Print - Apple Confirms Move to Intel Chips

As expected, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs announced yesterday during his keynote address at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2005 trade show that his company is migrating to Intel microprocessors. The transition will take more than 2 years, Jobs noted, with the first Intel-based Macs appearing in mid-2006.

"Our goal is to provide our customers with the best personal computers in the world, and looking ahead Intel has the strongest processor roadmap by far," said Jobs. "It's been 10 years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel's technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next 10 years."

Apple's move to Intel chips is complex because the company has been using PowerPC microprocessors for the past 10 years. But Jobs said that Apple has been "secretly" maintaining versions of Mac OS X that run on Intel chips. This news isn't difficult to believe: Mac OS X is really just the latest version of NextStep and OpenStep, the latter of which Apple ported to Intel chips more than a decade ago.

To ease the transition, Apple is taking a slow approach. First, Apple will seed developers with a $999 loaner machine that uses the Intel-compatible version of Mac OS X Tiger. The company says that most major software products will require days or weeks to convert to the Intel chips and that a software-emulation environment called Rosetta (named after the Rosetta Stone) will let PowerPC-based Mac software run on Intel-based Macs. The first Intel-based Macs will ship in mid-2006, accompanied by Mac OS X 10.5 (code-named Leopard). Apple will convert its entire lineup of Mac hardware to the Intel platform by the end of 2007.

Although Jobs did answer many questions about the Intel migration, some questions remain. Will Intel-based Macs be able to run Windows? Will standard PCs be able to run future versions of Mac OS X? And what about Leopard? Is it PowerPC only? Intel only? Or both? And how will the company maintain sales momentum, over the next year especially, while Apple preps a coming generation of Intel-based Macs?

Whatever happens, it's an interesting time for the industry. No surprise, then, that Apple is right in the middle of the latest news.   On a personal note, I'd like to thank the many kind Apple fans who took time today to drop me a note congratulating me on getting the scoop on this story. I appreciate it.

BWAHAHAHAH.. no comments! we won't feel this until the end of next year.. sooooo... kind of a delayed reaction on this one.. Will intel Macs be here before Longhorn? yup lmfao

Mac sales have grown 40% in the most recent quarter, in contrast to PC sales growth of about 10%. With Intel chips coming to Macs, I'll be using 3.2Ghz PowerBooks next year running OS X Leopard. It's truly a great time to be a Mac fan. Bill Gates must be crapping himself. And yes, I e-mailed you, Paul--I stand corrected, the rumor was true!

Apple Goes Intel=ATel! ...Ra!!! http://spaces.msn.com/members/theoceanviewnet/Blog/cns!1pUTSZdMLTPVXeNyEkG85SHw!2427.entry

Or, The "MacTel" Computin' Platform! ...Ra!!! http://spaces.msn.com/members/theoceanviewnet/Blog/cns!1pUTSZdMLTPVXeNyEkG85SHw!2427.entry

10:34am PDT - Steve’s hopping through every app. Performance is snappy. He’s playing an H264 movie trailer for something wtih Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. “Ok, enough of that” he says after a few seconds. 10:35am PDT - Here’s the geekout for developers: Widgets, scripts, Java: they’ll just work. Cocoa - Xcode: small tweak, recompile. Carbon - Xcode - a few weeks of tweaking, recompile. Carbon- Metroworks: Move to XCode. 10:37am PDT - There’s a checkbox for builds: “Intel, PowerPC” that makes a cross-platform single binary.

10:33am PDT - “As a matter of fact, this system I’ve been using here…” the keynote’s been running on a P4 3.6GHz all morning”

Why not have Intel in your consumer line, AMD in your gaming/server line, and PowerPC in your workstation line? Why Steve? Why? I was going to buy a PowerMac, but now obviously there's no point. Watch Apple's hardware sales tank for the next couple years. Once again his ego got the better of him (IBM's 3.0Ghz promise)

Jobs introduces Wolfram's CEO, who said they ported Mathematica 5 to Intel-based Macs in 2 hours. Only about 20 lines of code changed.

Once again his ego got the better of him (IBM's 3.0Ghz promise) -- Yeah, totally, he mentioned the promise and said he would not put up with IBM's ****, Intel OS X has been in the works for years as a back up plan.. Seriously.. how does this make him an arrogant delusional *****? Would it have been better if he stuck with a disappointing IBM roadmap?

It makes him arrogant because they are going to do a full scale conversion - when it would be simple for them to sell machines using both processors. The scientific community is going to be especially ****** as Intel has nothing comparable to Altivec. This just as the Mac was beginning to make some serious inroads in the community.

