NationStates Jolt Archive

Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006

WWDC 2005, SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2005—At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS® X Tiger, running on an Intel-based Mac® to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple’s software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

“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 Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel’s technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years.”

“We are thrilled to have the world’s most innovative personal computer company as a customer,” said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel. “Apple helped found the PC industry and throughout the years has been known for fresh ideas and new approaches. We look forward to providing advanced chip technologies, and to collaborating on new initiatives, to help Apple continue to deliver innovative products for years to come.”

“We plan to create future versions of Microsoft Office for the Mac that support both PowerPC and Intel processors,” said Roz Ho, general manager of Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit. “We have a strong relationship with Apple and will work closely with them to continue our long tradition of making great applications for a great platform.”

“We think this is a really smart move on Apple’s part and plan to create future versions of our Creative Suite for Macintosh that support both PowerPC and Intel processors,” said Bruce Chizen, CEO of Adobe.

The Developer Transition Kit is available starting today for $999 to all Apple Developer Connection Select and Premier members. Further information for Apple Developer Connection members is available at developer.apple.com. Intel plans to provide industry leading development tools support for Apple later this year, including the Intel C/C++ Compiler for Apple, Intel Fortran Compiler for Apple, Intel Math Kernel Libraries for Apple and Intel Integrated Performance Primitives for Apple.

Intel (www.intel.com), the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.


Source
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html

Yes, Apple is going "Intel inside"

PS I own a broken AMD K5/K6, Apple LCII, and Intel Pentium and working AMD64 and Intel P4.

PS I own a broken AMD K5/K6, Apple LCII, and Intel Pentium and working AMD64 and Intel P4.

I have a literal stack of sit-up-and-beg Macs sitting in the back of my cupboard: something like one Mac Plus, two Classic II, an SE/30 and a couple of other varieties. Damn things are useless these days, but just far too cute to throw away

I have a literal stack of sit-up-and-beg Macs sitting in the back of my cupboard: something like one Mac Plus, two Classic II, an SE/30 and a couple of other varieties. Damn things are useless these days, but just far too cute to throw away

You should see my collection of memory - DRAM, SDRAM, DDR-RAM (256K to 128Mb). Not many people have owned an 286-XL maths co-processor either or Voodoo Banshee video card.

My NEW video card has two heat sinks each side of it ...

I have a dual P3 800Mhz machine.

1 Athy64

a P3 500

1 working UMAX PowerPC (Mac Clone) and a couple of PPC based performas (as well as about 30 hulk units stacked in my basement.

a DEC AlphaServer 1000RM (3 units) (Digitial Semiconductor EV45 "Mikasa" Alpha Processor, 266Mhz, 64bit...)
and a Compaq AlphaServer ES40 (Alpha CPU EV68, 866Mhz, 64bit...x4)

I wonder if the new Intel-based Mac OS is going to work on my Athlon64 3200+ system?
It should on my P4 1.7Mhz laptop :)

Someone had told me about this two weeks ago (though your thread name is misleading … the PPC really died before the new G5 when they switched to IBM for processors)

I wonder if the new Intel-based Mac OS is going to work on my Athlon64 3200+ system?
It should on my P4 1.7Mhz laptop :)
Don’t think so … I believe they are looking at sticking with RISK instead of CISC

Someone had told me about this two weeks ago (though your thread name is misleading … the PPC really died before the new G5 when they switched to IBM for processors)

Actually I found a rather destroyed ad for an Apple G5 system in my bag (stuff you forget about). The specs were just like my current NEW PC except the processor is an 64-bit Athlon64 3200+ and not a G5. In essence, the Mac and PC aren't that different now - same components different CPU. Now, the Intel PC is the new Apple PC except the OS is Apple.

I have a dual P3 800Mhz machine.

1 Athy64

a P3 500

1 working UMAX PowerPC (Mac Clone) and a couple of PPC based performas (as well as about 30 hulk units stacked in my basement.

a DEC AlphaServer 1000RM (3 units) (Digitial Semiconductor EV45 "Mikasa" Alpha Processor, 266Mhz, 64bit...)
and a Compaq AlphaServer ES40 (Alpha CPU EV68, 866Mhz, 64bit...x4)
1 )Dual Opteron 248’s machine
1) P4 3.2 ghz HT
1) P4 1.6 ghz
1) P3 450
1) G4 PPC

That are running and up … another 4 assorted without OS installed

Actually I found a rather destroyed ad for an Apple G5 system in my bag (stuff you forget about). The specs were just like my current NEW PC except the processor is an 64-bit Athlon64 3200+ and not a G5. In essence, the Mac and PC aren't that different now - same components different CPU. Now, the Intel PC is the new Apple PC except the OS is Apple.
No I mean apple wants to stick with the RISK processors … they are going Intel but they WANT to keep with the different instruction set

They want Intel to make a RISK style for them (this is not yet set in stone)

Meaning even same brand of processors does not grantee they will be cross platform compatible

Don’t think so … I believe they are looking at sticking with RISK instead of CISC

I'll have check up on what the Mac OS X Tiger can run on.

I'll have check up on what the Mac OS X Tiger can run on.
Anything if you re compile the core but that’s not something you would normally want to do :p

No I mean apple wants to stick with the RISK processors … they are going Intel but they WANT to keep with the different instruction set

They want Intel to make a RISK style for them (this is not yet set in stone)

Meaning even same brand of processors does not grantee they will be cross platform compatible

It will be interesting what they do bring out. The Intel processors are weird - CISC with RISC features.

