arn

macosxuser01 · Jan 10, 2006

ahmurphy7 said:
The 'MacBook' name isn't nearly as marketable as 'PowerMac'

ture but does the name really matter. its not like apple could of called it intelbook

cheapnis · Jan 11, 2006

- Phil Schiller maintains that Apple will not prevent users from booting Windows on the new machines, though no first hand reports whether or not this is easily accomplishable.

extremely sensible attitude and one that will surely bring a lot of people who would otherwise be doubtful over from the darkside

How would partitioning and disk formatting work though?

technicolor · Jan 11, 2006

Will you be able to run OS X on a PC now?

technicolor · Jan 11, 2006

arn said:
Seems MacBook must replace both the iBook and PowerBook over time.

iBook -> MacBook
PowerBook -> MacBook Pro

arn

That is exactlywhat I was thinking.

But what are they going to call the Power Mac?

AndrewMT · Jan 11, 2006

Since the intel iMacs are shipping today, I'm hoping that someone will test them for dual booting pretty soon. I am particularly intersted in intel iMac and Macbook's video game performance under Windows, because the only reason I put up with my Windows PC is the game library.

Unfortunately, Apple went with the X1600 for their first "Pro" intel laptop, instead of the much more powerful Nvidia Geforce Go 7800 (or even the 6800), which can be found in most professional Windows laptop's (including Dell, with the magnificently powerful XPS laptop).

iMeowbot · Jan 11, 2006

cheapnis said:
How would partitioning and disk formatting work though?

We'll find out when the hardware ships

Even booting may (or may not) be a problem, depending on what EFI options they have included.

technicolor said:
Will you be able to run OS X on a PC now?

People are already doing that

Right now, the version of OS X that you can buy (without a Mac) is still only for PowerPC, so doing that would still be against their license agreement (though I'm sure people will think of loopholes).

macosxuser01 · Jan 11, 2006

sense apple switch to intel will there be more games available for OS X?
Call of Duty 2 for mac

Battlefield 2 for mac

Counter-Strike for mac

Nermal · Jan 11, 2006

cheapnis said:
How would partitioning and disk formatting work though?

I'm expecting someone to come up with a "loader" that emulates the necessary BIOS calls (there is no BIOS in the Intel Macs, and Windows needs one) and kicks off the installation for you. Take a look at XPostFacto - it allows you to run OS X on OldWorld computers. I think the same sort of thing will appear for running Windows on Intel Macs.

macosxuser01 said:
sense apple switch to intel will there be more games available for OS X?
Call of Duty 2 for mac

Already on its way, from Aspyr

puuukeey · Jan 11, 2006

not that it matters at all. but I always thought putting power before anything was a bit... well... 80s action figure-esque

SUPER ULTRA MEGA POWER BOOK TRON 2000!!!!!

/as usual I'm unhappy to see apple taking over more of a computer users life alla blank casts. as if it didn't dominate my life enough already

k28 · Jan 11, 2006

how about iMac

If iBook change to MacBook, wouldn't it be odd that iMac is only product that has "i"?

I think iBook will not get the new name. There is only 2 way of products name that i can think of...

1st - keep "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro
Notebook - iBook, MacBook Pro

2nd - get rid of the "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, Mac(odd?), Mac Pro
Notebook - MacBook, MacBook Pro

What do you think?

dangerding · Jan 11, 2006

this about says it all....

http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=Y3xKhLlhzfM&l=124&eurl=&t=Jobs

Trowaman · Jan 11, 2006

k28 said:
If iBook change to MacBook, wouldn't it be odd that iMac is only product that has "i"?

I think iBook will not get the new name. There is only 2 way of products name that i can think of...

1st - keep "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro
Notebook - iBook, MacBook Pro

2nd - get rid of the "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, Mac(odd?), Mac Pro
Notebook - MacBook, MacBook Pro

What do you think?

I agree with your first solution. I really doubt "iBook" is going anywhere. If it does it'd keep the "i"

iMac to-go
iMacBook
iMac Mini

macosxuser01 · Jan 11, 2006

k28 said:
If iBook change to MacBook, wouldn't it be odd that iMac is only product that has "i"?

I think iBook will not get the new name. There is only 2 way of products name that i can think of...