"The scientific community is going to be especially ****** as Intel has nothing comparable to Altivec. This just as the Mac was beginning to make some serious inroads in the community." I'm a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We predominately use Macs, and I regularly use Mathematica for data analysis. But as far as I've been able to find, Mathematica is not optimized for Altivec. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this). The only major program that I'm aware of that is optimized for Altivec is Photoshop.

steve said that leopard won't shop till late 06/early 07. with Mac intel coming out next june. steve actually announced it in style and i was in shock. he was demo'ing dashboard earlier on in the conference and showed some 3rd party widgets... cunningly used a wall st journal or some news searching widget and searched for apple. headline read "apple to switch to intel" or something similiar. a few minutes later the next keynote slide read "its true" and everyone jaws dropped. wowsers. we had all heard the rumors and some guys with courage like thurrott acutally ran with the story early on... but we all thought it wouldn't happen. oh well. lets see what happens if u can get OS X on ur $10 dell box in 2 years.

..even deeper in Apple's labs, a side project has been operating with every version of OS8,9 and X running on a 68060 box. Bring back the 68060!

Does anyone else see this as the final death knell for Windows? Bill Gates has said before that he didn't expect Microsoft to be #1 forever due to the rapidly changing nature of the industry. Apple has already invaded on so many other media turfs. Now they're hitting x86 PC market. Seriously, is anyone excited about Longhorn anymore? Apple seems to be where all the excitement is at now. OS X Leopard a year from now? 3.2Ghz Powerbooks? Yeesh...

Wanna know the crazy thing? That Developer Kit that they're selling is OS X running on a generic Pentium 4 PC. That's right, OS X on a generic PC. All the years of talk about OS X on generic x86, and it's here.

Paul - you can say "I told you so" - oh, I guess you already are... but seriously congrats on getting being right :) News.com is quoting Phil Schiller as saying the new Intel-based Macs won't run Windows, nor will OS X run on any other hardware except Apple's. http://news.com.com/Apple+throws+the+switch,+aligns+with+Intel/2100-7341_3-5733756.html?tag=macintouch

Apple: Think Intel! BWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! http://spaces.msn.com/members/theoceanviewnet/

Apple fanatic two to three weeks ago: "HAHAHA, even Microsoft is ditching Intel with the Xbox 360! Intel is doomed! Power processors will rule eternal! Apple will never go to x86!!" I just want those that uttered those types of comments regarding the Xbox 360, to reflect on todays announcement that Apple is going Intel.

I'll be buying one of the last PowerPC based PowerMacs when they come out and putting it alongside my other museum pieces: Grayscale SE/30, running at 50Mhz NeXT Dimension Turbo Cube Each one the pinnacle of computer engineering for it's time. RIP PowerPC....

Don't forget: "The iPod is part of pop culture, with a 76% market share in portable music players. End of last quarter 16 million iPods sold. 82 percent iTunes marketshare in the month of May." Apple is dominating in music and on its way in dominating PC's with the migration to Intel. My next computer will be a PowerMac with a top of the line Intel processor running Mac OS X Leopard while you WINDOZE LUSERS will still be waiting for Longwait!!! AHAHAHAHAHAA!!! "Longhorn is a Trainwreck."-Paul Thurrot "steve said that leopard won't shop till late 06/early 07. with Mac intel coming out next june." Do you actually think Longhorn will ship by early 07?! HAHAHAHA!!! Try mid 2007 at the earliest, you see, M$ is rushing to replicate OS X Tiger features and wedge them into Longhorn, once M$ gets a peek at OS X Leopard, by now you should expect M$ to delay Longhorn AGAIN in order to pirate OS X Leopard features into Longhorn. You've seen this happen with Tiger. Read it and weep M$ fan-girlz, M$ products are stale and bland.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft takes advantage of this development. Maybe we will see a port of .NET to work under OS X?

dear paul: congradulations on gettin it right this time. you can be rough, but mac fans, of which i am one, should note that you can be just as rough on microsoft as when you noted that 'longhorn is a train wreck,' etc. if i was rich, i would buy you a high-end mac so you could really experience the mac way, the way it was meant to be. hopefully, with intel iside, many people will now have the experience of doing so in the very near future. keep upt the tough, but honest reporting.

