PowerPC owners feeling 'abandoned' ?

[macgeek18]

I don't feel abandoned in the least.

The transition to the Intel CPUs was made 5 years ago now, so about a billion years ago in TechYears. Anyone using a machine for serious work/production likely has an upgrade schedule that would have them getting a new machine within a 5 year span. 5 years should be enough time to set aside ~$1000 bucks for a laptop upgrade, especially when the prices of these machines have actually come down/stayed the same since the transition.

Not to mention, as someone who was anxiously waiting for the G5 PowerBook, (ha remember that one?) the intel CPUs have been a great move and absolutely a key in the success Apple has had in the recent years (along with the iPod/iPhone).

For me personally, I still have a 15inch PB that I loaned to a roommate. And even though my most current machine is the latest refresh of the MBP 15inch that I bought 6 months ago, I still pull out my 12inch PB to use on a weekly basis. Love that little guy.

If you have a need to run Snow Leopard or anything that runs only on the Intel architecture, then you have a need to upgrade, simply put. Otherwise, get the most usage you can from what you have until you need to upgrade.

Well, what about us users that can only afford G4's for the last 2 years? I wanted to switch to Mac after using an Intel iMac for work. But some of us can't afford a new Mac Mini or intel mac in general and got stuck with G4's because they are cheap. Then Apple abandoned us.

 

[gameface]

Well, what about us users that can only afford G4's for the last 2 years? I wanted to switch to Mac after using an Intel iMac for work. But some of us can't afford a new Mac Mini or intel mac in general and got stuck with G4's because they are cheap. Then Apple abandoned us.

If you can't afford $500 for a computer (used mini or macbook) I don't think you should be using macs. And yes, you can find intel macs for that low and under that work way better than a G4 from what, 2004? Just saying.

 

[eawmp1]

Well, what about us users that can only afford G4's for the last 2 years? I wanted to switch to Mac after using an Intel iMac for work. But some of us can't afford a new Mac Mini or intel mac in general and got stuck with G4's because they are cheap. Then Apple abandoned us.

You switched platforms AFTER the Intel switch and are now complaining about it? You made a choice, but you have only yourself to blame.

This wasn't a processor upgrade, but a complete switch of processor architecture. The resources to code for both PPC and Intel processors could not continue to be used. I still have an iMac G4 and G5. The G4 runs Tiger fine, but with the increasing demands of video/Flash on the internet it gets bogged down. The G5 runs leopard just fine. I, however, don't expect Apple to continue to release new OS's that will run on my older machines.

 

[venomz]

Well, what about us users that can only afford G4's for the last 2 years? I wanted to switch to Mac after using an Intel iMac for work. But some of us can't afford a new Mac Mini or intel mac in general and got stuck with G4's because they are cheap. Then Apple abandoned us.

You bought into the platform after it had already depreciated and as such, you don't really have a leg to stand on when making such complaints.

Besides, like the other poster said, if you can't afford to save up for a couple of months and buy a mac mini and are borderline destitute, maybe you should focus on things other than buying computer hardware.

the major disappointment with the switch to intel was not actually the use of intel processors , the major disappointment came a bit later
since the first OSX apple was working on getting OSX run on pc's
and OSX tiger does run on both PPC and intel without any problem , leopard as much as i hate it did the same it run on PPC and intel , only snow leopard was made only to run on intel and thats where i ask WHY ? it was basically a kick in the lower regions for people who had bought a POWERMAC G5 just prior the switch in 2006 , thats when my PowerMac g5 dual core 2.3 was shipped 8/2006 to its original owner (company)who did pay a lot of money for it and then they could upgrade from tiger to leopard and then just when apple care ended 8/2009
they got told sorry but snow leopard or any newer OS we will make will not run on that old thing ..that was the date when this PowerMac with 15 others was stored in the warehouse to gather dust ,as i traced the company who originally owned it which went bankrupt shortly after they had to buy new MacPros ,because the software they had been using and they did need to upgrade to the newest version was made for snow leopard only 14 brothers of my PowerMac got sold during the insolvency , but mine because he had some scratches was left behind , and the company who bought the warehouse had no use for it either (windows fans) left it where it was until i delivered a parcel there and saw that poor thing in the corner full of dust (actually more inside then outside )

so my PowerMac is really angry with apple , because he was working perfectly only had some scratches , but apple said he is to old to work and thats why he was dumped in a dusty cold warehouse

Computers don't get angry, they just get old.

