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Mac/Intel

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Yirimyah, Jun 19, 2005.

  1. Yirimyah Gems: 11/31
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    Remove all ads!
    Some of you may be aware that it was recently announced that Macintosh would be dropping the IBM PowerPC processors to move to x86 Intel processors, because Mac forsees Intel having better performance and better performance per watt, and in fact, every release of OSX has been for powerPC and intel. There is a lot of questions about this, notably why intel? AMD has better processors at the moment for less money and Intel still doesn't seem to be able to get dual-core and 64-bit on the same processor. As if that wasn't enough, Intel continues to be stupid and use Pentium 4 processors in the Pentium D chips. Long-term, with more and more cores, this will be a huge problem- if each Intel core is 0.5 gigaflops slower than each AMD one, then with 10 processors, you're seeing a 5 gigaflop performance deficit. So why? The author of This link says Intel and Mac are merging, maybe an attempt by Jobs to make Macs the normal computers, an aim which many would say he failed when Mac backflipped and said that no, only they could make Mac systems. The questions here are are they merging, can Microsoft or AMD do anything about it if they are, and what? Such an alliance would be one to be feared- the industry standard processors in the one of the best operating systems around, and more importantly the fastest growing brand being part of the top dog processor company.

    EDIT: Oh, and I nearly forgot. In a masterpiece of timing, Dell says they'd sell Macs. Of course, there may not be much difference in 10 years.
     
    Yirimyah, Jun 19, 2005
    #1
  2. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    At this point, it's just a lot of guesswork. No one knows anything for certain. I wouldn't be surprised if it were true, however.

    The question is, how is Jobs going to be able to sucker people into buying overpriced Macs now, when they'll be equivalent to every other PC on the market in terms of hardware. I doubt nice designs and OSX are going to cut it. PowerPC was a large part of the exclusiveness that powered (no pun intended) the Mac fan base.

    Of course, there are about a million benefits in terms of all the extra software that becomes available to Macs this way, but with it also comes the plague of a million problems PC users are faced with. Mac had some extra protection because of its obscurity outside the US before. Now that's gone.
     
    Taluntain, Jun 19, 2005
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  3. Yirimyah Gems: 11/31
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    There's some conspiracy theorists saying that they want people to steal the new OSX and run it on their X86 PCs, because the special edition does not update online . I suppose they think that the downloaders won't be able to make themselves go back.
     
    Yirimyah, Jun 19, 2005
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  4. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Here's what some of the insiders in the market are saying about the move to Intel:

    What's really true is that it's better deal for Apple than for Intel. Apple only sells a few million PCs a year; HP and Dell sell that in a month. So Apple will only be a small customer for Intel by those standards.
     
    Chandos the Red, Jun 22, 2005
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  5. Mithrantir Gems: 15/31
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    Maybe the fact that Apple is turning to Intell for processors does not necessarily means that these CPUs will be Pentium. The big news in that story, is that the switch is from a tottaly different architecture of the pc (mac) to the common one (x86). Now we will be able to buy an apple and do the upgrades we want, and cheaper.
     
    Mithrantir, Jun 23, 2005
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  6. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Good point. And it's good to see you back again, Mithrantir. :wave:
     
    Chandos the Red, Jun 24, 2005
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  7. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    The Apple/Intel development board is released, and it's a Pentium 3.6 it can run Windows XP as well :)
     
    Morgoth, Jun 24, 2005
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  8. Yirimyah Gems: 11/31
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    @Chandos:
    True, Apple is only 2% of the market. But it has wider implications - that's the end of the last mainstream competitor to x86.
     
    Yirimyah, Jun 27, 2005
    #8
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