"My next computer will be a PowerMac with a top of the line Intel processor running Mac OS X Leopard" But most of you Mac zealots said that Intel sucks so badly! It must hurt to be you right now. Your beloved OS, moving to such a "terrible, outdated" hardware platform. "Does anyone actually think Longhorn will ship by early 07?!" It must suck not having a clue. It will RTM 3Q06 and be in wide distribution 4Q06. "you see, MICRO$UCK is rushing to replicate OS X Tiger features and wedge them into Longhorn." Of course you have no evidence to back this up. But why worry about such things, right? "Longhorn is a Trainwreck."-Paul Thurrot, referring to a pre-Beta build of an OS not due out for more than a year. OS X 10.4 was released unfinished. They had to release a major patch within a week. Apple fanatics: "Microsuck is always patching their crappy software!" The irony continues to drip.

Even if OS X doesn't run on your typical white-box PC this move allows Apple to make that happen at the drop of a hat. Microsoft better watch their back and bring out Longhorn in June of next year or suffer the consequences. http://www.partlysane.com/studio

"On a personal note, I'd like to thank the many kind Apple fans that took time today to drop me a note congratulating me on getting the scoop on this story. I do appreciate it." Ah yes the Thurrott Ego shines through yet again. Better not tell Dvorak, who predicted this about a year ago: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,939886,00.asp

Thurrott bashers you really, really need to get a life. Look at this poor sod: "Will intel Macs be here before Longhorn? yup lmfao" What on earth does that mean? It's like he's talking his own language, except, oh, nobody's actually listening to him. Poor little dog. /capslock on WELCOME TO x86 MACFANS!!!! YOU'RE ONE OF US NOW BWAHAHHAHHWAAA /off

"Anybody remember last time Jobs moved his copmany to intel?" It was bought by Apple?

""My next computer will be a PowerMac with a top of the line Intel processor running Mac OS X Leopard" But most of you Mac zealots said that Intel sucks so badly! It must hurt to be you right now. Your beloved OS, moving to such a "terrible, outdated" hardware platform." It must suck for you to realize that Intel has jumped from the sinking Windows ship to embrace Apple. ROFL ""Does anyone actually think Longhorn will ship by early 07?!" It must suck not having a clue. It will RTM 3Q06 and be in wide distribution 4Q06." Yeah, right, Microsoft never delays anything, haha. ""you see, MICRO$UCK is rushing to replicate OS X Tiger features and wedge them into Longhorn." Of course you have no evidence to back this up. But why worry about such things, right?" Desktop search, widgets, hardware-accelerated windowing, a non-root user account, etc. etc. etc. etc.... ""Longhorn is a Trainwreck."-Paul Thurrot, referring to a pre-Beta build of an OS not due out for more than a year." No, he was referring to the development process of Longhorn and how Microsoft's software group is way too big and can't communicate. "OS X 10.4 was released unfinished. They had to release a major patch within a week." Major patch? They fixed a few remote bugs. Another update's coming this month to fix a few more. Nice spin. "Apple fanatics: "Microsuck is always patching their crappy software!" The irony continues to drip."" The difference is that Microsuck patches to fix endless security holes. LOL

"Apple fanatic two to three weeks ago: "HAHAHA, even Microsoft is ditching Intel with the Xbox 360! Intel is doomed! Power processors will rule eternal! Apple will never go to x86!!" I just want those that uttered those types of comments regarding the Xbox 360, to reflect on todays announcement that Apple is going Intel." M$ fanboys on Windows: "Intel rules! AMD rules! x86 forever!" M$ fanboys on X-Box 360: "PowerPC rules! x86 is dead, Microsoft is looking to the future!" Shouldn't it tell you something when even Intel is abandoning Windows to support Apple, and Intel's CEO is recommending that people buy Macs for security?

"What on earth does that mean? It's like he's talking his own language, except, oh, nobody's actually listening to him. Poor little dog. /capslock on WELCOME TO x86 MACFANS!!!! YOU'RE ONE OF US NOW BWAHAHHAHHWAAA" WELCOME TO POWERPC, X-BOX 360 FANS!!! SIT BACK WHILE INTEL ABANDONS THE WINDOWS SHIP FOR APPLE AS YOU PLAY HALO 3! roflmao

So now, not only is Longhorn cloning all of Tiger's features, but ANOTHER OS X release is coming out next year, and the world's biggest chip-maker Intel has now embraced Apple right under Microsoft's nose? Does anybody care about the crippled Longhorn anymore? It feels kind of deflated now...seriously, not trolling. Are Windows users still excited? Tiger already has its features, and a new OS X is coming out along with blazing fast Powerbooks. And everything will be cheaper too. This is Apple's payback for decades of Windows users bashing Mac for no reason, and for Microsoft ripping off every feature, even down to the freaking Trash can ("Recycle Bin?" Jeesh...).

