Macintosh Moving to Intel Processors [Updated]

[alep85]

I'm no investment guru but this is the worst strategy I've ever heard. A day! Investments are longhaul affairs. Gambling is the only thing that happens in the short term.

Look buddy, I've paid for my college with investing, so you shouldn't talk like you're Warren Buffet. I have been an investor in Apple for well over a year, so it's not like I'm one to pull out quickly. As for Apple, I think we're seeing scared investors pulling out. Within a day or so they should be gone, so I'll really get to analyze the aftermath from that point. Another thing that will be interesting is to see Analyst Reviews on the stock in the next few days, whether more downgrade it to Hold or even Sell. I have a good number of shares in Apple, so, unlike you, I would rather move those in the next few days to something that will profit quicker (AKA Pay for My College) rather than sit like an old fart and watch my money piss down the drain waiting for a return that may never come.

 

[Sirus The Virus]

I'll bet Apple wishes they could erase this from their past:

http://www.theapplecollection.com/Collection/AppleMovies/mov/snail.mov

LOL

 

[aap]

what about my mac??

Grrr, I had just bought a 3000 euro powermac g5 a few weeks ago. Wat does this switch mean to me now? I can't see Software developers developing software for both chipsets for a very long time That would be a waste of money. Is Maya 7.5 still going to be PowerPC ready? Don't tell me that I will have to use an emulator in two years time to run any new software. If that will be the case I will sue Apple. It will anyway mean that there will be less software developed for todays Powerpcbased macs, or am I wrong there?

In support this move by Apple, but they better not turn their backs on their PPC customers!

 

[iMeowbot]

IWhat I wonder about though is where this leaves us PPC users... Plenty has been stated about Rosetta translating PPC apps to x86 on-the-fly; but what about the reverse? Once new MacTel apps begin appearing will they be translated for PPC computers on-the-fly as well? Or will this become another case of forced obsolecence? The latter would be foolish unless Apple wants to kill it's computer sales for the next year and a half.

Think about it. Why on earth would software vendors lock themselves out of the installed base? The majority of Macs will still have PPC in them for a long time after the intel-based units ship. You won't need translation in that direction.

 

[Eric_Z]

Investment? A computer is not an investment.

Are you trying to be flippant?

Of course it's an investment just like you going to buy a hammer is an investment. The only problem is that now it's been decided that everyone should use screws instead...

 

[Zigster]

Fortune favors the brave, Apple has done what it should have done years back, ditched Motorola and IBM. Does it not speak volumes that Apple have offered nothing for two years, 3Ghz G5 is still not here 18 months on from when it was promised, Powerbooks are stagnated with ANCIENT technology, the Mac Mini was just a cheap Mac full of all their dated crap. The only good news Apple has these days is iPod and even that is starting to flounder.

This was a decision that needed taking and I for one applaud the Apple board for having the balls to take it.
This guys' got it right. For the next two years, reduced sales. After that -

LONGHORN IS IN TROUBLE! That's right, Apple will have 20-25% market share of computers sold...

 

[zelmo]

All I want to know is:

Are the current versions of my software going to work on these new, crap processors?

Is the G5 development over - is 2.7 all we're getting?

This better not eff me in the wallet software-wise if I decide to buy a new Appletel machine.

And if they put one Intel sticker on the case of any Apple machine, I'm done, OS or not.

Current PPC software is allegedly going to run on the InteliMac using the Rosetta emulation software with little to no performance hit.

I'd imagine there willl be damn little in the way of processor advancement in the PPC line from here on out. Are you going to miss the next 0.2GHz speedbump?

Why would it bite your wallet? Your PPC copy of Adobe CS2 will run on the InteliMac under Rosetta.

Intel stickers will be relegated to the shipping box and manuals. Steve is much too enamoured with design integrity and aesthetics to ever put a sticker on a computer.

 

[quackattack]

I think it's a bit sad, but nostalgia won't make my next Mac run faster.

Very well put!

 

[Takeo]

I just hope my next museum-like all-white iMac doesn't have an Intel Inside sticker on it... LOL.

 

[weezer160]

I am thoroughly...

...shocked.

I really don't know what to think. It's like finding out that your dad or mom really isn't your mom, but it's someone you've been harking because of an apparent defect and you've turned out be misinformed. Yeah, a little betrayed I feel (no, I'm not related to Yoda), but excited. I got sick of empty promises and vaporware from IBM and we haven't even been with them two full years!

