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Apple Planning Intel iBook Debut for January?
axonis writes "Apple is planning to release its first entry-level iBook laptops with Intel processors next January at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret." From the article: "Apple will almost certainly tap Intel's forthcoming Yonah processor for the iBooks, a successor to the company's Pentium M. It is unknown whether Apple will go with a dual-core version of the processor, slated for release in January, or a single-core version, which Intel announced in August would be delivered shortly after the dual-core version. The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks."
How many programs have "fat" binaries, with intel versions?
"Oh, and one more thing...That whole thing about switching to Intel was just a joke..."
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
Well, it should be no surprise, after that high-end Apple laptops improved *not* *one* *hertz* on the high end since January. Still this is pretty big news, since the PowerBook has had to advance in every other area in the interrim--backlit keyboards, scrolling trackpad, now high-density displays.
But it will be nice to again have a PowerBook that is actually somewhat fast.
When you buy an Intel PowerBook, you're buying into the most evil technology imaginable -- technology pioneered by Microsoft, but adopted by Apple! Apple plans to incorporate so-called "Tamper-Resistant Code" into Mac OS X, and you can't spell "Tamper-Resistant Code" without TPM.
I will continue to use my Linux boxen, both desktop and laptop, with the knowledge that I only buy hardware which I am permitted to hack with at my own discretion.
I'm not Seth Finkelstein. I still speak the truth.
What the hell does "Intel ready" mean? That sounds like a PPC iBook which can have an Intel chip swapped in, which is nonsense. Is this just another meaningless headline from our illustrious editors?
Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
-kfg
Leaked Picture link here!
Surely if Apple announces an Intel based iBook, an Intel based Mac Mini will be there too? Or will follow very shortly.
Sam
Does that mean the next january which will occur or the next one after 'this' january. The first seems way too soon (three months!).
God I hate this particular phrase. It confuses me almost every time. I wish we had some clearer system where we would just say a number before the month/day to indicate how many away it was for small numbers. So instead of next january meaning the first january after this we could say 'the first january' and the next one would be 'the second january'.
So could someone please reply and tell me which it is. Also wouldn't hurt to add it in the story.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
I'm guessing they'll go with the single core since the gap between the ibook and powerbook is already so small, especially the 12" versions.
(personally, I don't see the point of the 12" powerbook at all. imo the ibook looks a lot better at 12" - the metal look suits the larger laptops better since they are wider and seem thinner. the 12" powerbook looks like a fat, heavy piece of metal. ymmv)
Is if they continue to put cheap stuff in their entry-level machines which are still always going to be more expensive than the windows equivilants. Specifically in the ram and video card department. I mean the people who want OSX anyway are always going to pay a few hundred extra because they want that but to increase market share and become more mainstream I really think they have to make sure they offer the right ammount of power/screenquality/ram/whatever else for the $ , not just a cool physical design.
Although I'm very (VERY) interested to see what Apple's design crew comes up with for these Intel-based machines, the real drama is going to involve watching OS X make its way into the wild, whacky world of x86 commodity hardware. Surely this is going to be one of the most sought-after hacks in the world after the first final release of OS X Intel hits the streets. God help whichever Apple lackey is within 100 yards of SJ when this happens.
Wow, not only bad spelling but not even first post. I'm impressed. Can't wait for Intel iBooks... how long till Apple release a review version, eh? :)
Could not open
So what stage are at in the Apple Product Cycle? My money is on Stage 2.
...of Edinburgh pub.
"I don't see a need for Apple to go much below $1,000 unless they are going to offer a really low-end iBook with really low-end features," he said. "Cheap (Windows-based) notebooks are just that. Cheap. They have low-resolution, small hard drives, little memory. Apple doesn't need to compete their. They could keep the price the same and offer more. If you're going to lower prices (on iBooks), then lower them on the high end, and add a third, higher-end model that comes at $1,299."
Spelling nazis rejoice!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Well nice try: would have been funny if you actualy got the first post...
Does anyone appreciate the irony in Microsoft using the PowerPC chip in its XBox and Apple using Intel in its laptops? Both need to implement "on the fly" code conversion to maintain compatibility with older programs. I wonder who has done a better job at an universal converter. (With the XBox 360 some programs have not been made compatible. I wonder if Apple can hit 100%?)