I sense dismay from Windows fans over this news. I have to admit, it is rather foreboding for Microsoft and its oft-delayed and feature-cut Longhorn. When people start comparing Macs to PCs, they'll be comparing on the merits of the OS now. That's not a good thing for Windows, which is less than stellar and feels old and crufty and ten years older than OS X. 3.4Ghz low-power PowerBooks? I'm already drooling over the prospect. Good riddance IBM for screwing over Apple for the last time!

HOLY CRAP! This means PearPC will have 100% performance OS X on a PC. Goodbye forever, Windows...the day of reckoning has come

It's like Apple can't do any wrong this year. Keeping internal x86 builds of OS X? What a hedge-your-bets, awesome way of corporate management. In contrast, Longhorn's management is so messy that Paul called it a "trainwreck." Of course, he also said "OS X is simply better than Windows" ;)

"3.4Ghz low-power PowerBooks? I'm already drooling over the prospect." Ah, newbie Apple users... That would mean it would be P4 (Prescott) based. You don't want that. Too hot, too power hungry. You want a Pentium M based Powerbook at 2.2 - 2.4GHz (currently), which clock for clock kicks the a$$ of the P4 Prescott. By next year, Pentium M or it's decendants will probably be around 2.4 - 2.8 GHz, and dual-core. Now THAT is the notebook to drool for. Pentium M is simply the best mobile chip on the market, and will continue to be. #2 is the AMD Turion.

"I sense dismay from Windows fans over this news. I have to admit, it is rather foreboding for Microsoft and its oft-delayed and feature-cut Longhorn." Not from this Windows fan. I'm excited. Competition is good. And I wouldn't mind trying out OS X if Jobs doesn't hack it up and limit it to MacTel hardware only. If I could run it on VMWare or dual-boot with XP, perfect. What I hate is the Apple fanatics, keep in mind I'm not referring to the Apple enthusiasts that are sensible and courteous, who take news like this and instantly proclaim the death of Microsoft as if they can see the future, and act like a superior race of computing-Nazis over Windows users. Why don't we see how things shake out when the MacTel hardware hits the market, and then make some projections based off of REAL information? At this point it's all pure speculation. But hey, I guess that's all zealots (on both sides) need to launch a new round of warfare. IDIOTS.

"Paul has already suggested that Apple are likely to stick to supporting only Apple hardware." THAT SUX. I'm a Windows fan. I love Windows XP. And I would be more than willing to give OS X a fair shake if I could install and run either in VMWare or dual-booted with WinXP. If OS X really is the bees kneesm, and I like it more than XP, I'd probably convert. However, I will not buy an (expensive) Apple just to try out OS X. Come on Jobs, throw us Windows users a bone if you want us to switch. Give us a way to try it out. And I mean for days and weeks, not just walking up and clicking on a few icons at Best Buy. Even time limit it or whatever. Don't make Windows users buy a whole new machine just to try out your OS.

Mac zealots said that Intel sucks so badly! --- Tee hee.. yeah that's it.. we're all hardcore IBM zealots at heart.. The 'claim' has always been that PowerPC runs similar speeds at much lower clock speeds.. By the time you figure this out Apple will have been on Intel for 6 months.. just forget about it.. Mac users really don't care about Intel/AMD/IBM.. they care about Benchmarks.. and MOST IMPORTANT.. that it doesn't run WIndows. For gods sake.. no WIndows.

"It must suck for you to realize that Intel has jumped from the sinking Windows ship to embrace Apple. ROFL " Intel was trying to get apple to use their processors for over 10 years now. Open a history book before u spread ur bs. Tiger is a great operating system. However, it's downfall is it's cost. Intel chips cost almost twice as much as powerPC chips. IT's just gonna make macs more expensive. Unless apple somehow it's mac line. 2 weeks ago you were touting how inferior the intel processor line is. Now you are predicting microsoft's demise. Wow talk about fanatical fanboys.

Come on Jobs, throw us Windows users a bone if you want us to switch. ---------- ****! Why are you so out of the loop.. A Mac mini.. designed for Win users is $500. You can play around with a Mac at an Apple Store.. of which there are like 100 in the US (any major city) or.. egads.. one of the thousands upon thousands of Mac resellers.. what exactly are you asking for?! Macs are NOT expensive at all.. do your homework.. read about the Mhz myth.. check benchmarks.. damnit

"R.I.P. PPC" R.I.P.??!! Are you kidding?! This time next year there will be millions of Xbox 360's and Playstation 3's running on the PPC archtecture. Seriously, Apple was small potatoes as far as IBM was concerned. Big Blue is probably quite happy to be rid of Steve Jobs and his massive ego.

