Comments on: Intel Inside Apple At Last

by: Kelmon

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:56:57 +0000

Mac hardware is a bit of a sticky topic. On the one hand, it is definitely more expensive (with the arguable exception of the Mac Mini) than comparable systems but on the other hand it tends to use very good components and be exceptionally well designed and put together. For example, my PowerBook wasn’t cheap and a PC laptop will run rings around it these days, but I’ve still yet to see another one that has a better screen.

Apple knows a few things very well and good design is one of them. We might not like the look of it now but the old iMac was a revolution in its day when the only competition was beige PC towers. The same situation continues today with both the new iMac and Mac Mini being revolutions in design when compared to the accepted norms. The performance could use a kick in the pants (although is better in some areas, such as wireless) but the system design is far better than anything else you see from other manufacturers. I’m just really afraid that this kind of focus on design details will be lost if future Macs are made by the likes of HP (although, give them their due, HP PCs aren’t bad looking).

The only good outcome from this could be if a similar deal happens with OEMs as was performed with HP for iPods. HP can build and market HP-branded iPods but the iPod itself is exactly the same as a standard Apple verion. In that respect there probably isn’t much in it for the OEM (no differentiation probably makes for little incentive to make Intel Macs or whatever they’d be called) but would at least hopefully maintain some degree of quality.

by: Cyrris

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 11:15:45 +0000

OK, well I don’t know exactly what to think of that. Some serious competition against Microsoft is good, no doubt about it. But I don’t like the idea of Intel being in charge, partially because I don’t like the outlook for AMD if this all comes to pass. And I like AMD. I like them a lot.

I don’t care so much for Mac hardware itself, as it was always more expensive and lacking performance in areas I care about, but I can see why this whole thing would be bad for the legions of Mac fans out there. The switch from IBM to Intel seems to be displeasing enough, but a merger of this kind would leave them gutted, I dare say.

Still, I think this is one of those “Wait and see” things.

by: Kelmon

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 11:01:38 +0000

Hmmm, I just came across an interesting article that extends the Intel Inside announcement to state that Intel may in fact be looking to takeover Apple entirely and that the WWDC announcement was just a precursor. Effectively the article cites Intel's displeasure with Microsoft to be the driving force (not enough new operating systems to drive PC sales and then using IBM for their new console) and the desire to "take them on". While such a merger, based on the facts presented, seems plausible I cannot say that I like the idea at all. Given that the article suggests that Intel would allow OEMs to create OS X-based systems, it seems that this would be the death of the Mac hardware. That, I think, would be a shame as its a great thing that differentiates a Mac from a generic PC.

by: Kelmon

Thu, 09 Jun 2005 07:22:34 +0000

Games-wise the major problem for the Mac is DirectX, and probably the relatively small market (although I wonder what proportion of the PC market plays games). If OpenGL can be made to be a strong force against DirectX (I really have no idea on the relative merits of either at the moment) then it would make sense for existing developers to use OpenGL rather than DirectX since they could tap into 2 markets with little additional effort. This would be a real win for the Mac but I am not sure if it will happen, although I know that Apple are pressing for it.

I think next year is going to be a very interesting year…

by: Vermouth

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 14:35:22 +0000

I’ve read a few pieces of conjecture, without any solid proof to back this up, that IBM may not have been responding to what Apple wanted. It makes sense as providing all 3 consoles with their CPU is a way way way bigger fish to fry so to speak than dealing with Apple’s 2 percent of the PC market.

Just for the record i see this as a good move for Apple really. I mean for one thing the consumer electronics segment may be Apple’s best segment at this point. I mean I’ve not bought an Apple computer ever and wasn’t really likely to do so. But an Ipod I do have, and if they can make something as nice and cool for Movies then I’m all for it. I’d even consider trading in my Linux Laptop and PSP for a Ibook(or whatever their low-end laptops are called) and movie player. I’d also hope that this could make development of a Mac version of PC games even easier or something that could really be done without much work so we’d see them. I’d reall start to consider a mac at that point for my next machine.