I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple switch back to Freescale and IBM procs.
I would… you don’t announce that you’re completely switching architectures, get your developers to rewrite all their software for the new architecture, alienate many current customers, etc. just to flip flop on the issue and go back to the old architecture.
They aren’t really “completely switching” to Intel because they’re still going to support the PPC architecture through 2008. Universal binaries will make the switch back to PPC a non-event because all the software will already be compiled for that architecture.
Secondly, it’s not like Apple hasn’t done all this before. Think about it, they could have initially released OS X for X86 instead of dragging Mac users through two separate painful transitions back to back but they choose not to. Apple will get fed up with pirated X86 eating into their sales and all the complaints coming from people who see Apple offering sub-par specs (and now they can’t blame the chip manufacturer), their price protection will take a major hit, profits will slide, and they’ll quietly start pushing PPC based Macs more than Intel based ones.
All somebody will have to do is take one look at the word “celeron” on the spec sheet for a mac and will immediately know what they are getting.
Secondly, it’s not like Apple hasn’t done all this before. Think about it, they could have initially released OS X for X86 instead of dragging Mac users through two separate painful transitions back to back but they choose not to.
Believe it or not, there was a time when Mac OS X’s Classic environment was important.
Indeed, and since OS 9 can only run on PPC hardware…
At any rate, this transition will be a non-issue for me for the foreseeable future; I’ll be on PPC hardware for the next three years or so, barring disaster.
All somebody will have to do is take one look at the word “celeron” on the spec sheet for a mac and will immediately know what they are getting.
Though I am not certain, I doubt any Macs will be Celerons for the first few years. The G4 Macs will be upgraded to the Pentium M and the Power Mac and Xserve to Woodcrest, the coming server/workstation chip. The iMac is the only possibility—will it get Conroe?—but I feel that it is sufficiently high-end to get a Pentium-level Conroe and escape the Celeron fate.
And again, these conjectures assume two conditions that are not guaranteed in the least.
First, that Intel’s chip brands will remain as they are. That is, Merom will be called Pentium M, Conroe will be called Pentium D and Celeron, and Woodcrest will be called Xeon. We cannot be assured that this will be so.
Second, that the Mac lineup will not change: that there will continue to be two varieties of laptop, one SFF desktop, one CRT all-in-one, one LCD all-in-one, and one tower. But we can rely on this assumption least of all. On the contrary, the transition year will see the Mac lineup change dramatically. More on this later, if you can’t guess why.
All somebody will have to do is take one look at the word “celeron” on the spec sheet for a mac and will immediately know what they are getting.
Or not getting, because I think it’s very unlikely that Apple will put Celerons in their computers, even the low-end ones.
Perhaps, Apple would need a heck of a deal with intel though to keep the current prices in the later model macs. It would have to be a small fraction of the price they charge for standalone Pentiums.
All somebody will have to do is take one look at the word “celeron” on the spec sheet for a mac and will immediately know what they are getting.
Though I am not certain, I doubt any Macs will be Celerons for the first few years. The G4 Macs will be upgraded to the Pentium M and the Power Mac and Xserve to Woodcrest, the coming server/workstation chip. The iMac is the only possibility—will it get Conroe?—but I feel that it is sufficiently high-end to get a Pentium-level Conroe and escape the Celeron fate.
And again, these conjectures assume two conditions that are not guaranteed in the least.
First, that Intel’s chip brands will remain as they are. That is, Merom will be called Pentium M, Conroe will be called Pentium D and Celeron, and Woodcrest will be called Xeon. We cannot be assured that this will be so.
Second, that the Mac lineup will not change: that there will continue to be two varieties of laptop, one SFF desktop, one CRT all-in-one, one LCD all-in-one, and one tower. But we can rely on this assumption least of all. On the contrary, the transition year will see the Mac lineup change dramatically. More on this later, if you can’t guess why.
There’s a Celeron version of the Merom and Yonah also.
My guess is that the Mini, eMac, and iBook all get Celeron’s, the PowerBooks, and iMac’s get Pentium’s and the PowerMac gets the Xeon. One high-end PB and iMac will have dual-core as will the PowerMac but nothing else.
Ugh, the greengrocer’s apostrophe. I don’t like it.
a punctuation mark (?’?) used to indicate either possession e.g., Harry’s book; boys’s coats) or the omission of letters or numbers (e.g., can’t; he’s; class of ’99).
or
an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified).
You never know. Apple could maintain their higher prices and put Pentiums in everything. (maybe a celeron in the Mini)
Which high prices?
Apple may be dropping their prices, but they aren’t the lowest out there. You could say, “you get what you pay for”, and that may stand even after the switch.
I never knew that’s what it was called. You learn something new everyday.
Mainly because it’s not really an American term. Even the word “greengrocer” is not one you’ll generally find here. I believe it’s mostly a British term, although it seems they use it up in Canada as well.