Of course, as of right now Intel is behind the curve in performance compared to AMD. Presumably if MS can get custom PPC chips, Apple will be getting the hottest and latest Intel chips--maybe even custom.
perhaps Apple can use the single-core versions for iBook to enhance batt life, while using the dual-core on pBook to highlight the differences between the 2 lines of notebooks.
Don't you mean they're? Hoffentlich bin ich richtig!
I just bought my PowerBook G4. But then again, it runs all my current software/games flawlessly. As much as I love my Macs, any time I've bought first gen products they've been sub-par. I think I'll wait a year or two so that there's a good enough collection of native software available.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Starting to look jealously at some of the offerings out there in the PC world.. not paying powerbook prices for the 12" one they have, and it'd be nice to have widescreen. My 15" albook is nice but kinda big to be really portable.
I'm sure apple won't dissapoint though.. been waiting to upgrade like many powerbook owners currently.
What will be interesting to see is what happens to VirtualPC.. no CAD tools for OSX, so that's the only alternative out there.
..don't panic
low-resolution
Oh, does that mean that they're finally going to raise the resolution on the iBooks from the pathetic 1024x768 that it's been since 2001?
Apple says they'll deliver something by a particular date, and instead deliver it six months earlier. That's very cool. Microsoft should learn from them and stop promising and then failing to deliver products on time.
"Greater than current G4" isn't setting the bar very high, especially if they go with the dual core chip (which would certainly be nice). I hesitate to risk a flamewar by asserting that current Pentium-M's are already a lot faster than the G4, but they are, so I will.
Ive been waiting for this for a while.
but my question is, will i be able to dual boot in xp/os X ? I need XP for work, but also want to be able to use OS X.
If an apple box permits me to do it, I'll be buying quickly
Don't count on this. I think this is way off base and the reason is is in a recent podcast I had someone mention that Leopard is still very ALPHA. It's not quite ready. Sure, hardware could be, but the OS port probably isn't quite there yet.
Gorkman
They will dedicate one core to drawing graphics, and the other core will be dedicated to playing games.
"The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks."
Could? The dual-core Yonah's had better deliver performance better than any of Apple's current laptop lineup. One of the main reasons for the switch to Intel is the sad state of Motorola and IBM's low-power chips.
Other places are indicating that Apple will release the Powerbooks first because the higher performance CPUs are what Intel has available now, with the lower performance ones coming in the Spring.
Not news. Merely rumor.
- Jasen.
That phrasing seems to imply that that's the first place they'll be showing it off. And the processor comes out January or Feburary (dual core or single). So I don't forsee being able to buy one until Feb/Mar, since Apple usually announces then releases a month later, right?
A price break would be nice, since that's what the article predicts. I'd like to see that extend over to Apple cutting prices on the higher end desktops when they go Intel, because that'd be something I'd really want to buy.
The question that the article doesn't answer for me is this: will this iBook be able to use Windows stuff? Other signs point to yes. In that case, Apple having software vendors being slow to adapt isn't a big deal to me.
...is apple going to continue to use airport wireless for their notebooks, or they going to transition to Centrino? I mean, it's already got a (basically) Pentium M in there...
Leaked photos of the upcoming P-p-p-powerbook
How does a 7-person democracy cut a pie? Into 4 pieces.
...how they implement the instant-on stuff. None of this "hibernation" crap, when I open my powerbook, I start working. Done and done.
And it it can be easily implemented on Intel arch, why hasn't it been done?
Some people use next meaning the one after the coming, while some use to refer to the one coming.
I heard someone tell me that the difference stems from which of the major colleges you went to, but I find that hard to believe.
Look at an old story, all the posts will say "October", or "July" or some such month, but no year. How do I know if I'm looking at a discussion from last year or three years ago? Apparently we're just supposed to know.
Next January is the January that is coming up next, ie. January 2006.
Actually, a German would probably say "Hoffentlich habe ich recht."
The announcement date (Jan 2006 at Macworld San Francisco) makes sense: January sales figures are flatline.
Apple, usually makes new product announcements on January:
* 2005 - iPod Shuffle
* 2004 - iPod Mini / XServe G5
* 2003 - 20" Cinema Display + New Powermacs + New iBooks + iLife + Safari + Final Cut Express
* 2002 - New iMacs + 12" iBook + iPhoto + OSX installed by default on new machines...
