After today’s announcement from Apple I’ve seen a lot of people freaking out without really sitting down and understanding what’s happening. I just want to share how I perceive the situation.
The fact that Apple is switching to Intel CPUs does not mean that you will be able to stick a Tiger install DVD in your Dell and accomplish anything productive. Apple has already stated that they do not intend on letting their OS run on non-Apple hardware. There will certainly be hacking projects to accomplish this (something like PearPC will become much more of a possibility) but this will never be possible out of the box. Likewise, you won’t be able to order parts from Newegg and build a custom Mac. Apple will be putting Intel CPUs on Apple motherboards that have Apple chipsets that are wrapped in Apple cases.
To most end-users, this announcement really means one thing: Macintosh computers will be getting faster… faster. IBM hasn’t invested much effort into getting the PowerPC line of processors to do what Apple wants because Apple only accounts for a very small part of its business. However, Intel’s whole livelihood depends on developing fast CPUs that produce very little heat while using very little power. People have been demanding a G5 Powerbook for a long time, but it never has been (and never will be) possible. Intel, however, has put tons of money behind the Pentium M line of processors… which will compliment the Powerbook line of computers perfectly. In the PowerMac line, I expect Apple will be making use of Intel’s new Pentium D CPU, a 64-bit dual core processor. Imagine a PowerMac with DUAL Pentium D’s!
Apple’s switch from IBM to Intel isn’t about lowering prices, or taking on Windows on its own hardware… it is about giving the Macintosh line of computers a roadmap for growth. This isn’t about putting OSX on off-the-shelf hardware, but is about replacing a few components in Apple’s own hardware system that will allow for the ability to increase computing speed as the advancements are made. There may be some nice benefits such as better emulation of Windows, but essentially this announcement is no different to the end-user than if Apple had announced that IBM had provided them a new 3.0gighz+ CPU. There will be a transitional period, but Apple has shown software that I expect will make the transition easy enough. (I expect even easier than Palm’s transition from Dragonball processors to ARM)
Tags: Apple Intel IBM Mac Computers
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