On 12 Jun 2005, at 12:11, Neil Hughes wrote:
It's interesting how on some of the other mailing lists there are
people
who are certain that the development machines (3.6GHz P4s) aren't an
indication of what people will be able to buy in 2006-2007 and that
the
final hardware will be much better. I'm not a betting person, so I'm
willing to stick my neck out and say that it's unlikely to be that
different.
Latest rumour points to Apple using Unique Identifier serial number
embedding on Mac hardware to prevent people with non-Mac hardware
using OS X. I can't see that lasting. Still no it can't be all that
different to the current development models but in the past Apple has
designed the chipset for the board from the ground up. The dev.
machines are basically just Intel PC boards in a PowerMac case. The
new Intel Macs will likely be an Apple designed board that uses some
Intel components, including of course the CPU.
Firstly, the instruction set has to be x86 compatible
otherwise the current development hardware is a dead-end. Secondly, I
can't see Apple getting Intel to produce a special line of CPUs for
them
no matter how big the company is. Thirdly, Phil Schiller admitted that
you'll be able to run Windows XP on the new hardware so it has to
be bog
standard XP or x64 edition, both of which require x86 compatibility.
They will use Pentium and/or Xeon CPUs. That much was intimated by
Steve's keynote. I suspect the high-end machines will run Pentium D
chips, while the low end will run P4s and Pentium M mobile CPUs.
Intel may also try to include some of their Centrino technology
components in the laptops but that has yet to be seen and Apple also
have existing contracts with other providers.
For the book I think Phil Schiller is a cretin for mentioning that
about Windows but then someone would have found out eventually :o).
So, it'll be something like a dual core CPU, with maybe a small
jump in
clock speed. Which isn't very exciting, until you consider these
things
might be going into laptops that currently run G4s...
There will be one crucial different between an Pentium D PC running
Windows and A Pentium D Mac running OS X. OS X, and it's accompanying
new intel apps will use both cores, Windows XP and it's software
currently doesn't support Dual Core (I am reliably informed by my man
at Dell, who have just released a Dimension XPS with a Pentium D). I
don't think Pentium D is currently available in laptop form but I
dare say Intel are hard working at it.
...hang on though, all the development hardware has to be returned
once
the new products are released, doesn't it. Hmmm...
That's probably because the development hardware is a kludge, it also
won't run the retail version of OS X Intel because it won't have any
of the Apple chipset features that will be required. I really do
wonder how Apple are going to encourage people to send it back.
Ideally I'd hope they offer a refund of part of the cost. Either way
it's going to be a nightmare. Some will slip through.
We had that problem when XP first launched for 32-bit machines, and
Windows 2000, and Windows 98, and Windows 95, and for the book I bet
Me (I dunno I skipped Me with good reason).
Windows Me....the horror....the horror...
Tell me about it....
--
Mark Benson
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