Goodbye Apple computers. I just can't wait to see how Dell owners will be able to partition OS X on their hard drives now. I just can't wait to see Apple put themselves directly in Dell's market competition, being on the same hardware platform with the same processors. Steve, you may stick around with awesome software but you just made a plan to eliminate the Apple computer. Why would anyone switch from PC's to a mac now when you can get mac software and OS X on a PC that will remain cheaper than Apple computers. Now I have to prepare to watch OS X get hacked up by Winblows users just like XP. x86 is the most **** socking platform in existance, thanks Steve for taking the wind out of Apple's momentum.

Two years ago when I first discovered iTunes on my PC it didn't make me switch to Apple, I just continued to use iTunes on my PC. Although iTunes dominates, it's still most widely used on PC's not macs. If mac software goes x86 compatible for Intel based machines, you can bet that those programs will be available for PC. For that matter like some of you have stated, OS X itself may be able to be available on a PC like Linux is. If that's the case, Apple's computer sales will dwindle. I will never have to buy a mac to have OS X anymore!

What all this means: -Cheaper macs. -Faster, more powerful macs. -More of the market for Apple. -Intel leaving MS based machines for Apple. -Devout software developers for Intel x86 platform converting to mac. -Games gallore on macs. -Gamers will have to shut up about how macs suck because they'll be on the same hardware configuration now. -Dell's worst nightmare just came true. -Most importantly, Microsoft's head-to-head battle with OS X is even more of a reality. Longhorn is having trouble keeping up with OS X 10.4, but now we know that when Longhorn is finally released.. it will be in the shadow of 10.5! How ironic, just as everyone expected. What will MS do if 10.5 blows 10.4 away? I'd say MS is in big trouble. And on top of 10.5, it will be released by an all new line of x86 Intel based macs which will have blazing hardware specs. Simply amazing. Slowly but surely, Apple is weeding their way into the mainstream market and killing MS from the core.

"Cheaper macs. " Nope sry the intel solution is twice as expensive "Faster, more powerful macs" I thought the mhz myth was a myth and the powerpc was by far the more modern processsor 2 weeks ago? "More of the market for Apple. " Less market due to the ability to install windows on a mac but not being able to install tiger on a pc "Intel leaving MS based machines for Apple. " They would leave 95 percent of the market? YOu gota be kidding me. Intel for over 10 years wanted apple to switch to their processor line, even when their market share was less than 1 percent "Devout software developers for Intel x86 platform converting to mac " NO software would be HUGE issue. Developers will need to rewrite code line by line deep down. "Games gallore on macs. " I thought 2 weeks ago the g5 was better at gaming? Seems to me the powerPC line seems to be great at gaming considering the xbox360, ps3, and revolution all use powerPC chips. "Most importantly, Microsoft's head-to-head battle with OS X is even more of a realit" Really? Apple will still use macs. Let me u in on a secret. The average consumer HAS NO FREAKING CLUE WHAT X86 MEANS OR IS. "What will MS do if 10.5 blows 10.4 away? I'd say MS is in big trouble" I thought mac os X.1 was suppose to do that to windows xp?

Less market due to the ability to install windows on a mac but not being able to install tiger on a pc ------ LMFAO!!!! Oh yeah.. that's right.. Mac users are dying to install Windows... HOHO.. Oh my lord. that was funny.. If you're not using a Mac for OS X, why would you own one?

What will MS do if 10.5 blows 10.4 away? I'd say MS is in big trouble" I thought mac os X.1 was suppose to do that to windows xp? --- It did.. and does.. you're actually aguing the extent to which OS X is vastly superior to Windows? Holy ****.. nice little moral victory there.. Leopard will drop right before Longhorn

Paul needs to stop trashing Longhorn and just stop the mac zealotry altogether. this site isn't http://www.macinformant.com after all IF Longhorn blows us all away (and I'm willing to bet it will) Paul will say "it's the greatest thing since Win3.11" STOP BEING 2 FACED PAUL .. pick a side and stick with it .. and trashing MS based on an OS Alpha doesn't really show any professionalism on your part Paul ..you of all people should know what an OS alpha build should be all about and you trash it for what it's not ..real smart there Paul

IF Longhorn blows us all away (and I'm willing to bet it will) --- You're gonna be blown away in 2007 by a pale imitation of ... OS X Panther? *cough You ask far too much from MS

I don't know why people think that just since Apple is going to Intel chips that it suddenly means that all of these things are going to happen. Why would there suddenly be more Mac games just by switching to Intel? It is still the Mac OS software you have to design and compile it for. That has been the stopping point, not the processor it is on. Heck, Linux has been on x86 chips all along, and I don't see game manufacturers suddenly porting to that platform. Since Apple is a software AND hardware company, I can't see them anytime soon allowing for their software to run on non-Apple approved devices. Remember, Apple tried that years ago licensing the OS. Apple wants to continue doing that, since they make money by selling the hardware. IF the Mac reaches critical mass, that is the only time that I can see Apple letting loose the grips and allowing the Mac OS software to be installed on non-Apple machines.

