Apple going over the the Intel (dark) side

[FarFarAway]

Apple, it seems, are switching allegiances from IBM's Power PC's to Intel.

I couln't believe it at first, but it appears to be true!!

Apple Computer plans to announce Monday that it's scrapping its partnership with IBM and switching its computers to Intel's microprocessors, CNET News.com has learned.

Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said.

The announcement is expected Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, at which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is giving the keynote speech. The conference would be an appropriate venue: Changing the chips would require programmers to rewrite their software to take full advantage of the new processor.

So bejeezus...that's certainly another triumph for Intel!!

 

[FragTek]

That's the single most stupid move that Apple could make (imo, most comp illiterate peeps will think its great since they think Intel is the best thing since sliced bread, and is the main base of people who buy Macs... anywho...) considering the IBM PowerPC processors are the uber shiznit and complete knockout powerhouses.

Now I used to have a bit of respect for Apple but now I hope they go out of business....

 

[ionicle_old]

nooooo this cant be happening! apple computers are good! they have just made a wrong turn! and will make many enemies now!

 

[JN]

Apple...ur crazy!!

I'm pretty much neutral when it comes to the Intel/AMD side of things but any worthwhile computer enthusiast will recognise that the PPC is one hell of a chip!

 

[ionicle_old]

Apple...ur crazy!!

I'm pretty much neutral when it comes to the Intel/AMD side of things but any worthwhile computer enthusiast will recognise that the PPC is one hell of a chip!

wel i am slightly amd inclined, but pentium's are also ok, but there core's arnt very efficnent thats the problem i have with them!

 

[NickS]

kempez amd is the dark side.

 

[PROBN4LYFE]

AMD is GOD!!!

Apple, it seems, are switching allegiances from IBM's Power PC's to Intel.

I couln't believe it at first, but it appears to be true!!

So bejeezus...that's certainly another triumph for Intel!!

They need help in the market because AMD is killing them and INTEL...

Little brother ain't SO little now....AMD64@2.680...everyday...

 

[FarFarAway]

They need help in the market because AMD is killing them and INTEL...

Little brother ain't SO little now....AMD64@2.680...everyday...

You said it bro...you said it.

I don't think Apple made a good move with this...those Apple procs are great

 

[Dav0s]

you have to admit...its a sorry state when your mobile processors perform twice as well as your desktop range.

 

[enVias]

kempez amd is the dark side.

He's right you know kempez!

The colours of their logos say everything.

Intel = Light

AMD = Dark

It's harder when it comes to ATI and nVidia though..

ATI = Light

nVidia = Light

Confused

 

[FarFarAway]

He's right you know kempez!

The colours of their logos say everything.

Intel = Light

AMD = Dark

It's harder when it comes to ATI and nVidia though..

ATI = Light

nVidia = Light

Confused

hehehe...yeah ok...AMD are the dark side when it comes to PC's....but Apple are undoubtedly the "light" side so its all a matter of shades

 

[FragTek]

hehehe...yeah ok...AMD are the dark side when it comes to PC's....but Apple are undoubtedly the "light" side so its all a matter of shades

Kempez... know this... I am your father... :evil:

 

[FarFarAway]

Kempez... know this... I am your father... :evil:

ROFL - I'm older than you!!! :stickpoke

Here is some more info from the ever-up-to-date AnandTech

Then came the "it's true" slide, and all possibilities of doubt, theories of Intel making PowerPC chips, Apple using Itanium, all of that went out the window. The two words said more than any two words ever have in the entire PC industry. From that one slide, we all knew that Apple would be switching to Intel processors, and it would be none other than Intel's x86 line of CPUs.

It seems Apple will supply macs with Power PC procs for as long as possible (and a good thing IMO!!).

I just see this move to Intel chips as a bad move for Apple.

Apple does seem committed to offering PowerPC support for as long as it takes, meaning that OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will most likely be offered for both PPC and Intel based Macs, not to mention all of the applications that will definitely transition to a universal binary system. We honestly don't expect sales to suffer that much. Those who can wait will obviously do so until next year; those who cannot will still enjoy the same compatibility (most likely better at first) later on when the Intel Macs begin shipping.

I think that this will open up the Mac market to those who will hack OSX onto normal x86 hardware. If only we had lots of peeps (the Linux guys would be helpful) making drivers for this shizzaggle...that would be great!!

Here's some more info on the Mac. Was gonna para-phrase it for ya...but read it yourself!

The default compiler for Apple's x86 line will continue to be GCC. Another very blunt statement from the documentation is that "Macintosh computers using Intel microprocessors do not use Open Firmware."

Rosetta, Apple's PPC to x86 binary translation software, also has some limitations:

"Rosetta is designed to translate currently shipping applications that run on a PowerPC with a G3 processor and that are built for Mac OS X.

Rosetta does not run the following:

* Applications built for Mac OS 8 or 9

* Code written specifically for AltiVec

* Code that inserts preferences in the System Preferences pane

* Applications that require a G4 or G5 processor

* Applications that depend on one or more kernel extensions

* Kernel extensions

* Bundled Java applications or Java applications with JNI libraries that can't be translated."

Apple has confirmed that their Intel based Macs should be able to run Windows, but you will not be able to run the x86 version of OS X on any hardware platform that you choose. Obviously with the switch to Intel's architecture, it is going to be much more difficult for Apple to prevent users from circumventing any protection that they may have implemented to run the x86 OS on their own hardware. Even if Apple's protection is cracked, you can expect driver support to be extremely limited for configurations outside of what Apple will be shipping.

This info is all teken from the article on AnandTech Here

 

[Joe]

ROFL - I'm older than you!!! :stickpoke

Here is some more info from the ever-up-to-date AnandTech

It seems Apple will supply macs with Power PC procs for as long as possible (and a good thing IMO!!).

I just see this move to Intel chips as a bad move for Apple.

I think that this will open up the Mac market to those who will hack OSX onto normal x86 hardware. If only we had lots of peeps (the Linux guys would be helpful) making drivers for this shizzaggle...that would be great!!

Here's some more info on the Mac. Was gonna para-phrase it for ya...but read it yourself!

actually drivers should be ok to com,e by as the opensource community have had our hands on DARWIN for a long time <the base of OSX> and so all we need to do is to step up driver production

DARWIN -- http://developer.apple.com/darwin/

apple already have Universal Binary tools available for download in the form of Xcode 2.1 --- http://developer.apple.com/

 

[ohiojoe]

Apple switching to x86 will no longerhave anything unique going for them. It's just a choice between OS's now, it seems. Apple will flounder, though. This is the worst move they could make. Well, for them.

 

[Dav0s]

yeah i agree with the statement about os's. apple are sadly not original. also does this mean that osx will be able to run on normal intel cpu's now that it will be coded for them?

 

[FragTek]

yeah i agree with the statement about os's. apple are sadly not original. also does this mean that osx will be able to run on normal intel cpu's now that it will be coded for them?

I would imagine... I don't see how they could stop it from running on any other x86 cpu unless they do something special to these new cpu's that let them tweak the code just a bit so that it won't run on anything else... No clue, this will all be interesting.