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Really switching to Intel!!??
- Thread starter dodonutter
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CybrCyfr said:
That's like saying the Pinto was a fine car (with exceptions to the exploding gas tanks).
OR
The Hindenburg was a fine zeppelin (with exceptions to the poor choice of flammable Hydrogen).
shompa said:
YES! And while they're at it, why not make up a portable music player of some kind? You know, small like a pod?
Please tell me you meant something else.
minimax said:
Yes. Compaq, HP, Dell, Sony - everyone but Apple still has it.
WWDC would be the absolute perfect place to announce this since they would bear the brunt of the work for porting or re-compiling code to work for x86.
Apple might just be shaking the tree, but if they really want to grow market share and not just be a niche innovator for Microsoft to copy, they need to play the marketing game better. Play to the masses that believe that megahertz do matter and introduce them to the world of OS X.
bluarash said:
1) Possibly
2) There is no way that the G5 will fit into a form factor small enough to be called a PowerBook, so don't hold your breath. Apple is all about software, but the hardware is all about style. Uncle Steve will not allow just any design. It will be a stunner because we - the buyers - demand it.
3) i/eMacs were just updated - no chance for further updates yet. iBook should be updated. Small speed bumps and better GPUs.
4) YAWN! Why would developers care about a new shuffle?
5) Meh.
6) Not terribly big news unless it involves changes to the ITMS, but again, why would developers care?
VanNess said:
You're asking me?
Apple isn't going to make a switch with me in mind. I'm happy on an 800mhz G3 iBook.
The marketplace has different demands than I do, however.
I think that the G5 is obviously not as far along as Apple would have liked, or was led to believe by IBM, at this point and down the road.
This is all assuming there is indeed a switch.
Your newbie status is apparent. A program written for PPC won't run on an x86 even on the same OS. Example if I compile GNOME on x86 linux, it won't run on PPC linux. Also even if it is just a matter of recompiling, businesses aren't going to send out their x86 versions for free to already paying customers and all of their Altivec and Power optimizations now break their programs from working. Yes Darwin does run on x86, but that is just the kernel and all of the software on it is cross platform ready by not being optimized. Another problem too is that PPC is big endian and x86 is not. This means that anything low level, a lot of audio software, encryption, etc will no longer work properly.hexor said:
KREX725 said:
Yeah this thread is huge but so is the claim it's making. That fact that this rumor is showing up every where is a little scary...
I don't buy it...
for me the jury is still out on the apple switch to intel but I seriously doubt an announcement about it will come on Monday. After all, apple is still trying to push Tiger, a 64 bit OS that runs on the power PC. Sales would tank. I'll be surprised if anything this tech related is announced anyway.
for me the jury is still out on the apple switch to intel but I seriously doubt an announcement about it will come on Monday. After all, apple is still trying to push Tiger, a 64 bit OS that runs on the power PC. Sales would tank. I'll be surprised if anything this tech related is announced anyway.
Instead of asking an employee "What's the story about Macs on Intel?", which they most certainly would not (and I assume could not) answer, I asked "Have customers been asking you about the Intel rumor?" at the Century City store today. He said it hadn't been brought up by customers so far, but that employees had been too busy getting the store ready (opening day today) to study what CNET said. That implies that they got no information about it from Apple itself, which is likely the case.Fender said:
I didn't try asking "Is it silly to buy now before the Intel models are out?"
OS X > PPC
When I replaced my desktop PC with a Power Mac G5, I did it for OS X not PPC. As long as they manage any transition so that it is not too painful for me, then I don't care. I have been wanting to buy a laptop, and I would frankly rather buy one with a mobile Pentium rather than a G4.
I have a few servers running Solaris on SPARC and x86. It is not out of the realm of possiblity for Apple to produce both PPC machines and x86 machines. Other vendors do it. If Apple can use this to build their marketshare, ISV's will be happy, as it will increase their potential market.
When I replaced my desktop PC with a Power Mac G5, I did it for OS X not PPC. As long as they manage any transition so that it is not too painful for me, then I don't care. I have been wanting to buy a laptop, and I would frankly rather buy one with a mobile Pentium rather than a G4.
I have a few servers running Solaris on SPARC and x86. It is not out of the realm of possiblity for Apple to produce both PPC machines and x86 machines. Other vendors do it. If Apple can use this to build their marketshare, ISV's will be happy, as it will increase their potential market.
