It'll be official on Monday: Apple switching to Intel chips

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Apple is very likely to lose more market share on this switch just because it will piss off some people, some techies will not like learning new hardware, and software will need to be redone. Apple's hardware business just isn't healthy and it hasn't been for a while. I suppose they can try to slowly converge on the PC plateform and try to sell their software in the larger market but I doubt that will fly. Most people just don't like or care for Apple's OS.

What have you smoked when you wrote that???
I can't get it that all people are to believe that Apple will lose their customers because they make a hardware switch, I mean, com'on!? Nothing is going to change, except that more people might be running OS X instead of Windows. There are lots of people who want to try OS X, but don't want to spend the extra money on Apple's hardware or lock themselves out of a majority of the software available... yeah sure Virtual PC, but I doubt you can play games with it at descent framerates.

My father has an ad-company and we have about 15-20 Apples of all sorts running and from System 7 (still in use) to OS X 10.3. They all work and have always worked together nicely. I think we still have the Apple SE/30 from 1989, although of course it's out of service now. If anything that prevents the company from buying more Wintel, it is the operating system (and more because Windows has only 3rd party support for Apple Filesharing).

The Mac OS 8 UI theme was IMO the best ever designed for working. There is absolutely NOTHING that distracts you and it's looking clean and stable. OS X has gone a bit too wild on this and it's way more playful than it should be.
That said I have switched back from Windows XP Silver Theme to the classic one. I think I noticed a speed improvement

[Kuciwalker]

Eh, Atahualpa, if so many people think Apple will lose customers, it probably means that a good number of Macheads think Apple will lose customers, and a lot of those believe that probably because they are the customers Apple is going to lose.

[Atahualpa]

Oerdin a machead?

[Kuciwalker]

No... where did I say that?

[Atahualpa]

nvm

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Bah. I don't care what chips are in my Apple. What I care about is compatibility and, frankly, help or no help, it's something Mac consumers are going to be thinking hard about when considering their next purchases.

I, for one, will likely not get an iMac G5 now. Geez. Wait for Tiger to come out, and look what I get. "Oh, hey, now we're going to switch to a different chip maker, buty, hey, don't worry, we'll think about you PPC-based Mac users. Yeah, sure we will. Yep. You betcha."

In a way, thank goodness it happened *before* I plunked down cold, hard cash. Now I can sit on it again, and let it accrue interest. (Good God, my life is boring sometimes.)

Gatekeeper

Precisely the point I was going to make. This is going to have a huge hit on Apples sales until the new machines come out - why buy a machine that has already been declared "yesterday's technology" by the manufacturer itself? One that doesn't have the new machines even designed yet, much less on shelves?

[Asher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/technology/11apple.html?pagewanted=1

As it happens, Intel's was not the only alternative chip design that Apple had explored for the Mac. An executive close to Sony said that last year Mr. Jobs met in California with both Nobuyuki Idei, then the chairman and chief executive of the Japanese consumer electronics firm, and with Kenichi Kutaragi, the creator of the Sony PlayStation.

Mr. Kutaragi tried to interest Mr. Jobs in adopting the Cell chip, which is being developed by I.B.M. for use in the coming PlayStation 3, in exchange for access to certain Sony technologies. Mr. Jobs rejected the idea, telling Mr. Kutaragi that he was disappointed with the Cell design, which he believes will be even less effective than the PowerPC.
Now that Mr. Jobs has broken with I.B.M., however, Apple is free to pursue a potentially intriguing consumer electronics strategy with Intel.

Intel has been looking for ways to get its chips into devices that can compete with game consoles as living-room entertainment hubs. In fact, all three next-generation video game machines made by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are based on I.B.M. chips. And analysts say that both Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3, scheduled to arrive next spring, will be positioned as home media hubs in addition to being video game machines - and priced far lower than the Intel-powered, Windows Media Center PC's that are also aimed at the living room.
Should the new consoles find wide acceptance as broad-based entertainment engines, Intel will need to respond - and one attractive alternative would be an inexpensive Macintosh Mini based on an Intel processor, able to run the vast library of PC games.

Before he can set his sights on that new market, Mr. Jobs faces the task of shoring up his base, his customers and developers. On Monday, he made the case to the software designers who must be willing to rewrite their software for the new Macintel world.

Early indications are that he made a convincing presentation.
"The reason people buy Mac is the software, and I think the real fun is yet to come," said Scott Love, the president of AquaMinds, a software concern in Palo Alto that sells a Macintosh program called NoteTaker used by writers, researchers and students. "We'll be able to develop a program that will just work on both I.B.M. and Intel-based computers."

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Agathon
Stop talking crap about stuff you know nothing about.

You're the one who doesn't know anything, since we've had mac users in this thread have said that it's pissing them off and will keep them from buying Apple.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


You're the one who doesn't know anything, since we've had mac users in this thread have said that it's pissing them off and will keep them from buying Apple.

People who seem to have very little idea of what is going to happen. At worst, some people will delay purchases until January, which is when the new machines will be announced.

I've seen the crap being posted on the mac rumour sites. Most of it is unsubstantiated rubbish. It's this week's big news - people will get over it.

[Asher]

The new machines won't be available in January, Aggie.

Try June.

[Agathon]

I reckon that some will be announced in January, since they are supposed to already be available by June next year.

But we'll see. I can tell you that Intel is not buying Apple.

[monolith94]

Honestly, I didn't think my next mac would run an intel chip - I was thinking I would wait and get a G6! Or something like that. Well, live and learn. I'm nonplussed.

[Asher]

Do you think Apple will brand their Intel-based computers G6s to differenciate their product?

IBM calls their G5s PowerPC 970s, it would make sense for Apple to call the Intel-based chips G6s.

Though Pontiac has that trademarked.