THINK INTEL Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"STOP BEING 2 FACED PAUL .. pick a side and stick with it .. and trashing MS based on an OS Alpha doesn't really show any professionalism on your part Paul ..you of all people should know what an OS alpha build should be all about" Honest to God. There is no "side". It's a computer, you moron, not a religion. Paul doesn't have to "choose a side", unless he's at Wendy's and has to decide between the salad and the chili. Paul is a tech reporter. Not always a good one, but still...he's got more experience in his little finger than most of you jacka**es have in your teeny little brains. Get over it.

welll no surprise. everybody who knows apple hardware benchmarks are wired to favor the mac knows the power pc mac architecture is crap. good move for apple.

Ah Paul. It was a big story and you managed to nail it first. Congratulations, today must be a good day, a very good day. The most important things though are those that haven't been said today, specifically what other opportunities this opens up for Apple . What other devices can we expect to see in the future. One things for sure, it just gave you plenty of material on which to speculate and report, right up to and through the transition. Yes Paul, it a very good day !

"****! Why are you so out of the loop.. A Mac mini.. designed for Win users is $500. You can play around with a Mac at an Apple Store.. of which there are like 100 in the US (any major city) or.. egads.. one of the thousands upon thousands of Mac resellers.. what exactly are you asking for?! Macs are NOT expensive at all.. do your homework.. read about the Mhz myth.. check benchmarks.. damnit" What exactly is your point here? To completely ignore mine and go back to propaganda? Here I say I am a Windows user, fully willing to give OS X a chance when it hits x86, and you attack me for it? What is wrong with you? I said clearly in my post that I did not want to have to buy a whole system (yes, even a Mac mini) to try out OS X. Why should I spend $500 (plus keyboard, mouse, etc.) just to try out an OS? My point was that if Jobs makes OS X available for all x86 machines, even on a time limited basis, he will probably convert a lot more Windows users. Also, I said that I want the opportunity to REALLY test OS X... for days, weeks even. I don't want to spend 30 minutes clicking a mouse in an Apple store. Oh, and I know all about the MHz myth, thank you very much, even though it HAD NOTHING TO DO with my post. My AMD Athlon 64 2.4GHz kicks the azz of any Pentium 4 up to about 3.6GHz. I don't need your lecture on the MHz myth. Thank you for attacking a Windows user willing to give your precious OS a chance. Good image of Mac users.

Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee ho ho ho ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are the opinions of the Windowz kids about Intel, the world's largest chip manufacturer, jumping ship from the Windows titanic and embracing Apple? You guys will be using Macs in a year. LOL. "THINK INTEL" I'm confused, does that mean you're bashing the X-Box 360's PowerPC? Hahaha...

God, what a horrible week for M$ fanboiz. First, it's revealed that 16% of the world's computers are actually Macs. iPods are 90+% of the market. Nobody cares about VC-1/WMV anymore thanks to Quicktime H.264. And now Intel has openly embraced Apple and will be powering future Macintoshes? Steve Ballmer's response was hilarious, something about "implementing networks" that didn't even make sense. M$ has gone off the deep end...Paul is right, Apple is at the center of the tech industry right now.

"OS X is simply better than Windows. Especially for power users." - Paul Thurrott "Longhorn is a trainwreck." - Paul Thurrott

"THINK INTEL" I know, now that Intel has abandoned the sinking Windows ship and embraced Apple, what are M$ fanboiz going to do? Rattle on about how great the X-Box 360's POWERPC PROCESSOR is? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

I think it was said officially but if not then whatever, but Apple will LOCK OSX for their hardware only, but you can still install Windows on a Macx86 box. Why do this? simple really, OSX doesn't use DirectX. Why does this matter? all Games use it. In the end though, recompiling apple software for x86 sounds interesting, what's stopping it from running on Windows now? Do I even need OSX to use something like iChat etc? It's like linux users using WINE to run windows apps. I see the samething going on. And saying no one cares about VC-1 and WMV? VC-1 is a part of the next gen HD-DVD/Blu-ray format, all players will support it and use it etc. Oh and H264 is so great OSX can run it blah blah, All next gen video cards can run it IN HARDWARE no cpu usage, you guys can go ahead and run it in software though no big. And longhorn is ****?? None of us know what's going to be in the OS at this point, the last build was a driver system lock for developers. Beta 2 is the thing to look at. And going on and on about OSX 10.4, over what? Spotlight? Desktop search doesn't excite me at all, but if the mac fanboys get a hardon about it oh well.

