New Macs to be Intel based
New Macs to be Intel based
Arnawa Widagda, Contributor, Jakarta
In a surprising turn of events, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs announced at Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference on June 3 that Apple Computer will be using Intel processors for their 2006 line up.
Traditionally, Apple have used RISC PowerPC processors jointly developed with Motorola and IBM.
This move has been the substance of rumors and speculation for some time, but until now it has always been regarded as "just a rumor".
Steve Jobs cited performance as the main reason for the move.
"As we look ahead, and though we've got great products now, and great PowerPC products still to come, we can envision great products we want to build, and we can't envision how to build them with the current PowerPC road map", said Jobs in his speech at WWDC.
He later added, "When we look at future road maps, mid-2006 and beyond, we see PowerPC gives us 15 units of performance per watt, but Intel's road map gives us 70. And so this tells us what we have to do."
While this move is a big surprise to everyone, Apple is no stranger to x86 processors such as Intel and AMD processors.
They have had an operating system built for the PC ever since MacOS X was launched.
The UNIX derived, popular MacOS X actually shares the same kernel and development tools with the open source Darwin operating system which is available for PowerPC and x86 processors.
The main difference between the two is the absence of Aquathe, the much-celebrated MacOS user interface. Technically, there should not be a problem porting the entire MacOS operating system to run natively on Intel processors.
The biggest concern for many Mac loyalists and users is software compatibility. Jobs stated that for existing software to work on the new, Intel-based Macs, they will have to be emulated and this task is done by Rosetta -- a software emulation layer built just for that purpose. Apple is no stranger to emulation and Rosetta should make the transition much less painful for most users. However, not all applications will be supported by Rosetta.
Another concern is how will Apple differentiate their products with other PC vendors. Steve Jobs stressed that Apple will always have a different, more complete approach than other PC manufacturers who rely on Windows.
In product design, Apple have stayed ahead with original and popular products such as the original iMacs and iBook. Jobs also said that although the new Intel-based Macs will be able to run Windows, they will come with the new MacOS X by default. However, MacOS X can only be installed and run by these Macs. So, PC users will still have to get a new machine if they want to use the MacOS.
Most people in the industry believe that this bold move by the Cupertino based company is a step in the right direction. The new Macs should be faster, more affordable than before, plus they will be more accessible to users. Hardware manufacturers tend to launch their PC peripherals first, so this means PC based Macs do not have to wait longer for the Mac version of these peripherals. People tired and wary of Windows security issues now have another alternative operating system to use other than Linux.