 

[MacHamster68]

i switched to Mac because of OSX and because of OS9 ,and because i did think different , i did not want a modern design on my desk ,the old design which was in my opinion far more beautiful then the new unibody design , my first Mac was a eMac 1.42 which has in my opinion a far better design then the unibodys with their boring grey slim shape ,before the eMac i had a brandnew dell which i run with linux , because since vista was introduced i did not touch windows any more ,
and i specifically did want OSX tiger as i find its the most advanced version of osx that still offers classic support and apple talk , which means back then apple did still care about their heritage and isn't overfilled with gadgets like leopard /snow leopard
i dont need a OS that looks like disney world at night , god i would not even mind a OS without GUI as long as it runs fast
ok i understand the majority of Mac users today dont even know that there is a terminal in the utility folder , and that something i am totally confused about how someone can buy a computer without even having basic knowledge
yes i know i am a grumpy old man who grew up with a commodore pet and a vc64 and sx 64 and sometimes i miss these old days, and then i unpack my sx 64 and play a bit asteroids

 

[MacHamster68]

Computers don't get angry, they just get old.

interesting comment ...if they get old , and some can even die , means they are living , and every living creature can get angry

 

[Irishman]

Well, what about us users that can only afford G4's for the last 2 years? I wanted to switch to Mac after using an Intel iMac for work. But some of us can't afford a new Mac Mini or intel mac in general and got stuck with G4's because they are cheap. Then Apple abandoned us.

Mac Mini, my friend.

They're more capable than you might think.

Go to your Apple store and play with one. See for yourself.

And the price thing? Yes, as someone else said, Macs have always commanded a premium. This was true when you bought your first one. Unless you've always bought used, sub-$500 Macs. In which case, you shouldn't be complaining about not being able to run Apple's latest and greatest OS.

 

[MacHamster68]

If you can't afford $500 for a computer (used mini or macbook) I don't think you should be using macs. And yes, you can find intel macs for that low and under that work way better than a G4 from what, 2004? Just saying.

hmm interesting , that means you need to be privileged or fortunate enough to have a high income , we live in a world today where people are forced to work for a living , some have even to work hard to just make a basic living means to get food on the table , and if you cant afford to safe up for a intel Mac ,because the roof over your head , the transport that brings you to work and maybe feeding wife and kids are more important (for some these things come first despite they love Mac's ) then you do not deserve a Mac at all ?

 

[gameface]

hmm interesting , that means you need to be privileged or fortunate enough to have a high income , we live in a world today where people are forced to work for a living , some have even to work hard to just make a basic living , and if you cant afford to safe up for a intel Mac ,because the roof over your head , the transport that brings you to work and maybe feeding wife and kids are more important (for some these things come first despite they love Mac's ) then you do not deserve a Mac at all ?

Ugh, that is absolutely what I am saying. I can't afford a ****ing Porsche but do you see me crying about it? Maybe they should have thought about their priorities of having nice toys before they decided to bring children into this world that they obviously can't afford if $500 over the course of a year is unobtainable. I take it you're a socialist and want us to help them buy their shiny mac?

I had a Powerbook for 7 years. Why, because I couldn't afford to replace it. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I was stable enough to upgrade to Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro. Was I online whining that my G4 wasn't upgradable to SL? No I didn't. People need to harden the **** up and realize the world doesn't owe them ****.

 

[tom vilsack]

I think adobe just helped to slowly kill are ppc...no lastest version of flash...intel only :-(

looks like version 10,1,102,64 is the last for us...

as i use my mini mainly for web im sure it wont be long before a page says unable to load..please download lastest flash...errrrrrr

 

[mabaker]

I think adobe just helped to slowly kill are ppc...no lastest version of flash...intel only :-(

looks like version 10,1,102,64 is the last for us...

as i use my mini mainly for web im sure it wont be long before a page says unable to load..please download lastest flash...errrrrrr

YouTube still works perfectly with Flash 7 as far as I know.

 

[skinniezinho]

YouTube still works perfectly with Flash 7 as far as I know.

youtube is not the web..what I care less is about youtube..

 

[MacHamster68]

Ugh, that is absolutely what I am saying. I can't afford a ****ing Porsche but do you see me crying about it? Maybe they should have thought about their priorities of having nice toys before they decided to bring children into this world that they obviously can't afford if $500 over the course of a year is unobtainable. I take it you're a socialist and want us to help them buy their shiny mac?

didn't think so far but now as you said it .. why are you and the other wealthy not donating your intel iMac's and mini's when you buy a new one to the less fortunate in life , instead of selling it on ebay for the high resell value

and if apple stops support completely ...
an there are other who do support us , morph os springs in mind it is made for G4 Mac's today
..Motto Think better think PPC ... and most bugs are sorted out since version 2.7 , after all its a OS still in constant development for PPC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MorphOS


and its not much more expensive then a old leopard disc with scratches

 

[chrismacguy]

didn't think so far but now as you said it .. why are you and the other wealthy not donating your intel iMac's and mini's when you buy a new one to the less fortunate in life , instead of selling it on ebay for the high resell value

They wont because once a jerk always a jerk. (I regularly refurbish G4s for Charity - although I do admit I am incredibly fortunate to have my Mac Pro and MacBook Air, both of which are necessary, but I couldve lived without if I absolutely had too).