>>Apple is dominating in music ....snip Not for long, when the **REAL** Apple sues Apple's arse off in court over their move into the music industry.

"Anonymous" quotes Paul as saying: "OS X is simply better than Windows. Especially for power users." and "Longhorn is a trainwreck." Be careful. This is the same guy who said "The iTunes Music Store is now officially toast" when buymusic.com was introduced. Then, the DULL DJ/Creative Zen/Whatever Player of the Week was going to kick the iPod's arse. The results? "The iPod controls 76 percent of the market for portable digital music players (all players, including flash RAM and hard drive models)." "Apple has sold over 430 million songs from the iTunes Music Store as of early June 2005." "The iTunes Music Store controls 82 percent of the market for online music stores as of May 2005." Paul has a shaky history. He and Rob Enderle hold the record for pronouncing Apple Computer "dead" or "dying". Clearly, you need to take Paul's "predictions" and pronouncements with a grain of salt. Every know and then he's right...but even a broken watch is right twice a day.

"It did.. and does.. you're actually aguing the extent to which OS X is vastly superior to Windows? Holy ****.. nice little moral victory there.. Leopard will drop right before Longhorn " In terms of market share, no. In terms of best platform. Preferance. As intel users switching to mac. Why would they do that for a chip. most consumers dont' give a damn. As long as it's an affordable computer. This move will only make macs more exensive. mac will also lose some of it's most devot supporters.

Intel is switching to macs, not putting more emphasis into PC's. This wil no doubt be the biggest spotlight Intel has had since the Pentium 4, everyone in the tech world is going to be watching this to see how it turns out. And some of you on here are acting like it's Apple who's going down. All the publicity this has already, in one day, brought to Apple is enough to foresee them benefiting from this move to Intel.

I don't feel that Intel can produce chips which result in a faster, more powerful computer than the Dual G5 PowerMacs running at 5.3GHz. There is a such thing as a MHz myth, that is a fact. Intel kills AMD with MHz, but they get their *** handed to them in benchmarks like there's no tomorrow. BUT, I do feel that Intel has chips out which exceed 1.33GHz G4 processors, which can be found in brand new iBooks. That architecture and CPU is so many years old now, that I feel Intel can do better than that. IBM couldn't produce a G5 chip that will not melt the Apple notebooks. Intel will no doubt surpass IBM on this issue, so yes, that means FASTER MACS THAN EVER BEFORE. You people are sitting here running Pentium 4's, bragging to your buddies about how badass it is, yet if it's gonna be in a mac it's not gonna make it any faster... whatever. Intel is also cheaper than than IBM, the cost of fabricating G5 processors is enormous! Intel chips WILL make the price of Apple computers go down, which have been steadily dropping in prices anyway. You people need to get a grip, Apple will no doubt benefit from this move.

This move will only make macs more exensive. mac will also lose some of it's most devot supporters. ------------------ Why? No. You don't know that. Furthermore.. the thing about ******* off Mac users.. *shrug.. that's your opinion.. Mac users just want great computers running OS X.. I don't see why they would have **** for IBM chips.. like I said before.. it's not like they were all IBM zealots at heart..

to correct the person a couple posts above, I'm assuming you are calculating "Dual 2.7GHz G5" as a total GHz of 5.3

***"Intel leaving MS based machines for Apple. " They would leave 95 percent of the market? YOu gota be kidding me.*** No I'm not kidding you. Intel does not have 95% of the market, you're a little miss-informed or you are clueless. Intel is in massive competition with AMD right now, who is kicking their *** in benchmarks, and has been for the past year and a half. AMD has taken over a third of Intel's market in the past year alone, and Dell is the only company who is honestly handing out lots of Intel machines, only because they don't sell AMD because of their contracts with Intel. Apple also owns market on the big scale of computer market. You must be thinking of those vague figures of MS shares in comparison to Apple. Well let me let you in on shares... They are tallied up sale related numbers for the year in simple terms. They ARE NOT install base!!! I have an iMac G3 from 1997, running OS X 10.4, fully up-to-date. Just because I haven't bought a new mac every year for the past 8 years doesn't mean I don't own one! You're obviously confused on the difference between computer owner market, and market shares. If you replace your PC once every year for ten years, does that mean you own ten PC's? No, those numbers only affect shares. Not market install-base. Apple will no doubt see a rise in sales due to moving to a widely popular processor manufacturer, and Intel is no doubt directing attention towards Apple right now and not Dells and HP's.