 

[Kid Red]

-No more speed issues.
-Price should come down, meaning no more price issues.
-easier to write programs for, or for ports to be made. Means more apps for the mac
-Intel is huge, which means no more supply issues.
-Intel is faster, which means more mhz increases more often.

I really don't see an negative other then from the close minded faithful. We have been hating Intel all these years and now we are sleeping with the enemy. I've never hated Intel, only M$. So, to me, I'll still have my pretty mac, awesome OS X, and all the apps I've been using, and the mac will be faster, and cheaper. How is that bad?

Yes, i will be waiting for the 1st gen, well, maybe rev2, of the mac Intel next year. I was going to get a G5 this fall, but hell, I'll wait for this next bad boy.

 

[gloubibou]

Guess that's why

Guess that's why they have developer machines available right now, but consumer machines still a year away. I guess the developer will make their hands on plain Pentiums. The new processor will be announced next WWDC.

I'll be there!

 

[FoxyKaye]

THAT if anything would kill off Apple totally. They make a LOT of money on hardware... How many 3k machines do you think they would sell if Dell pumped out machines for $399?

Well that's the point - Apple would transition out of the hardware business if this would happen. OTOH, if I had a choice between operating systems at the time of purchase (and I'm not talking just between WinXP Home and WinXP Professional - or whatever their Longhorn equivalents would be), knowing how much of the Windows world is beleagured by viruii, spyware, etc. I'd assuredly pick OS X. It strikes me that Windows is so expensive precisely because M$ doesn't sell hardware - presumably Apple would do the same and increase the cost of the OS to the end user.

Incidentally, I don't buy the drivers argument - Apple has always been stringent in the stuff it supports, meaning third-party hardware producers will still need to create their own drivers on a hypothetical generic PC running OS X.

Then again, if Apple systems could compete with that $399 Dell running Windows, Apple has no reason to open the OS to the general PC populace. Hopefully that's what the switch to Intel now will mean.

 

[jaw04005]

A few random thoughts...

I know Apple needs to contact their software developers before a major transition occurs, however how can this announcment not stagnate current hardware sales?

Who is going to purchase a new iBook or PowerBook in the next year? Only those that absolutely need a "new" Mac notebook.

Anyone see Jobs on CNBC? Jobs appeared extremely flustered. Everything he said in the interview was very broad, and he wasn't his usual "this is cool, this is awesome" self.

I don't care what Steve said, a program that is run in an emulated environment will never perform as well or be as stable as a program that is ran natively.

I feel the most sorry for the group of people who just purchased new $3,000 PowerMac G5's. It really sucks that future software will most likely not be optimized for the G5.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Actually in real-time quotes:
AAPL -.35

And it's going down as I'm talking. I think I'm gonna have to sell my shares, although it breaks my heart to remove an investment in a company I sincerely believe in . I simply can't lose money just because I like them. I'll wade it out for a day, and if it keeps dipping, sorry Apple.

It's people like you that people like me make money off of. Thanks!

 

[Agathon]

I really don't understand how this announcement is any different from a situation in which Steve would announce a Cell based G6 (or whatever) based CPU system.

The reason that it is different is that people who don't realize that it is in essence no difference are moaning because they think there is one.

The difference is mostly in perception. I imagine mac sales will go down a but until the intel machines come out. People will wait to upgrade.

 

[365]

Actually the brave move was going with IBM and Moto when the rest of the world went intel. Did it work? That's debatable.

This to me is a bit of a cop out. Either we are getting saddled with a sluggish processor or Apple has been lying to us all these years about the mhz myth. I don't like either scenario.

Is anyone else concerned that intel's chip development has stagnated?

"Did it work?" The fact that Apple have switched to Intel answers your question.

The only things selling at the moment are Mac Mini and iPod. I bought a new Powerbook six weeks back because I simply couldn't wait any longer, being forced to buy dated technology is more annoying to me, was it Apple's fault? Well you could argue they made the wrong call but if IBM was selling them a load of bollcoks about 3Ghz within 6 months etc.. then I'd say they were duped.

Think how much free marketing IBM gained from bringing Apple on board, smart move that, I only hope they now pay becuase of the humiliation of having the computer industries darling dump them.

 

[Stella]

Are you trying to be flippant?