1st - keep "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro
Notebook - iBook, MacBook Pro

2nd - get rid of the "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, Mac(odd?), Mac Pro
Notebook - MacBook, MacBook Pro

What do you think?

they wouldn't just leave it Mac. there going to keep it iMac. what will they do to PowerMac. Its going to be wired saying MacBook Pro it needs to be easy to say fast like powerbook. if ibook is chang to MacBook people will be confuse when talking to people because people say things in slag and in short. like we don't say iPod shuffle we say "you got a shuffle".
we don't say Powermac G5 we say "can you help fix my powermac"
do u get the picture

wasimyaqoob · Jan 11, 2006

Should be good, but i dont like the name 'MacBook' just doesnt have the same sound 'oh yeah look what i bought, a POWERBOOK/MacBook' PowerBook just sounds so much better. As regards to the Intel chips, Ok yes fair enough, creating a new laptop thats faster than the G4 yes, but when they say 4x faster they are comparing the PowerPC G4 BASEMODEL with the Intel Dual Core top end model which is why is comes at 4x and you will only notice these dramtic changes when you are doing something like video rendering etc.... so for the everyday user PowerPC G4 was fine but ah well.... I dont like Intel

kugino · Jan 11, 2006

a woman at macworld today asked one of the apple workers who were helping with the macbook pro demos whether windows could be installed...and the apple guy said, "we're not allowed to comment on that..." so i joked that that means, "yes". and he smiled.

even though it's probably doable, i sure wouldn't want windows ruining my nice macbook pro!

dantec · Jan 11, 2006

k28 said:
If iBook change to MacBook, wouldn't it be odd that iMac is only product that has "i"?

I think iBook will not get the new name. There is only 2 way of products name that i can think of...

1st - keep "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro
Notebook - iBook, MacBook Pro

2nd - get rid of the "i"
Desktop - Mac mini, Mac(odd?), Mac Pro
Notebook - MacBook, MacBook Pro

What do you think?

I've been pondering this all day. I think the iBook & iMac names will be the last to go though. Apple will probably hold onto them for a couple of years. They hold so much market value. And a lot of PC users often mistake iMac for Apple (e.g. "Oh so how is that new iMac mp3 thingamagiger", "I like your iMac laptop..." *bangs head on wall*)

The powermac is pretty much a done deal though. That will definitively become Mac Pro to mirror the 'product matrix' Steve set up for apple when he first joined in 1997 - then again Steve has deviated from his own matrix strategy (Powermac Cube, Mac mini).

Mac(odd?)

Would it really be odd? The iMac in many ways is much like the original Mac (both have a simple attractive innovative all in one design, both were machines that pushed apple into an era of prosperity - well the first one did for a while

, both brought upon revolutions (desktop publishing/homevideo))

Who knows, maybe they decide to change the name at the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh.

---

On another note, is it just me or does MacBook Pro just sound stupid? I much prefer Powerbook...

Edit: Then again when I first heard iPod, I thought it was the most retarded name on earth. It didn't turn out so bad

macosxuser01 · Jan 11, 2006

dangerding said:
http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=Y3xKhLlhzfM&l=124&eurl=&t=Jobs

lol. but wtf

so apple going using Intel processors means there going to the darkside??? Ok how about this, who here would rather have a Powerbook G4 when the Mac Book Pro is 4x faster then the current powermac right now. people make no sense. did anybody watch the when they compare the power per watt at the keynote???

http://macworld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/mw/index.html

ChrisH3677 · Jan 11, 2006

Steve said "We want Mac in the name of our products". You can't get much clearer than that - the iBook is going. iMac already has a "Mac" in it so it will stay.

Really simple.

robotx21 · Jan 11, 2006

I can see it now. Go into a general computer repair store.

"Hi, can you fix my Mac Book?"
"You're what?"
"My Mac Book"
"What's a Mac Book?"
"You know, the apple laptops?"
"Oh, you mean powerbook"
"No, Mac Book."
"What the **** is a Mac Book?!"
"THE NEW APPLE LAPTOPS!"
"Sorry, I don't know what a Mac Book is. We only fix powerbooks and ibooks."
"Moron...*sigh*"
"Mac Book...*sigh*"

The Man · Jan 11, 2006

I already proposed the change just before the announcement in an earlier thread

"iPod
iPod nano
iPod shuffle
iPod whatever

iMac
Mac mini
Mac pro
Mac whatever (HDTV, etc)

MacBook
MacBook mini
MacBook pro

iMac would be the exception (instead of simply Mac) because when we talk about Mac, we also talk about the Mac platform."

I thought, however, that the designation would go lower case like the iPods, but apparently Apple went with Pro. Somebody proposed that Apple use Express for consumer line, but I think it's not that catchy. Mac Express, MacBook Express. Some say use Home, but that's not right either, because what if it's used at school? No, Apple will keep it simple like the iPod

macosxuser01 · Jan 11, 2006

they should of just left it powermac and ibook. i think steve jobs made it MacBook Pro so that no one got confused. apple has a good reason changing the name 'power' because 'power' was used in most of computers when apple switch to powerpc in mid 90s. thats how apple got powermac from and powerbook

Intel Transition, MacBook Name, and Windows on Mac?

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