* 2001 - Titanium iBook.
mootion.com - Never underestimate VCs stock options (was: Web 2.0)
Why would they want a dual-core laptop? I thought the idea was to not burn the juice?
I mean I do development work on my laptop but when I need the serious power I use my desktop boxes sitting in the basement. To me the value of a laptop is partly in the availability of cpu power but mostly in the fact I can take it with me.
So why would I pay the likely 2700$ or whatever for the newer Powerbooks when an 1100$ laptop would suit me just fine?
Anyone with half a brain would invest in a desktop where replacing components is cheaper. Why pay a premium for a cpu that only works in a laptop where something as simple as swapping an HD can take a few days if not weeks and possibly more money than just buying the drive...
I'm all for new PentiumM cores [e.g. yonah or whatever] but only if it's smaller, lighter, equally fast [or faster] than before while not costing significantly more.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
So a dual core new offering might be as good as a 2+ year old G4??
Is the Pentium M really that bad? Is the G4 really THAT good?
...what's the truth here? Are Intel processors more powerful than Motorola/IBM? Has Apple been lying all this time regarding the performance of PPC vs. x86? Why did Jobs sell out to IBM? Remember how anti-Big Blue he used to be? What's going on? More to the point why did MS decide to flip-flop with the Xbox 360 (should have been called Xbox 180, but I'm sure they don't "get" the difference either) and go with a... PPC? So if Apple has been lying all this time and x86 is actually the better architecture, why did they lie to begin with? Was it a poor business decision that they wanted to cover up? Or is something else entirely going on?
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I wonder if they will sell many laptops before, oh, say, Q3 2006?
* Holiday sales: Who will buy PowerPC iBooks (or other Mac hardware) during the holidays, with the Intels coming out in January? If you want to keep your computer for a few years, as many consumers do, you'll want the Intel.
* Version 1.0: Who wants to buy version 1.0 of the Intel-based Macs, fresh out of design and off the production line?
* No apps: Who wants to buy a platform with no native apps?
http://www.theinquirer.org/?article=27770
Suggests that the lowest power ones are initially dual core (presumably the single core ones are failed duals and the yields are coming out ok or something).
So more likely to be dual.
1024x768 is fine on a 12.1" screen. Granted the 14" should be 1400x1050 or 1280x1024. I like 1920xwhatever on my monitor at work but on a laptop that would be crazy. I have a T42 thinkpad and 1400x1050 is small enough. I won't get a 15" that is 1600x1200 either. I guess it's all in your desired application. When I need a high resolution I go to the office or my office at home and hook up to a big flat panel (It's kick ass btw). The sad thing is I got it when it first came out for $1299. Still a good deal compared to my Apple Cinema Display though...
Rumor, probably, but here you go.
High-end users would be slower to adopt anyway. People who use Quark held off on OS X for a long time.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Think their marketing message is that it is 'revolutionary', and hence 360. xbox 180 would be saying whatever we did last was wrong and we are going a totally different direction, but that isn't the message they feel is correct. They want people to perceive that they have been getting it right, but this next console will revolutionize things along the path they demonstrated, but not abandoning the overall strategic direction.
Yes, it marketize and is confusing, but xbox 180 clearly would send the wrong message regarding their confidence/commitment when the last platform didn't totally bomb. Now other companies that have had horribly bad reputations have done things like say 'we screwed up and learned, try us again', but if their isn't the wide perception of screwing up, the message would just be bizarre.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
The highly reliable sources ThinkSecret often cites, most of the time produces so, so predictions.
Statments like "The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks." does not sound too reliable. Why on earth would Apple intro systems with less performance than current models -- and I am not just thinking in terms of real processsor performance, but perceived system performance? They'd be the laughing stock of the industry. Unless they can put a system into the market that gives a noticeable better performance than what is possible with the G4, they will wait. Apple does not want the Intel experience to be mediocre. They want it to be top notch.
I find the predictions AppleInsider made last Friday to be more sensible, but I am still not sure if Apple would put the 32-bit Yonah into the iMac, as it may be seen as a step back from the 64-bit G5. I've commented on Apple's 64-bit roadmap and how to get there, mentioning av 64-bit Yonah, which is really the Merom. Perhaps Intel may have been able to bring this chip forward in time from fall 2006 to this spring, enabling Apple to go straight to 64-bit from day one.