Of course it's an investment just like you going to buy a hammer is an investment. The only problem is that now it's been decided that everyone should use screws instead...

Your new Mac isn't going to stop working at midnight. You'll still be using it in 2 years time.

For a LONG WHILE there will be more PPC machines than Intel, thus software will be available for PPC osx platform for a while yet.

People are overacting regarding the life time of the PPC machine. I bought a PB in February.. am I worried? Nope, plenty of support and software to come. By the time i'll want to replace my Mac, the Intel transition will be well under way.

 

[logical001]

You will find OSX being pushed onto Dell Machines in the not too distant - hacked or otherwise. Apple are not going to deny themselves the ability to install OSX onto a regular PC (market share says that). What you may find is custom motherboards / PC's for those that need slightly more performance which they will call a Powermac !!

I guess the reason people are sore is we just lost something that makes a Mac that bit more special!

 

[Dr.Gargoyle]

Current PPC software is allegedly going to run on the InteliMac using the Rosetta emulation software with little to no performance hit.

I'd imagine there willl be damn little in the way of processor advnaacement in the PPC line from here on out. Are you going to miss the next 0.2GHz speedbump?

Why would it bite your wallet? Your PPC copy of Adobe CS2 will run on the InteliMac under Rosetta.

Intel stickers will be relegaated to the shipping box and manuals. Steve is too much enamoured with design aesthetics to ever put a sticker on a computer.

The big question is whether OSX x86 software will run on PPC. If not then PPC is dead in the water

 

[bankshot]

I must admit that I didn't believe any of the rumors. It seemed too far fetched, and too many times, I've seen the same rumor circulate around a bunch of different sites. People read it on multiple sites and list that as "confirmation" of its truth, when usually it's the same incorrect rumor being repeated. Not this time!

Wow.

At the end of the day, I really don't care what's inside as long as the software is good (that means OS X ). Rosetta sounds very interesting. I've always read that it's very difficult to get any kind of speed when emulating PPC on an x86 because of differences in the registers. Something about PPC has a ton more registers and x86 takes a huge penalty trying to swap data in and out all the time when emulating that. So maybe they found a clever way around that problem??

My question is about the reverse case: emulating x86 on PPC. Will we get for free as well? If I buy a new PPC Mac sometime this year, will it run the inevitable Intel-only apps that'll come out in a few years? Or am I out of luck?

Obviously the technology to do this exists, in Virtual PC. Will Apple have something similar to support existing machines? I feel that if they don't, sales could really tank over the next year as people realize new PPC machines would have a very limited lifespan. Or will Apple encourage developers to make fat binaries for the next 5-7 years? Or even make it impossible to have an Intel-compiled OS X app without equivalent PPC code in there?? What's Apple doing to make sure those of us with PPC don't have to ditch our machines prematurely?

Any thoughts?

What an interesting day....

 

[nms]

I've read all the posts, yet no-one has answered the sole question of:

Mhz Myth?

EDIT: sorry i've just realised that no-one knows the answer, but i thought i'd ask anyways...

 

[MacTruck]

If apple has been running a dual OSX team for x86 for 5 yrs then why isn't OSX for x86 available for all right now. Only developers get that? If it only takes 2 days to convert a program from PPC to x86 like they showed in the keynote why don't we have them now? 2 yrs? Come one. More Tech BS.

 

[tokevino]

I think this is a good thing to Apple and to all of us.

Here are some thoughts, without particular order:

1. Apple would die if they do not make the switch because PPC is falling behind on horsepower for more than a year now.

2. Intel has the best mobile chip Pentium M, which is a much needed product for Apple mobile products. These Pentium M chips are fast enough to beat a lot of today's Desktop CPUs.

3. Apple does not betray us. It should be said "IBM has failed Apple."

4. Intel's Pentium D (Dual Core) is there already.

5. This is not a nightmare at all; rather, Apple has just saved itself from a nightmare.

6. Today's Keynote showed that Steve Jobs has this day in mind ever since the very first version of Mac OS X.

 

[d.perel]

I am CONFUSED

Sorry for being the average joe who can't comprehend 5th grade writing, but what exactly does this mean for PowerPC users? Does this transition officially state that by 2007, I will not be able to get any new software for either of my 2 PowerMacs I purchased in the last year? Will Apple use Intel chips in ALL of its computers and completely drop IBM? Any valiant Knight of Knowledge, please help!