 

[VanneDC]

The PPC is a great platform, always has been, and always will be in my eyes anyways.

I use my older macs for doing things my new macs cant, for example, playing PPC games... Wolfenstien and Quake and many, many other great PPC games spring to mind..

I also tend to use it for doing the the things it does great. For example, i use my PPC 1.5ghz mini as my home entertainment center hooked up to my plasma.. Works great for Divx and skype and any other crap ive thrown at it..

Just because it doesnt run Snowy, doesnt mean its useless...

i hope she has many, many years left in her... I also use my G5 PM for playing Homeworld 2... kicks the **** out of any intel lappy ive tried to play it on..

running the greatest and latest apps doesnt always mean increased productivity... I still regularly use older versions of Photoshop, cos i know how to do stuff in that, where-as i would be re-learing stuff for days on the latest version


Just remember, have fun it whatever your doing, if you find your not, try changing something

 

[MacHamster68]

by the way under morph os watching youtube videos in HD is possible without frame drops on a Mac MINI G4 and streamed not downloaded before playing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54qYHeXhPvI

ok i wont give up on tiger because of classic , but i will certainly install Morph OS too instead of leopard as i dont want to slow down my G4 Mac's if there is a way of speeding them up and make them up to date, i mean still way cheaper then any intel Mac and leopard cost money too , and what is a better way of recycling and going green ..aluminium is not really environmentally friendly to produce so giving your G4 Mac mini or eMac maybe 5 -10 years longer live surely helps the environment

 

[VanneDC]

MacHammy,

mate, iam really interested to know how you find MorphOS as i looked at that a couple of years ago while still in early dev. Coming from the AmigaOS base i would expect good things from them. Also thier Gui looks clean and tidy.. (kinda reminds me of BeOS underneath the hood)

so plese let me know how you find Morp... Id be interested to find how it goes now

cheers

 

[MacHamster68]

MacHammy,

mate, iam really interested to know how you find MorphOS as i looked at that a couple of years ago while still in early dev. Coming from the AmigaOS base i would expect good things from them. Also thier Gui looks clean and tidy.. (kinda reminds me of BeOS underneath the hood)

so plese let me know how you find Morp... Id be interested to find how it goes now

cheers

i have so far tested only the demo and up to the point when it slows down dramatically after 30 minutes it runs fantastic and some of it reminds me of tiger , the simple feel , you know like if you go and buy a jacket and it just fits and feels like made especially for you , thats how i feel about tiger and morph os comes close to that feeling , while leopard does not feel like it was made for my PPC Mac's , sure it would run , but having tested morph os demo i have seen there is much more potential in these old Mac's as apple wants us to know about
here watch a another youtube about it dont forget to watch part 2 of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TomrykR0AIc

especially the boot time is just amazing , its like morph OS had thrown out the HDD and replaced it with a ssd ( i tested it on one of my eMac 1.42's with 2gb ram but ati 9200 its a overclocked 1.25, did not notice it )

 

[mabaker]

i have so far tested only the demo and up to the point when it slows down dramatically after 30 minutes it runs fantastic and some of it reminds me of tiger , the simple feel , you know like if you go and buy a jacket and it just fits and feels like made especially for you , thats how i feel about tiger and morph os comes close to that feeling , while leopard does not feel like it was made for my PPC Mac's , sure it would run , but having tested morph os demo i have seen there is much more potential in these old Mac's as apple wants us to know about
here watch a another youtube about it dont forget to watch part 2 of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TomrykR0AIc

especially the boot time is just amazing , its like morph OS had thrown out the HDD and replaced it with a ssd ( i tested it on one of my eMac 1.42's with 2gb ram and 64mb vram )

This is impressive.

 

[macgeek18]

If you can't afford $500 for a computer (used mini or macbook) I don't think you should be using macs. And yes, you can find intel macs for that low and under that work way better than a G4 from what, 2004? Just saying.

Wow.. You know I didn't even have a job till not even a year ago and when I switched to Mac Intel Mac's were still way more expensive than I could afford. So I bought a PM G4. For $100 that's not bad. Yeah and those who can't afford good mac's should still be aloud to have them. That is a very rich spoiled comment. Thanks from all of us not as fortunate as you...I still can only afford an 07 MBP. Some people have more priorities than computers.

