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Really switching to Intel!!??

Can see Cocoa x86 -- which was announced for Mac OS X, but never delivered.

Monday would be a good time to do it.

But Cocoa isn't Mac OS X, but it's a lot farther towards that goal than Darwin for x86.

But to switch to x86 when MS and Sony are heavily into PowerPC, and the future of the PowerPC architecture looks awsome -- is insane.

Of course it's would be the first time cnets sources were articles from other papers.
 
Well, it this is true it's a sad day for Apple. I'll be making the move to OpenSolaris or Linux.
 
Sun Baked said:
You have to ask yourself when the last time Apple made an announcement this far in advance.

OK, we knew what PowerPC CPUs were in the next gen (603/604) after the 601 -- but Apple has been tight lipped since then and has avoided public announcements.

If they were really doing it, they'd dump a x86 machine on the market and make it emulate a PowerPC until the developers recompile.

They wouldn't tell us they'll be switching to x86 next year, and kill sales for the next 2 years.
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I'm sitting here, with my DP G5, thinking my investment just became worth zero. With this announced so far in advance, and the uncertainty of what it would mean for application support going forward, who would want to buy a PPC Mac? You could be spending a lot of money on a white elephant. As far as the x86 based machines in the future, how do you know developers will want to port their apps? I just don't think Apple has the market share to pull something like this off. I really can't see this being a good move for Apple for the sake of a minor performance penalty with PPC currently (most obvious with the laptop line, IMO). I just don't see the risk/reward here, at all. Apple has bumped up their Mac shipments some 40% or so in recent quarters and then to go out and do something like switching to x86? It does not make business sense. The only thing that *might* make sense is if Apple goes x86 on the consumer line, where nearly 100% of the apps come from Apple themselves, but even that's a big maybe. I really don't want this to be true.
 
Intel is not going to make PPC

I just spoke to a friend that works at Intel. Intel does not have the IP not IP licensing to make PPC.

Apple is going to Intel x86
 
Steve Jobs hates the reds (communists) thats why he made the video 1984. IBM is in bed with them. They are partners with Lenovo which is owned partly by the chinese govt. Steve will be damned if he is going to let the new Russia (China) make chips for his systems. He is going all american here and going with intel.

Now Jobs can kick out systems with Dothan chips that run for 9 hrs and cool as ice in the powerbooks and with dual core too. On top of that if IT staff could put osx on their existing server and workstation boxes they would do it in a heartbeat. The world is about to change here folks, and it will be overnight.

This will be exciting.....
 
As others have mentioned, how would this not kill sales for the next few years ? and what happens to support for older computers, sure some of them need little cracks to get tiger running now, but when the OS is recompiled I don't think anything will be able to get them to run.

I think this is too much myself, but I'll wait eagerly till Tuesday (Monday in the US) to find out what's happening.
 
For some reason, I don't want this to be true. I don't know why, I just don't like or trust Intel. (Not that IBM is a bunch of good guys.)

I suspect the problem is the laptops. 50% of Apple's line has nowhere to go. Intel announced dual core laptop chips by next year.

It would be great if Steve negated the rumor on Monday for no other reason than to embarrass C|Net. Those assbags have hammered Apple forever since they are a shill for Dell/HP/Microsoft. And like a true, fair weather friend, they got all nice and cozy with Apple after the iPod success.

Apple doesn't need friends like that. And I hope C|Net gets massive egg on their face.

Of course, if it is true, IBM brought it on themselves. No one messes with Jobs.
 
I wonder...

if there is a ton of negotiating with IBM going on over the weekend, CEO to CEO, and Apple used C|Net to put real heat on IBM.

It would make sense to use C|Net. Slightly credible, but because they are not a friend to Apple, Jobs would have no problem screwing them over.
 
Now should I stop buying software?

Cause I don't want to buy any that won't port over, or I won't get a voucher for the change over.
 
It wont happen.

For a start it will be a developer nightmare. Picture this: "which version of the Mac mini are you running? the PPC or the x86?". How many users can answer that question let alone tell me what type of Mac they have?

Secondly Apple have spent millions working on GCC to make Altivec and PPC code generation better. They have also spent millions making FCP, Motion and other high end apps work really well with the PPC processors. To force entire teams to rework their applications and potentially slow them down while of course introducing bugs is not a way of keeping your applications ahead of the market.

Finally they would need to give developers a large lead time before they release the machines. Mac sales however will plummet until the x86 version is released which would really hurt Apple, more than slow G5 clock speeds are doing now.

