Apple switching over to x86 from PowerPC

[root]

stil doesn't answer the question about devices though...

apple also intend to stop designing/making their own motherboards instead opting for more generic ones...

suddenly all PC hardware will fit apple computers...

people will write 3rd party drivers for things like their graphics tablets, modems, scanners etc...

for the most part in the earlier years most blue screens were not caused by windows but by the 3rd party drivers and applications...

the question is will the same thing happen?

 

[iamroot]

I think security and safety are things that Apple is gonna have to give up in order to hit mainstream. It's a neccessary sacrifice.

 

[Tulsileaf]

In no way are the Intel lines better than PowerPC. Pentiums continue to be slower in terms of flops. Apple switched, as far as I know, because PowerPCs are not in line for much improvement and there is no known way to put a G5 in a laptop. Frankly I wish they went with AMD. I also hope that they will continue to offer PowerPC based Macs in the future.

Now this reminds me of why I used to hate Apple. They constantly change the base technology of the Macintosh leaving older computers behind as junk. First the switch from 68k to PowerPC, then the switch from classic to NextStep/OS X and now this. On one hand improvement is good. On the other it means that PowerPC users can expect to see fewer new software. Now if people want to keep up, they have to upgrade their cpus or buy a new Mac.

 

[root]

the ppc ran slower (clock speed) generating more heat and using more power, they were also massivly more expensive...

in the mean time us x86 users we experiancing leaps and bounds in terms of pushing boudries, both in construction terms and speed. the unfriendly 96nm processes are being dropped in favour of going even further into the submicron, and heat related performance is on the up too...

IBM couldn't compete... power PC was a weight around appls neck. the fact that IBM started to get a 'little funny' about production scales -Ie they couldn't deliver, and that fact that they couldn't produce a low power chip were just the last few nails in the coffin.

after years of touting how much better ppc was in terms of everything apple have finnaly given up and got with the winning side!

 

[Tulsileaf]

well yeah, i guess Intel could be saidd to be on the winning side. Pentium 4 has reached the speeds of the G4 in terms of flops. the newer ones with ht probably close in on the g5. so i suppose it is just a matter of time before its no contest about superiority. though i'm told that the powerpc is still favored over the pentium for making supercomputers.

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

You don't make a Super Computer with a Pentium full stop You make one with a few hundred Itaniums, then you get a SuperComputer that can face a PowerPC SuperComputer.

It really depends whose Benchmarks you go by, the independent people who say the G5 is only as good as it is, which is not very, because its on a Generic PC made of only a certain type of bits from one company. Or Apple, who compare it to a Xeon

 

[Delta1]

If you read deeper and ignore Mr Jobs somewhat (it has to be done to get the real story on things) you'd also find another major reason Apple has switched.

IBM didnt deliver the processoer Jobs wanted, boo hoo, Mr Jobs as we know is an eletist asshole. Apple make up 3% of the desktop market.

How many people do you know with a Mac? How many people do you know with a games console?

IBM just got the contracts of all three major games consoles. More people have consoles (or multiple consoles) than people who have Mac's.

Do you see what I'm getting at? IBM dont care one bit about Apple, they said themselves (I'll try and locate the quote) they would not miss Job's and his whiney demands.

Not only did IBM not have the 3Ghz chips Apple needed, nor had G5's cool enough for laptops, IBM where not particulary intersted in supplying them ether!

IBM basicly told Jobs to GTF, and Jobs had nowhere to go. He would never return to Motorola, he's slagged them off too much. Nobody else can produce these chips to a decent standard in a short time.

Enter Intel. They're a large company with reliable history, they have the facilitys to produce sufficent supplies of Apple, and they have a chip that is as powerful as the G5 and alot cooler.

But dont be fooled into thinking this was a sudden desision, Apple has been looking at x86 since before 2000.