You bought into the platform after it had already depreciated and as such, you don't really have a leg to stand on when making such complaints.

Besides, like the other poster said, if you can't afford to save up for a couple of months and buy a mac mini and are borderline destitute, maybe you should focus on things other than buying computer hardware.

You know, I do that's the reason I still use 10 year old computers!

 

[MacHamster68]

just another thing that was going through my mind ,
if apple did want to go intel fair enough its their right to decide what processors they want to use and if they want to use via processor in the future then so be it , but just creating a new OS and force people basically to upgrade to new hardware if they want this new OS is not really fair , as all the G3/G4/G5 Mac's still work some even more reliable then the intel Mac's , it would have been really easy for Apple to create maybe something like a snow leopard starter edition to run on PPC , windows does exact that with their win 7 starter edition for low end hardware in netbooks and nettops , ubuntu does it with the netbook edition
apple could have even kept the eMac or Mini G4 in production as a real entry model , in the eMac its proven it is stable to overclock to 1.8 ghz , or they could have fitted a freescale G4 inside and if they liked ,a simple lcd display for reduced powerconsumption in the eMac and used the iMac G5 case , the hardware had been there ready to be used
i mean its proven that the freescale G4 7448 despite being a single core can keep up with the core duos and the data sounds good too
The PowerPC 7448 "Apollo 8" is an evolution of the PowerPC 7447A announced at the first Freescale Technology Forum in June 2005. Improvements were higher clock rates (up to 2 GHz), a larger 1 MB L2 cache, a faster 200 MHz front side bus, and lower power consumption (18 W at 1.7 GHz)
if they would have done that, support for PPC would never have to stop
because if, then even the latest versions of any software would still run on these PowerMac's
as Morph OS proves if the OS is made especially for the hardware its running on then there is no need to upgrade the hardware and apple had the knowledge to and would not even needed more resources , they could it under tiger and could do it under leopard running on two different architectures
and it would have been a achievement to be proud of from apple if they could say our snow leopard still runs on 7 year old hardware and can easy keep up with atom based or amd neo based nettops and are not far of from the performance of dual cores
and it would not stop people who can afford to spend thousands on a computer to buy 27" i7 iMac's or a MacPro or intel mini if they want or need to if they need that bit more performance
and there had been people out there in 2005 too who did have to save up a year or 2 before they could buy a new eMac or a new mini , and these people had been really proud to own a Mac even if it was a low end one , and the peole who had to safe up a year every cent that was left over did not plan that they have ancient hardware in 3 years time that only gets half lackadaisical support with the constant thread of support stop

 

[chrismacguy]

it would have been really easy for Apple to create maybe something like a snow leopard starter edition to run on PPC , windows does exact that with their win 7 starter edition for low end hardware in netbooks and nettops

The fact you said that proves you dont have a solid understanding of computer science. Microsoft is able to create Windows 7 Starter edition, because all the netbook CPUs, and the latest i7s share a single instruction set (x86_64 these days, and x86 previously), so there is only 1 set of code to load the OS, build up the APIs etc. When Apple was maintaining both Intel and PowerPC builds, they were not only dealing with 2 wholly different instruction sets (some things Intel has cannot be done natively on PowerPC, and some things PowerPC has, such as AltiVec, cannot be done natively on Intel), but several ways of even talking to the hardware (Booting from Open Firmware is an absolute nightmare, as any PPC Linux developers know).

All Snow Leopard really did was remove all the PowerPC code, and add a lot of stuff that Intel CPUs can use, it would have no benefit for PowerPC anyway (and wouldnt run the latest software, as the latest software that requires 10.6 tends to be either work-round-able, or reliant on Intel CPU/Grand Central Dispatch/Something else under the hood Apple introduced for Intel CPUs).

While I love my PowerPC Macs, and intend on using PowerPC for a few more years yet, they had to be phased out from the current OS, as 10.6 wouldve slowed them down, and it wouldntve added much more than a few UI tweaks to 10.5 (I mean Apple has pushed everything that isnt Intel CPU enhanced to PowerPC, such as Safari 5, iTunes 10 etc).

 

[skinniezinho]

just another thing that was going through my mind ,
if apple did want to go intel fair enough its their right to decide what processors they want to use and if they want to use via processor in the future then so be it , but just creating a new OS and force people basically to upgrade to new hardware if they want this new OS is not really fair , as all the G3/G4/G5 Mac's still work some even more reliable then the intel Mac's , it would have been really easy for Apple to create maybe something like a snow leopard starter edition to run on PPC , windows does exact that with their win 7 starter edition for low end hardware in netbooks and nettops , ubuntu does it with the netbook edition
apple could have even kept the eMac or Mini G4 in production as a real entry model , in the eMac its proven it is stable to overclock to 1.8 ghz , or they could have fitted a freescale G4 inside and if they liked ,a simple lcd display for reduced powerconsumption in the eMac and used the iMac G5 case , the hardware had been there ready to be used
i mean its proven that the freescale G4 7448 despite being a single core can keep up with the core duos and the data sounds good too
The PowerPC 7448 "Apollo 8" is an evolution of the PowerPC 7447A announced at the first Freescale Technology Forum in June 2005. Improvements were higher clock rates (up to 2 GHz), a larger 1 MB L2 cache, a faster 200 MHz front side bus, and lower power consumption (18 W at 1.7 GHz)
if they would have done that, support for PPC would never have to stop
because if, then even the latest versions of any software would still run on these PowerMac's
as Morph OS proves if the OS is made especially for the hardware its running on then there is no need to upgrade the hardware and apple had the knowledge to and would not even needed more resources , they could it under tiger and could do it under leopard running on two different architectures
and it would have been a achievement to be proud of from apple if they could say our snow leopard still runs on 7 year old hardware and can easy keep up with atom based or amd neo based nettops and are not far of from the performance of dual cores
and it would not stop people who can afford to spend thousands on a computer to buy 27" i7 iMac's or a MacPro or intel mini if they want or need to if they need that bit more performance
and there had been people out there in 2005 too who did have to save up a year or 2 before they could buy a new eMac or a new mini , and these people had been really proud to own a Mac even if it was a low end one , and the peole who had to safe up a year every cent that was left over did not plan that they have ancient hardware in 3 years time that only gets half lackadaisical support with the constant thread of support stop

Although in the "consumer mind" that would be perfect,in terms of "industrial mind" that is unprofitable,so..it doesn't interest..
A powerpc machine in the mac line up would mean: more code do develop/test, a different production line,more people to give support,etc..
I think people need to know that brands can't support their machines forever...and the only machines that I think Apple was unfair with was the G5's,mainly the latest ones,because months later they launched intel machines wich dictated the end of powerpc innovation.
The only thing that makes my powermac angry with apple is the iPod,I simply can't get why do I have to have a machine that runs 10.5 to put music on my ultra lowend ipod shuffle 4G...
I know that my powermac can run it unofficially,but is slow as hell,and we are only talking about an itunes update for tiger...for a device that costs 49eur..

 

[MacHamster68]

i answer that with the words of a industrialist
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.
(henry ford)
i mean if i would be ceo at apple even the poorest in africa could afford a basic new Mac and the richest in dubai too , the poor would get one from plastic the rich one made from gold , but the profit from the rich people would be used so the poor can afford one , but all would have the same operating system and great design is no question of money
ok sounds like it was said by Karl Marx , and yes in certain aspects i am a communist , but i dont want to make all equal in terms of income
but i want the same opportunities for everybody on earth and if everybody could afford a Mac and a internet connection that would be one step in this direction and it would educate billions instead of a couple millions , ok goverments on the earth would panic about that possibility , but i am great fan of wikileaks too , as i am for freedom of information for everybody who is looking for it
but i guess thats to political now for some so back to the topic
yes apple abandoned us PPC users , we are not worth to get full support for the entire life of our ppc Mac's, we did pay for tiger , some did pay for leopard , and i bet there would be plenty too who would pay for the upgrade to snow leopard or lion if they could install it on their PPC Mac..so apple would not lose profits

 

[skinniezinho]

i answer that with the words of a industrialist
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.
(henry ford)
i mean if i would be ceo at apple even the poorest in africa could afford a basic new Mac and the richest in dubai too , the poor would get one from plastic the rich one made from gold , but the profit from the rich people would be used so the poor can afford one , but all would have the same operating system and great design is no question of money
ok sounds like it was said by Karl Marx , and yes in certain aspects i am a communist , but i dont want to make all equal in terms of income
but i want the same opportunities for everybody on earth

I understand you, and we would have a better world if everybody though that way,but simply it isn't like that in the apple world,and if it isn't we have 3 choices:
1)change for the PC world
2)use linux or other OS that better supports our machines
3)Upgrade the machines and hack the MacOS to run in our machines (in this case we are limited to leopard)

None of the 3 are good, but mailing apple saying "please bring powerpc back" or "please make lion run on powerpc macs" won't help either..
I think for the "common user" the best bet is number two..although for people who really need the machine to work,the best bet is buying a new mac...