Monday will come and go. There will be a few announcements but the Mac world will still be the same.
 
Mac People need to wake up and look at the ppc history, its sucked the past 5 years and apple has had to use two cpu's when the otherguys use one. The G5 is nice but it has a few hiccups and it hasnt really matched Intel or AMD unless again you use two vs one. Now that Dual core Intel and AMDs are coming what is apple going to do try to push 4 cpu's vs 2? Look at Imac, does anyone think that the single G5 can come close to a Intel or my Fav the AMD?? PPC has been overblown and hasnt matched the otherside for years. This could be true but would still get a WOW out of me. Id rather see OSX for Pc's rather then a Intel inside a Mac but like others have said perhaps Apple is looking for someone else to make those stale PPC chips. Anyways one thing is very clear and that is lots of problems with qty and lots of problems making them go faster. Going to Liquid cooling couldnt have been what steve wanted.
 
MacTruck said:
Steve Jobs hates the reds (communists) thats why he made the video 1984. IBM is in bed with them. They are partners with Lenovo which is owned partly by the chinese govt. Steve will be damned if he is going to let the new Russia (China) make chips for his systems. He is going all american here and going with intel.
Click to expand...

Lenovo is not capable of making current G4 or G5 class chips. No Chinese company is or is even within striking distance.
 
Sun Baked said:
But to switch to x86 when MS and Sony are heavily into PowerPC, and the future of the PowerPC architecture looks awsome -- is insane.
Click to expand...

There's a good point, if M$ and sony are both using the PPC or a chip based on the PPC in their upcoming consoles then it can't be all that bad.
 
MacTruck said:
Steve Jobs hates the reds (communists) thats why he made the video 1984. IBM is in bed with them. They are partners with Lenovo which is owned partly by the chinese govt. Steve will be damned if he is going to let the new Russia (China) make chips for his systems. He is going all american here and going with intel.
Click to expand...

ummm...maybe you didn't notice, but Apple products are made in China.

Nice try, though.
 
mklos said:
What if Intel made a PPC chip? Rumors if true, are usually only partially true. In other words, they were correct, but didn't quite get the rumor 100% correct. So if Intel designed a PPC processor for Apple (and possibly Sony and Microsoft down the road for their video game boxes) then this wouldn't be so much of a problem.

I'm pretty damn sure that Apple has a version Mac OS X.3 and probably Mac OS X.4 for an x86 processor. They might just need cleaning up, but I'm they're already to go and could probably even ship within the next month or two if absolutely needed.

I still think this is purely a rumor, and one that most likely isn't true. But, never underestimate Steve Jobs if you piss him off.....
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I couldn't agree anymore. When I first heard the rumor of Apple switching to Intel chips this is what I thought of. Switching to x86 chips would cause mass chaos, while staying with PowerPC chips from a different manufacturer wouldn't be a big deal especially if they were faster.

Another thing is how quiet the rumor mill has been for WWDC up until now. An announcement such as this would be huge for Apple, Microsoft, Intel and software developers. My guess is that if this is indeed true Apple has made sure to keep it quiet for the surprise it would bring. Although I would think if IBM had heard this they would try to make it public.

One question that comes to mind is what about the 970MP? IBM had published reports on it saying it had been developed. Either Apple likes Intel's dual core chip more (possible), the 970MP is not as good as first thought (unlikely), or this rumor is just way off (possible).

Then what about switching to Mac mini's first? I would think that Apple would introduce them into Pro lines first because the whole reason for switching to Intel would be for faster chips.

The more I think about it the more unlikely it seems.
 
BWhaler said:
I suspect the problem is the laptops. 50% of Apple's line has nowhere to go. Intel announced dual core laptop chips by next year.
Click to expand...
While this is true the dual core chip from Freescale could possibly be ready by the same time. It's still possible but I would think Apple would just wait even a few months longer for Freescale's chips.
 
Just an idea

Maybe intel & Apple are thinking of a new processor for a new type of Mac. The story from CNET says that Apple is going to move 'low end' computers to the intel platform. A tablet Mac would be a 'low end' computer wouldn't it? ;)

The OS on a tablet Mac would not be be a fully fledged version of OSX - more of a cut down version like Windows CE. The tablet PC market is a niche market with specific software, optimized for a tablet situation.

If Apple was to make a tablet Mac, fair enough it would look better than everything else out there but what programs would be available for it at release date - none.

A tablet Mac with a modified version of the OSX GUI than can run PPC apps and the existing Windows CE programs would sell like hotcakes.


aussie_geek
 
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