New iMacs Get Good Compliments and Superior Rating From PC Magazine

[Asher]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


you know that Asher is canadian, right??

Jon Miller

You're half-right, as usual.

FlameFlash: I got the numbers from finance.yahoo.com
Find Apple's stock ticker (the lookup is linked right in the top middle), click 'Financials', and it's all there in chart form.

[FlameFlash]

Very cool, thanks.

Half right?

[Asher]

I've got dual citizenship

[Drake Tungsten]

Your flag shows where your loyalties are, you damn canuck...

Thanks for the info on "dual channel DDR motherboards". Sounds like a good thing. If Wraith is right about Motorola producing the G5 mainly for the embedded market, however, then the G5 could really suck. Steve Jobs is already pissed at Motorola and I'm sure this won't help relations. Maybe we'll see new chips in Macs in the near future?

[Asher]

The only other company that makes PowerPC chips is IBM, so maybe Apple will go back to IBM eventually. IBM's chips tend to be aimed at supercomputers these days, they build servers with clusters of hundreds or thousands of them together. But for the near future Motorola looks to be the only real supplier.

As for my flag -- I was born here and lived here most of my life, and currently live here now. Hence the Canadian flag. As soon as I graduate from university I'm moving back to California though. Better job market.

[FlameFlash]

Always be proud of where you were born. I still consider Iowa my home state, I like their flag better than the Missouri one too...

(yeah, lousy similarity, but still a slight one.)

And I really doubt Motorola would want to lose Apple... sure they're only suppling chips to a company that has a 5% market share... but Apple's constant call for better processors must help out the embedded market a little bit.

[Asher]

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-948239.html?tag=fd_top

Analyst: Apple to lie down with Intel

By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 2, 2002, 2:34 PM PT

Apple Computer will likely shift to using Intel chips, while circumstances exist that could well push Dell Computer and Sun Microsystems into a friendly embrace, predicted Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff.
Intense competition, softening demand, excess capacity and the fact that virtually every technology company shows some sort of exposed vulnerability will likely prompt a rash of changes in the market, according to Neff in the latest version of his "PC manifesto," a detailed report on the state of the market.

"The key for investors to is to realize that this isn't a game where companies die and simply go away," Neff wrote. "In reality, this is a rare occurrence. We believe it is a time for company managements to take steps toward concrete changes, as those that recognize the need for action first will get the best deals...The point being, there is no easy way out."

Neff's predictions in the 50-page report vary depending on the circumstances in which the companies find themselves.

Neff, for instance, predicted Apple, which uses chips from Motorola and IBM that currently top out at 1GHz, will switch to Intel, whose chips run at 2.5GHz, to get a performance boost and gain more customers. There's a better than 80 percent chance Apple will make the jump in two to four years, he said.

[Drake Tungsten]

Holy ****!

Did I call that or what?

[FlameFlash]

Thanks for that info, Asher!

That opens up all sorts of stuff for Apple if they could get an OS running on Intel-based systems. No more Windows emulation, you could just partition your drive and run OS X (or whatever version), Windows XP (or whatever version), some other LINUX or UNIX-based system, and get all the software and features you like...

Sheesh. That really would open the door for Apple, that's for sure... and at the same time it would screw them as far as them making and marketing computers (except for the fact that they'd probably just start marketing their eye-candy machines a lot more as just eye-candy.)

[Giancarlo]

Apple is going into the PC market... so much for the Mac....

[- Groucho -]

Originally posted by Fez
Apple is going into the PC market... so much for the Mac....

A. this is an analyst's prediction - analysts are more known for being wrong than right. He may be right, but it sure ain't a foregone conclusion.

B. I don't understand your statement. If Apple put an Intel chip in its boxes why would that mean no more Mac? There is no indication that Apple is going to license its OS to anyone else, so if you like Macs or the MacOS you would still have to buy a Mac. So what did you mean?

[Asher]

Note that it is only an analyst's prediction.

But it also doesn't mean that, if it's true, Apple is going x86.

Intel has the capability to design multiple processors, and does so (Pentium 4, Xeon, StrongARM, XScale, Pentium III-T, etc), so they can design new chips as well. The most likely scenerio if Intel makes Apple chips is to use a modified version of x86, IMO. They wouldn't be compatible with PC chips, or PC software, which would allow Apple to continue to have a stranglehold on their hardware.

The downside is that means existing PowerPC applications would not be compatible. I don't see that as a real possibility anyway, Apple just forced applications to be redone to run under OS X, they're not going to force them to recompile them all for a new instruction set a couple years later.

So either Intel would use a modified x86, and force everyone to recompile for a new instruction set, or they'll somehow license PowerPC and develop a new chip on that. This is highly unlikely, IMO.

So, to counter the analyst, I think that if anyone other than Motorola is going to win the chip contract, it'll be IBM. IBM makes PowerPC chips already.

[FlameFlash]

*nods* You're probably right, Asher...

And Echinda, trust me... don't ask Fez questions... you won't get any straight answers, especially since you're a Mac user.

[Giancarlo]

Flameflash, STFU.

Echinda, I was just making a joke... no harm done...

[FlameFlash]

Hey, the truth hurts sometimes Fez. If you ever give my arguements a straight answer instead of just throwing insults, I'll retract that statement.

And with your other past statements on this thread, you kind of need to denote when you're making a joke or not, otherwise people will take it for more blanketed statements.