[type_32]

Thanks, Skipshady. Sounds like there's no danger of the PowerPC-based Macs becoming obselete as a result of this Intel move. I guess I am free to switch, then.

[patrickdavila]

Prediction:
Apple sales will drop like a rock in the next 12 months. They don't care because 50% of their income is coming from Ipod sales. Apple is getting ready for the next generation of digital media delivery. They're in cohoots with Intel and Hollywood on this one. You don't own the media on your machine. They're letting you use it out of the kindness of their hearts. They talk of Rosetta as an API layer (like Wine) to run PPC apps on the new x86 boxes. What about the other way? Running x86 apps on the old PPC hardware? Personally I'm looking forward to picking up a cheap second hand mac on Ebay and installing linux on it.

[JeffS]

Originally Posted by patrickdavila

Prediction:
Apple sales will drop like a rock in the next 12 months. They don't care because 50% of their income is coming from Ipod sales. Apple is getting ready for the next generation of digital media delivery. They're in cohoots with Intel and Hollywood on this one. You don't own the media on your machine. They're letting you use it out of the kindness of their hearts. They talk of Rosetta as an API layer (like Wine) to run PPC apps on the new x86 boxes. What about the other way? Running x86 apps on the old PPC hardware? Personally I'm looking forward to picking up a cheap second hand mac on Ebay and installing linux on it.

Yeah, I won't be in any hurry to buy an Intel Mac - it will have DRM burried so deep in it that any semblance of privacy goes completely out the window. No thanks.

And getting a cheap Mac on Ebay sounds like a wonderful thing to do. In fact, that might be my own new PC purchase, with, of course, running Linux on it. It will probably be a quite powerful machine for a dirt cheap price. And with Linux running on it, I will own the code/software, and I will be able to control my machine, and thus privacy. Linux is the future. And Linux these days, with the plethora of newbie friendly distros like Mepis, Xandros, Linspire, Mandriva, and even more professional oriented distros like Fedora Core and SuSE, is as easy as Mac or WinXP (if not easier). And it looks awesome, and it has every kind of software you could ever want (apart from modern games), and fantastic device driver support (including on Macs )

Apart from the iPod, Apple is slowly diving towards irrelevance. And even the iPod is going to be facing serious competition before long. After all, the iPod is nothing more than a slick MP3 player, which anyone can produce.

[IntheNet]

With Intel chips Apple better pass along the savings to consumers and start bringing Apples in line with Wintel PCs! If not Steve Jobs is gone!

[MikeLastort2]

Took 'em long enough.



If John Scully had listened to Bill Gates instead of Steve Jobs and Jean-Louis Gassée in 1985, when Gates called Scully to talk about licensing the Mac OS to run on Intel chips, Windows would've probably never existed and the Apple guys would be as rich as Gates is today.

Better late than never, I guess.

[prk166]

Originally Posted by JeffS

Apart from the iPod, Apple is slowly diving towards irrelevance.

For all practicall purposes, they are irrelevant in the PC arena and have been for quite some time.

Originally Posted by JeffS

And even the iPod is going to be facing serious competition before long. After all, the iPod is nothing more than a slick MP3 player, which anyone can produce.

Well, I wouldn't say it's a bad design. But as some other decent ones come onto the market, it's gonna get tough to sell them at their marked up prices.

[microbrew]

Originally Posted by prk166

I'm curious too. ONce you switch, what's to keep me from patching together my own box, buying a copy of OS XI and installing it?

There's much more to a computer than just the CPU.

I'd imagine getting OS X on a Dell box (or putting Windows on a Mac box) would be akin to putting Linux on the machine. You'd need to have some technical knowledge, and do your own technical support. Right now, due to the Unix-like base of OS X, you can put on many pieces of the OS X on your PC right now (Darwin).

From a technical standpoint, the x86 computer architecture is an ugly aging kludge. If the engineers could do it all over again, you'd end up with something more like the PPC then the Pentium. From a business standpoint, having second sources for components is essential.

I don't expect the Mac prices to drop either. They'll just able to cram in more performance in the low end like the Mac Mini. I'd guess as long the prices match what Alienware or Falcon Northwest have, Apple will do very well.

[Achtung]

Originally Posted by prk166

Well, I wouldn't say it's a bad design. But as some other decent ones come onto the market, it's gonna get tough to sell them at their marked up prices.

Problem is that people have been saying that for about three years now. The main thing about the iPod is the design, in terms of both exterior looks and the ease of use of its controls and software. It also doesn't hurt that they spend mad amounts on advertising for it--I don't see many ads for other mp3 players. Just seems that every few months, some new mp3 player comes along that is supposed to be the "iPod Killer", before fizzling out for one of many reasons. It's almost gotten to the point where "iPod" is like a generic term for an mp3 player, something that is amazing in the ever-changing world of technology. I think we're more likely to see companies try and emulate the iPod more than anything else (see the new Rio Carbon Pearl for example).

[yimmy]

Originally Posted by microbrew

From a technical standpoint, the x86 computer architecture is an ugly aging kludge.

I've heard referred to as an architecutre that only the architect could love. But hey, I really need the latest and greatest CPU to be able to run run old 8086 code. Don't you?

[MikeLastort2]

The newest generation Intel processors have pretty much nothing in common with the X86 architecture.