(wouldn't surprise me at all......wonder how many 'real world users' could afford such a box if this was the case.....rf)
Extremely powerful Pentium system used to demo Mac OS X on Intel http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1117 By Katie Marsal Published: 01:00 PM EST Macintosh developers are expressing concerns related to the speed and optimization of Apple's OS running on Intel chips after word spread quietly yesterday that the computer used to showcase Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" on Intel hardware required four Pentium processors to perform demos at respectable speeds. AppleInsider has been able to corroborate reports that the Intel-based Mac demonstrated by Apple chief executive Jobs on Monday included four Pentium 4 processors running at a speed of 3.6GHz each. It's believed Apple required an extra boost in the quad-pentium system to highlight Rosetta, a dynamic binary translator used to convert existing PowerPC binaries to run on the Intel platform transparently to the user and in real-time. In demonstrating Rosetta, Jobs launched several applications successively -- including Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Words -- but performed very little data manipulation from within the applications. It appeared that the quad-pentium system ran the applications at approximately 80% the speed of a current dual-processor Power Mac G5. On the other hand, native applications such as Apple Mail, iPhoto, Safari and others were snappy and performed well. Still, it seems Apple will likely be unwilling to discuss the actual real-world performance of the Mac OS X running on Intel for quite some time. In a multi-page agreement associated with Apple's $999 Developer Transition Kit, developers must agree "not to publish or release the results of any benchmark tests run on the" system. Apple has also mandates that developers not modify the system, nor should they relocate it from its original point of arrival without the company's prior written consent. Developers who agree to rent a transition kit must return it to Apple within 7 days of December 31, 2006. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