***"Intel leaving MS based machines for Apple. " They would leave 95 percent of the market? YOu gota be kidding me.*** Windows is not 95% of the market dim wit. And with Apple going to x86, the market playing field is even more level for Apple to compete with MS based machines than before. Especially with all these Intel fanatics, who will be opt to testing a mac now that it is run on Intel.

UGH I'm so sick of hearing this whole MS is 95% of market hooplah. That's not what it is anymore, MS is losing their market figures right now, and it is true no matter who likes it or doesn't like it that Apple has seen a dramatic rise in both shares, and this so-called "maket install-base" since the iMac G5 of last September alone. You people have been saying that same figure of 95% since 1998! It's not 95% anymore, let go of it already. Anyone who has been keeping up with recent computer sales and the computer market knows that Apple is the only one who is doing really well right now. iPods are dominating MP3 players, and iTunes is total dominance of audio media right now, and it has been that way for the past several years. This is not a news flash people! MS having 95% of the market still is such blown out of proportion bs that the record has to be set straight. Yes, MS does have a fairly large gripping sum of the market still, but by no means is it that high. Even when MS was in its' prime with Windows popularity at the turn of the century, I was still skepticle of that 95% figure. Linux has nearly 3% of the market. So how do you guys figure Apple only has the remaining 2%? You're in a little bit of denial if you think MS is that dominating and Apple is that small.

OK, maybe not 95% of the market, but definately more than 90%. Your in denial if you think that Apple is that big. You can twist the numbers in any which way you want, but the overall figures will still end up the same or similiar. I've seen certain web browser stats that show Linux at a slight advantage over Mac's on surfing the web. Not a totally scientific number, but when you compare the sales volume of Intel and AMD, and the general sales volume of Windows. I don't care if every Apple user still uses the original Mac, that is an awful lot of momentum to contend with. I love the spin of this "Yes, MS does have a fairly large gripping sum of the market". Fairly large gripping sum? What does that mean? I think we all can see that Windows has 90%+ market share easily. We really don't need to go much beyond that, do we? Whether it's 90, 89, 94, or even 85, it still really doesn't matter does it? It's called market dominance. You Apple people really need to bring to the table a better argument, since the market share issue is dead.

Nov 21 2005 just in time for Christmas Apple will introduce WintelMac, the first of its Intel based computers. The computer many firsts for Apple and some surprises for the Apple user and computing community: Intel's dual core P4 @ 3.5 GHz [First time Apple computers do 3+ GHz] [First time Apple's achieved high performance achieved with just one chip] ATI x9000v [First time Apple uses ATI's 'top' video card] Intel's DFDC5004VX motherboard [Apple's first x86 mobo] Surprise! Return of the floppy! Surprise! No Firewire! Instead the system will have fourteen USB2 ports AND the BIG Surprise .. right out of the blue from a secret laboratory and co-developed by Apple and Microsoft: Microsoft Windows for the MacIntosh! Celebrate good times, come on! There's a party going on right here. A celebration that will last thoughout the year. Good times! And laughter too! We're gonna celebrate and party with you! Ha ha ha .. Ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!

"HAHAHA, even Microsoft is ditching Intel with the Xbox 360! Intel is doomed! Power processors will rule eternal! Apple will never go to x86!!" And now: "Apple is dominating in music and on its way in dominating PC's with the migration to Intel." This is precisely the reason why you Mac freaks are just NOT helping Apple one bit. Why on earth would I want to join the Apple crowd when so many of you have such a poor attitude? You guys actively reduce my interest in Apple products.

Just to make a few comments on the posts i've read here so far. 1. As far as Intel jumping the M$ ship, dont know bout that, the partnership is good, besides Intel sells chips, not OS's... 2. Who says that you will be able to install MacOS on any x86 machine? There are windows oem versions, tied to specific hardware after all... 3. The market/install/whatever share M$ has has nothing to do with Intel, there are other chip manifacturers after all... 4. There arent only 3 OS's in the world you know... there are the BSD's, the other *nix derivates and a whole lot of open source OS's that are being developed with the idea to have similar functionality to BeOS, Windows or something else...

The move to x86 processors was somewhat antisipated, since a while back Apple introduced Darwin, an open source project, using the core of MacOS, without the fancy GUI. It has version for both x86 and PPC processors... And as for MacOS X being based on NeXTStep and OpenStep, Paul, read a bit more, the kernel is a modified FreeBSD kernel...