I heard that IBM was not / could not guarrentee the supply of G5 Chips (
RiSC P5's ).. So almost out of desparation it was their (Apple's) only
choice.. well they could have gone AMD..

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 3:29 PM
To: G-List
Subject: Re: [G] Tis true: Apple moving to Intel


On Jun 6, 2005, at 15:02, Stephen Jonke wrote:
> See:
>
>   http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html
>
> New Intel-based Macs to make their appearance next year. Software will 
> be distributed in a "FAT" fashion to run on either. Existing PowerPC 
> binaries will actually be able to run on the Intel-based systems via 
> something called "Rosetta", which is described as "dynamic binary 
> translation" or something like that.
>
> Hey, I think this is good news, especially with regard to Powerbooks - 
> there was no future in site for the Powerbook based on PowerPC. The G5 
> showed no signs of being portable, and the G4 is pretty much a 
> dead-end. Apple has to switch to Intel in order to produce a viable 
> laptop. Of course you have to wonder why they didn't go with AMD which 
> seems to be getting the better press, but then if they are going with 
> Intel there is nothing that should stop them from later choosing to 
> use some AMD processors too, at least I wouldn't think so.

Am I the only one who is completely perplexed by this 
switching-to-Intel announcement?  I don't get it.  I see it as a move 
of desperation, done only in order to upgrade the PowerBooks.  And 
Wintel laptops aren't *that* much faster than top-of-the-line 
PowerBooks...

There are a few specific points that make no sense to me:
- it seems to me that Intel is nearing the end of the line with the 
Pentium 4s.
- the future is (was) looking very bright with the G5/Cell processor
- the G5 is a 64-bit CPU; the Pentium 4 is a 32-bit CPU.  Yes, the 
end-user machine might be an Itanium, but the developer machine is a 
Pentium 4, so that's all we have to go on.

It seems to me that this will make it harder to sell Apple hardware:

Buyer: "So this new $1,000 iMac has an Intel CPU in it?"
Seller: "Yes."
Buyer: "So why should I buy it instead of that $300 Dell?  They both 
have the same CPU, Hard drive, and RAM specsi, and they have the same 
USB, Firewire, ethernet, and modem ports."
Seller: "Uhh....."

How are we going to explain to Joe and Jane Sixpack why they need to 
spend the extra money on our beloved Macs?  Is Steve Jobs going to turn 
Apple into another NeXT - software only?  If so, it seems to me he runs 
the risk of turning OS X into another OS/2.  Consider this 
conversation:

Buyer: "So this new $300 Dell comes with Windows right?"
Seller: "Yes."
Buyer: "And to get OS X I have to spend another $130?"
Seller: "Yes."
Buyer: "Why should I spend another $130, more than one-third of the 
cost of the computer, just for an OS?"
Seller: "Uhh....."

I just don't get it.

Daniel


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