The future is in beta
Look at an old story, all the posts will say "October", or "July" or some such month, but no year. How do I know if I'm looking at a discussion from last year or three years ago? Apparently we're just supposed to know.
Check the URL. There will be a part in older discussions (after they are off the front page I think) that'll be all like "sid=YY/MM/DD". Obviously it'll have numbers in there, but that's how you know.
...and introduce a light weight touch screen laptop that combines some of the concepts of MiT's sub $100 machine, a Sony VAIO (or is it VIAO?), the current iBook build quality and a swivel screen. An Inkwell based pen driven interface would be far more intuitive and offers a natural instinctive GUI - just what children need to stimulate their imaginations. The whole paradigm of using a mouse, trackpad and keyboard is so counter productive, except for specific desktop and power user applications. Bring on the PowerPad! Intel inside, Inkwell outside!
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
speaking as a developer who's looking at migrating Altivec code to SSE (or possibly non-optimised code), I can promise you its not 100%. Sure the process isn't that hard and Apple's documentation is really quite good, but its frustrating none the less.
That is a kick butt monitor, do you use it for first-person shooters? Does it look good with its response time?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
You can already use a Linksys PCI wifi card with Apple's Airport driver as it uses the same chip. Could be they'll supply a MiniPCI Broadcom adapter but yeah, Centrino's more likely
Perhaps they'll take the Intel move as their cue to move to 108/125mbps adaptors.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
I'm not saying they won't move to variable pricing, but I wouldn't make a big deal about one record exec's speculation.
If this rumour proves true, it will be an interesting shift for Apple. Apple has traditionally kept its consumer machines at much lower performance levels than its pro machines. The notable exception being the current G5 iMac vs G4 PowerBook. But I can't remember a time when the iBooks would outpace the PowerBooks (or the iMacs outpace the PowerMacs). Yet with the Intel upgrade (as TFA said), a Yonah-iBook would likely perform more strongly (on universal binary apps anyway) than a G4 PowerBook. Interesting times indeed....
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
Saying that many apps are _capable_ of running without Altivec when they're designed to use it is like saying Windows XP is _capable_ of running on a Pentium 2 with 64mb of RAM. Sure its possible, but I don't want to be the one who has to use it.
That should read 'GRAMMAR Nazis rejoice!'
*tap tap tap* this thing on?
Or this is what they would say
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
No, I think he meant "there". As in "We don't need to go there."
There was also some rather bizare comment about "Spelling Nazis" which
I'm not sure I fully understood. Are "Spelling Nazis" related to
"Maths Nazis"? Grammar was always my weakjess!
return 0; }
You, of course, realize that the deficiencies you perceive have more to do with the fact you're used to system B and occassionally use system A. Most people who use system A regularly claim all those deficiencies (such as the "too far away" menubar (?)) are actually benefits. Likewise, those users of system A who occassionally use system B find system B to be hard to use, confusing, etc (whether "B" means "Linux" or "Windows" or anything else...)
So to answer your question of "why buy an intel mac", it's "to run OSX". If you don't have a need or desire to run OSX you have no need to buy an intel mac. If, on the other hand, you use OSX by choice, an intel mac makes a perfect choice.
Duh.
The folks at Arcitosh will be interested to hear that...
If you're just referring to AutoCAD, emphatically not knowing anything specific, my educated guess is they'll soon be reconsidering leaving the Mac market.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks.
Could very likely? That's quite a bit of uncertainty.
The Pentium M is roughly performance-equivalent to an Athlon64 of the same clockspeed (The PM is still a bit weak in the multimedia department, but Yonah is expected to fix that. The statement holds true for gaming, at least). Assuming that the dual core Yonah ships at the same max speed as current Dothan processors, that means 2.26GHz. That's roughly an Athlon64 X2 4400+. The PowerBook ships with a single 1.67GHz G4. I think it is safe to say that the processor "definately destroys performance-wise" rather than "could very likely deliver performance greater than".
I'm ECSTATIC about this news - as long as the rumored ability to dual-boot Windows XP is a reality.