Sneak peak!
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0506intelmac.html

This seems to be a good place to ask this...

I was planning on buying an iMac this fall (which is, of course, before they switch to Intel processors). Would this be a bad idea? I mean, would it end up that I spend $2000 on this computer and find that shortly after I get it software is no longer being made for it?

In other words.. should I buy now, or wait until the switch is done?

Someone had told me about this two weeks ago (though your thread name is misleading … the PPC really died before the new G5 when they switched to IBM for processors)

PPC was initially a joint IBM/Motorola adventure..... The G5 was the first one produced after Motorola sold their stock in PPC out to IBM (Giving IBM complete control); the G5 was still, however, a PPC CPU. Before the G5, the CPU's were produced by BOTH IBM and Motorola, so there was no real "switch" involved....

This seems to be a good place to ask this...

I was planning on buying an iMac this fall (which is, of course, before they switch to Intel processors). Would this be a bad idea? I mean, would it end up that I spend $2000 on this computer and find that shortly after I get it software is no longer being made for it?

I don't think there will be major incompatibility problems. As long as programmers rely on the official Apple guidelines and program for the APIs then it shouldn't matter so much what platform you're using.

Of course, there are always going to be some issues, but most software should be ok.

PPC was initially a joint IBM/Motorola adventure.....
What's Motorola up to these days? Are they still in the CPU business?

No I mean apple wants to stick with the RISK processors … they are going Intel but they WANT to keep with the different instruction set

They want Intel to make a RISK style for them (this is not yet set in stone)

Meaning even same brand of processors does not grantee they will be cross platform compatible

Agreed.... I'm not sure if they all know this, but since the P2/AMD K6 all intel-compat. CPU's have been RISC cored; using a CISC translation layer for backwards compatibility with the x86 instruction code (they take x86 instructions; but translate to RISC86 inside....)

It's RISC BTW, not RISK (Reduced Instruction Set Computing), vis CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing). [DSP forms, also there are lesser known forms, such as ARM, ARM-Core, and M-Core; but mostly used in embeded designs; HP Graphing Calculators in the HP-4x series use ARM-Core "Saturn" CPU's; which can actually handle raw math expressions, without reducing to simple levels...)

What's Motorola up to these days? Are they still in the CPU business?

Cell phones, and a hell of alot of handheld, and other embeded market technologies....

they got out of the CPU business, because they could make more in the embeded market... They were loosing money; since they used IBM for their process manufacturing anyway; it was just cheaper to offload the PPC to IBM (who was the one actually manufacturing all of the PPC's, regardless of the name stamped on the housing....), and who helped motorola in design specs for its development....

Motorola is till going just dandy in their main market...

I don't think there will be major incompatibility problems. As long as programmers rely on the official Apple guidelines and program for the APIs then it shouldn't matter so much what platform you're using.

Of course, there are always going to be some issues, but most software should be ok.

Ahhh. That makes sense. Thanks a lot. :)

As you can probably tell, I don't know an overwelming lot about computers or anything. :P

This seems to be a good place to ask this...

I was planning on buying an iMac this fall (which is, of course, before they switch to Intel processors). Would this be a bad idea? I mean, would it end up that I spend $2000 on this computer and find that shortly after I get it software is no longer being made for it?

In other words.. should I buy now, or wait until the switch is done?

Do not let this news announcement affect you. Buy whenever you were planning on buying... Apple will support the PowerPC architecture for at least 5-6 years, as their next OS release, 10.5 Leopard, will be PowerPC supported (not due out for awhile yet as Tiger just came out)... I am planning on buying a Powerbook laptop in summer 2006 and it is most likely going to be still IBM based, and I'm not worried, because PowerPC will be supported (because of dual binaries that allow cross-platform applications) and software will still come out for it during the likely lifespan of the computer (4-6 yrs).

This topic was done before.

Meh.

It's a little too little too late.

Even with an Intel, they will probably be the most expensive computers out there. Companies aren't going to be changing brand names simply because Apple went Intel.

There only hope is that there are companies that still run 98 and NT and have old hardware. However, the price will probably keep them out of that market as well.

We have 3 apples in this company. The cube(crap)and a G5 (not bad but expensive) which the marketing people use.

I am currenting testing one of their G5 RAID setups. Not bad and we will probably get one since the terabyte costs are pretty cheap(they are desperate). But, this will not open up access to the desktops. Nobody in our industry uses them(Electronic Design Architecture). As said before they are in a Catch-22 here. We won't write software until there is a demand. The customer won't try it until there is software.

Ahh well. The Mac wars were fun. I ran Mac networks before joining the Dark Side.

I still have a Mac 512. Had a mac Laptop and still have a PowerMac 8500.

Hmmm I am probably going to ebay all my old mac software and games. Many packages, compilers, and games. It's surprising that people still want this old stuff.

Agreed.... I'm not sure if they all know this, but since the P2/AMD K6 all intel-compat. CPU's have been RISC cored; using a CISC translation layer for backwards compatibility with the x86 instruction code (they take x86 instructions; but translate to RISC86 inside....)

It's RISC BTW, not RISK (Reduced Instruction Set Computing), vis CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing). [DSP forms, also there are lesser known forms, such as ARM, ARM-Core, and M-Core; but mostly used in embeded designs; HP Graphing Calculators in the HP-4x series use ARM-Core "Saturn" CPU's; which can actually handle raw math expressions, without reducing to simple levels...)
Yeah sorry typed up in word and auto corrected without me seeing it lol