Apple, Intel Get Cozy Quickly
from the more-more-power dept
Steve Jobs today announced the first Apple computers to use Intel chips -- revamped iMacs and the MacBook Pro, a replacement for its line of PowerBook laptops. It was just last June that Apple announced it would switch to Intel processors, giving itself a year to deliver the first models, so they're running well ahead of schedule. The computers are fast, too, with Jobs saying they run two to five times faster than the PowerPC-based models they're replacing, with Apple claiming the MacBook Pro as the fastest laptop ever, though those figures are certain to be debated.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
"Twice as Fast"?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "Twice as Fast"
The fact of the matter is that the GHz rating is entirely relative to the FSB and how it processes the data. According to this site ( http://www.systemshootouts.org/processors.html ) the Quad-Core G5 2.5 GHz outputs the equivalent of 6.5GHz Pentium 4. There's other deciding factors, but that's the jist of things.
They're not ¼ times the speed of intel's pentiums, if anything they're about 2.5 times the speed of intel's pentium linup. What does that mean based on your "numbers"? It means the mac uses less GHz to acheive the same results. Which is a good thing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: "Twice as Fast"
I typoed here, I was looking at the shootout score and instead of typing 3.5GHz I typed 6.5GHz, so this is just a clarification.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Wanting to get some pictures, I visited http://www.apple.com/ and found this neat quote:
"What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it's ever done in a PC."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
I think everyone is missing the important issue here:
MacBook?
For the love of God... MacBook?
Steve needs to run that one past the marketing guys again.
They are giving up PowerBook for MacBook... how simply LAME.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Where's the price drops?
If you check the Apple site, you'll see that both the 15" models are $1999. So much for the big discounts. But, now I know it's better for me to just get the latest and greatest.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
I gave Apple a call and the rep told me
"Don't be upset, there is a plan in place as we're one of the only companies that doesn't have pre-releases...call back with your order number from your receipt and we'll work with you on either a discount or an exchange".
We'll see...but feeling somewhat relieved.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
OK, so while writing I found this description in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X
"... Support for the PowerPC platform will remain in version 10.5, though it is unclear how long this dual-architecture support will be continued. Mac OS support for the original Motorola 68k architecture continued for about four years after the introduction of PowerPC systems. A new version of Xcode supports building "universal binaries" that will run on either architecture. PowerPC binaries will be supported on Intel-based Macs using an emulator called Rosetta..."
Paul
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mac && ch33$3
Cheers!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]