Not a Rumor Anymore: Apple WILL move to Intel (Was: Re: Rumor Mill: Apple explores use of Intel chips)

[Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade]

On Jun 6, 2005, at 4:54 PM, Andrew Lentvorski wrote:


>> Remember that Apple's choice of Intel really just determines the  
>> instruction set.  Apple and Intel are going to sit down and put  
>> together a reliable and well-engineered logic board for the Mac.
>>
>
> Doubtful.  My guess is that Apple will very shortly quit doing much  
> board design at all.
>
>
>> They don't have to accomodate all the things that x86 PC makers do  
>> for the sake of backwards-compatibility (why is it that my 3.0GHz  
>> Pentium 4 can still run DOS?)
>>
>
> Apple isn't moving to x86 because they like the processor (in spite  
> of the Reality Distortion Field, PowerPC has a much better CPU  
> Power/Electrical Power ratio--Apple wastes this advantage in their  
> systems for reasons discussed below).  They are moving to x86  
> because they like the ecosystem.
>

You make a lot of good points, but I'm not entirely sure that Apple  
is going to go all cutthroat in PC design.

SGI proved that you can build an x86-based system in a very quality  
manner.  Apple, likely, will show the same fact.  I honestly don't  
expect Apple to ditch things like Open Firmware, quality hardware  
design, and the level of integration (from the POV of an end-user)  
that they have in the current PPC-based lines.

Who's to say that Apple isn't going to refocus the R&D budget from  
building the necessary chipsets for their PPC systems into building a  
better x86 system?  It's not like Apple's hardware division is  
unprofitable.  To the large percentage of Apple customers, this  
change won't mean much at all, especially if they do the transition  
right.  There will be some pain, sure, but nothing like the  
transition from 68k to PPC or "Classic" Mac OS to Mac OS X.  Yes,  
Apple made a lot of people upset today, but they'll go get themselves  
some espresso, calm down, and evaluate whether they'll continue to  
support Apple.

Yes, a goodly portion of what the HW people are doing now can be  
outsourced to multiple competing vendors, something which will help  
Apple even more in the long run.  Being limited to single-sourcing  
critical parts in their systems has hurt Apple in recent times when  
it comes to product announcements v. actually shipping said announce  
products.

I'd argue that Apple _does_ like the x86 processor, even in direct  
comparison with the PowerPC, but they _also_ like the ecosystem and  
the economies of scale that the x86 ecosystem will afford Apple.

As with all things, one _must_ adopt a wait-and-see approach.  I'm  
wondering if I can scrape together the money I'd need to join the ADC  
and get one of the development systems...

Or if the wife would even let me. :)

Gregory

-- 
Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade <gkade at unnerving.org>
OpenPGP Key ID: EAF4844B  keyserver: pgpkeys.mit.edu



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