KREX725 said:
I don't know how many times this comes up in large threads, but no, it's nowhere even close. I should have bookmarked or something for the amount of times I have to refer it to people.
There are ones that are equally as long out there as well, this is just one of the more popular ones... 
wdlove said:
An aquafied Intel logo, perhaps?
Hmm...maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Probably better than the retro-fabulous IBM logo.
I just got my first Mac back in February of 2004. I was tired of my Windows system, always needing some sort of maintenance to keep it stable. I have been using a Powerbook G4 1 GHZ model since then and I love it! The OS is so stable that it never crashes. I can keep working and not have to focus on maintaining my system.
I don't know what to make of this move if Apple were to switch to the x86 world. I think a lot of people would feel betrayed and feel that part of the originality of Apple would be lost.
I guess we will see on Monday to see if any announcements are made and what sort of announcements. I have a feeling that if the rumor is true, there is going to be a great deal of backlash.
I don't know what to make of this move if Apple were to switch to the x86 world. I think a lot of people would feel betrayed and feel that part of the originality of Apple would be lost.
I guess we will see on Monday to see if any announcements are made and what sort of announcements. I have a feeling that if the rumor is true, there is going to be a great deal of backlash.
J-Ray1000 said:
Um, that's the problem..
Imagine this...
Joe consumer goes on eBay and buys a current Mac Mini 2 yrs from now..
Joe Consumer then goes to Best Buy to pick up a copy of MS Office.
Joe gets home and and finds that the Mini won't run the copy of Office he bought, because MS only make Office for Intel OSs now. Sorry.
Or Imagine this.. Jane Consumer buys a Mini today, not knowing about all this switch to Intel talk.
Jane goes to buy a new inkjet in two yrs ..
Jane gets home and finds that Epson doesn't write drivers for MacOS X 10.4 anymore, they only support Win XP/Longhorn and MacOS X 10.5 Intel.
And this is if things go *smoothly*!
I can't see this being a good idea in terms of attracting switchers and growing the platform.. maybe 5 yrs out we'd see *something* good come out of it.. but Apple would have to last that long... Not sure they can pull that off.
KREX725 said:
The larget thread I ever saw was the Dual 2.5 shipping thread last summer. 5000+ comments.
If they switched, would they be bringing every mac up to a 64 bit processor? As is Apple hasn't made huge use of the G5, still using mainly G4 processors for their computers. If they were to go over to Intel, I doubt that the high end would get any better, but wouldn't they be able to adopt 64 bit for every one of their computers? I can see this being great for the platform as a whole, with every new program written to take full advantage of the processors. At first I was very negative, but now I can almost see an advantage to switching over to Intel: it still doesn't seem to make sense though...
wdlove said:
I figure Apple would put the logo really small, in gray on white, on the back someplace, and simply have to pay more to Intel than they would with full branding.
Shudder... the very thought! Apple Stores would sell out of the acrylic Griffin iScraper in minutes!
WWDC balogne
Ok, can we put a stop to this idea that WWDC is some kind of tech savvy haven for code geeks? No matter what it is called or who attends, the track record shows that it is all about showing off pretty new toys like the ipod, imac and cinema display.
The Power mac line has tended to be updated a few weeks after WWDC or nowhere near it so it is also a myth that Power macs are the focus of WWDC.
Anyway, I'll say this: If Jobs is going to make the announcement Monday then he better have a working product ready to go on Monday because apple's existing sales will quit with an announcement that big.
Ok, can we put a stop to this idea that WWDC is some kind of tech savvy haven for code geeks? No matter what it is called or who attends, the track record shows that it is all about showing off pretty new toys like the ipod, imac and cinema display.
The Power mac line has tended to be updated a few weeks after WWDC or nowhere near it so it is also a myth that Power macs are the focus of WWDC.
Anyway, I'll say this: If Jobs is going to make the announcement Monday then he better have a working product ready to go on Monday because apple's existing sales will quit with an announcement that big.
Don't forget that Apple has experience with this kind of move -- it managed just as complicated a switch when it went from 680x0 chips to PowerPC. It was transparent from the user end, and I'm sure that, if Intel is inded the new direction for Apple, the change will be just as transparent.jwdsail said: