Apple Switches to Intel
OK - so it looks like Apple will be going with a x86-based chip manufactured from Intel, making the switch by June 2006, and a full changeover by June 2007. Read the Press Release, or for the easily bored, here is a summary:
- Switching is Cool: Apple is switching from IBM manufactured PowerPC hardware to Intel manufactured x86 hardware
- Backwards Compatible: PPC-based software will still work on Intel-Macs via the emulation layer "Rosetta"
- Not Unforeseen Change: OS X has been compiled for the last 5 years on both PPC & x86 - this was a long time coming
- Conversion Easy: Due to the foresight of Apple engineers, Mathematica - a highly complex piece of software - was ported in 2 days
- So What? Well, in the short term, not much. In the long term it means that the roadmap for faster processors will accelerate - which is a Good ThingTM. But for normal users, this is something to be aware of when purchasing hardware - the Powerbooks will finally get faster because the heat/energy use will be solved - but don't put off the purchase unless you can go a year/two years without new hardware.
Again - I doubt that you could actually get this to work on off-the-shelf components; knowing Apple, there will probably specialized hardware for Mac-only. Check out some background from John Gurber. But that doesn't mean that someone will figure out a way to get OS X to work on component hardware.
Details are still pretty sketchy, but in the Keynote (notes here, here, & here) Jobs brought out Mathematica developer Theo Grey of Wolfram Research to demonstrate a newly recompiled version of Mathematica. Apparently it only took a change of 20 lines of code due to the Apple emulation layer "Rosetta" and foresight by Apple engineers. Apparently, for the last 5 years OS X has been compiled at Apple HQ to work on both PowerPC and Intel-based x86 hardware.
This is a developing story, check out the live MacObserver thread.
(this post has been edited)
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This is the permanent home of Apple Switches to Intel. I wrote this post at 13:51 on June 6, 2005. This post is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog. If you liked this entry, why don't you read some other posts such as Watergate Hackery or Incoming? Or you could go to the site archives or return home. All are good choices.
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