Just some thoughts:
Surely there is some frustration on Jobs' part with IBM. The
promise was that we would see 3 ghz G5's within a year or year and a
half, wasn't it? I don't remember the time frame exactly. Now, IBM
turns around and promises to supply PPC chips to two gaming machines
at that speed. Here we are beyond a couple of years, still not quite
to 3 ghz, with an OS that works great on 64-bit chips but still
working in a world of mostly 32-bit machines, especially the laptops.
How many of us have been waiting for a G5 Powerbook? How long
do we wait for it, knowing that we have an OS designed for 64-bit
machines? More, Longhorn isn't long in coming, if things develop
properly for MS. LH is a 64-bit OS, too. But how much sooner will
the Wintel world have the power of 64-bit portable computing?
Apple has been ahead of the curve on many things. Jobs, no
doubt, would like to keep it that way. So, if IBM can't deliver the
chip that would work in a portable (laptop), and Intel and AMD are
continuing to make advances in ways that IBM has not (90 nm process--
AMD--vs 130nm process--IBM--providing for a cooler chip, for
example), then why not discuss the possibility or even make the change?
But then we need to question the wisdom of the change. Are we
getting caught up in a numbers game? The x86 processors are faster
but they have to be in order to implement greater number of
instructions. (I'm trying to remember what I learned a while back
about the difference between the chips. More instructions, longer
pipeline for Intel and AMD; fewer instructions shorter pipeline for
PPC, leading to the understanding that a G3/450 mhz would be roughly
equivalent to a PIII running 800 mhz, IIRC.) So, is it a game of
perception? Who's ahead of the pack on this? Apple was the first to
have a working 64-bit processor in a computer with software that took
advantage of it to some extent. Apple certainly advertised it with
the advent of the G5. The company certainly wants to keep that
'cutting edge' appearance.
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