Love the Mac

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[Camaban :The work and pleasure of a mad, fictional, pre-historic monument builder] Scoble on why Apple go x86: Now of course, it's not JUST because of this new laptop, more the general idea that x86 processers (which might explain why Intel and not AMD, as much as I prefer AMD as a company, Intel do have the better mobile CPU's) have the technology to run more efficiently when it comes to power/heat. Still 'IBM' laptops are one of the market leaders, and it won't harm the Apple brand at all to be running on some of those.... Add in Toshiba, Sony and one or two others, and you've got a lot more corporate pulling power.... (If I was buying a laptop, I'd probably go for the Toshiba Tecra M4, that is a slick looking tablet and I've been impressed with Toshiba build quality in the past)

[Isaac Freeman: Blog] Greatly Insane: The presentation by Steve Jobs went on at some length about how smooth the change is going to be, and Apple certainly has experience at managing these sorts of things. Existing PowerPC software will run through a just-in-time translator with a smallish performance hit, and developers will be able to compile native Intel versions of their software very easily and release them in a bundle so that end users don't have to know or care about the difference. It's been an open secret for years that Apple has always had in-house versions of Mac OS X running on an Intel-based PowerMac, and Jobs demonstrated the current 10.4 version running smoothly.

[benhourigan.com] Apple on x86: a gamer’s perspective: -based products from the PowerPC architecture to x86. Online responses have been varied, commenting on what effect the move will have on Apple’s sales, Linux, and Microsoft. I haven’t seen any writing that’s been especially enthusiastic about it from a user’s perspective, but I think that’s because a few effects of the transition have so far been missed.

[r teh cush] Apple hearts Intel!: It wasn’t a big surprise for me, I read a lot of techsites in the morning, and saw it coming. Jobs said that this doesn’t mean we can run Mac OS X on non-Apple branded hardware. Check out the sites below for more in-depth coverage.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » Steve Jobs, like Howard Hughes, Mystifies: First, this deal is going to be all about the laptops, especially those which can handle OS-X nicely, are light weight and consume less power. Because if that was not so, then Apple could as easily have signed a deal with AMD, which makes better x86 chips for the desktop. IBM has failed to deliver the low power consuming yet muscular versions of its G5 chips fine tuned for Powerbooks. Secondly, I think Apple will exploit Intel’s chips for often rumored Tablet PC, that could have features in common with Nokia 770 tablet.

[Houseofwarwick.com] house of warwick : house of warwick: In this situation, a problem getting high-performance, low-power processors from IBM - such as a special new version of the "G5" - could be critical. Intel, meanwhile, has made great progress on low-power processor technology, an effort that will continue to be funded by its near monopoly on the personal computer market. IBM and Freescale (the Motorola spin-off) have no equivalent source of sales to fund such massive investments in chips, assuming that Apple can't use the same Cell technology IBM is producing in great quantity for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo game consoles.

 [Tuaw.com] The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): Granted I'm stuck in my ways with Microsoft, but for one main reason: marketshare. There just isn't enough hot apps for my liking (apps not created by Apple.) At the current pace it looks like Apple will never have more than 5% Moving to or adding x86 capability could be key to making ground on MSFT. While I agree PPC is superior to x86, lets give credit where it is due: to the OS. The BSD core and stability and OS X experience is what makes Apple appealing.

[Blog.informationweek.com] InformationWeek Weblog: That same May when the PowerPC co-development effort was announced, Texas Instruments jumped into the x86 market with a 25-MHz 486 microprocessor. TI joined the likes of Cyrix and Chips and Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices in trying to steal away market from Intel. PC processors are now running at multigigahertz, and only AMD remains as an x86 competitor. The vision of an Apple PC that run can run x86 software, however, remains intriguing.

 [Blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com] seattlepi.com Microsoft Blog: Addendum: Barry, in the comments below, makes the good point that the phrase "decidedly non-Apple product" isn't exactly right, at this stage of the Xbox 360 development process. As widely reported when the console was unveiled last month, Xbox 360 game developers are using Apple Power Mac G5s until the actual console hardware is available to them. There are similarities between the IBM processors in the Macs and those that will be in the new Xbox console. See CNet's story on the subject for more background.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Apple, Apple, OSX, Steve Jobs, Osx, Love The Mac