I can easily justify the purchase of an iBook as a desktop replacement for my boss if the cost stays at around $1000. For this price, he'd be "buying" my current system as a replacement/"new" PC for others in the company as well as a portable system for me to use at home. However, this is only feasible in my environment if the machine can dual-boot Windows. I am a current Mac user and will be able to use OS X for its UNIX-y goodness but will have to fight Redmond's best minds from time to time as I use several tools that are only available in Microsoft-land. suspect that I'm not alone and that there is a sizeable market for users like me with bosses like mine.
I can't help but think that since Apple is a hardware company - and not a software company - that they don't care what we do with the hardware once we have it in our grubby little mitts.
For supposedly being the "graphics" platform the resolutions of the Apple laptops have always been pathetically low. I was running 1920x1200 on my 15.4" laptop, and now I'm running 1280x768 on my 10.6". 1024x768 on a 12.1" doesn't cut it, and it REALLY doesn't cut it on a 14.1".
I just bought an Access Virus TI Desktop and the fact that you can use it as an audio and MIDI interface as well as a knob box with direct access with a VST plugin is making me seriously consider moving away from Linux after five years... I can't stand MacOS, but I can't stand dualbooting even more.
sig.
More importantly: Will they also upgrade the PPC models at Macworld in January? I'd buy a powerbook instantly if it had a better graphics card. Radeon 9700? Sorry, that's not a notebook with a few years of lifespan.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
See here's the thing. This is software, not the Civil Rights Movement. I'm not going to deprive myself of an enjoyable and easy to use computing experience provided by Apple (or even Microsoft) just so I can be "free" with "Only If Your Time Is Worthless Linux".
Have fun not having fun.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
"Apple is planning to release its first entry-level iBook laptops with Intel processors next January at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret."
This takes three bits of well-known information--that Apple will release something at Macworld like they always do; that they will release some kind of Intel-based machine in 2006; and that they happen to sell a computer called an iBook--and just sticks them together. You don't need "highly reliable sources" for that. Hell, we know Think Secret doesn't have highly reliable sources, because when they did, they got sued.
So if Apple releases something else at Macworld, or some other Intel-based machine first, Think Secret will claim that these phantom iBooks were merely delayed. Because that's what you do when you're into making shit up. You don't ever admit to it.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
I'll definitely buy one of these and the first thing I do will be to wipe it clean and install XP. Finally a decent looking laptop from Apple that can run standard software.
and of course the same could be said the other way around.
Not sure how a "too far away" menubar could possibly be a benefit. It was done that way to make it easier to get to. His point that the screen has outgrown the UI is spot-on. The menubar is no longer easy to use.
Of course, the answer to the question is to run OSX. That's obvious in any case. The real question is "why?"
"The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks."
A SINGLE-CORE Yonah should run circles around a G4 processor for the same amount of power. That was the whole point of this messy changeover. The dual-core versions, while consuming much more power under full load, should deliver unheard of performance.
AMD will also be releasing their dual-core Turion in 2006, which should make for a very competitive market. However, I am curious to see if AMD will make the step up to dual-channel memory for the dual-core Turions. The current models are already a tad memory starved with single-channel DDR-333.
THIS is why Apple chose x86.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
I've got a powerbook G4 and love it. The switch from PPC to Intel makes me nervous at the moment. It's said to be faster but knowing that PPC is a more efficient chip... and giving the power requirements of the recent Intel stuff I definately wouldn't want a dual-core intel in a Powerbook, after a few hours of useage I'd be sterile from the excessive heat. The only good reason I can see for Apple to switch to Intel is to be able to play games which is totally worthless as far as I'm concerned.
www.sushibarnetwork.com
"Why buy an Intel Mac?"
Err... because it's a Mac, is faster than a G4 Mac, but still runs OS X? I *like* OS X, but that's not what "zealot" means. Nor does "zealot" mean "someone who disagrees with Nagora." "Zealot" means "A person who is fanatical and uncompromising in their religious, political, or other ideals." Interestingly, you and I can be on opposite sides of the "Is OS X better than Windows?" question and still both be right. Those are "opinions", you see. To each cat his own rat, and all that.
Oh, and here's another definition for you: "Troll: 2) Informal computing. A message or posting on the internet designed to provoke an indignant response in the reader." My opinion is that you got downmodded, not by zealots, but for posting a troll. HAND.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
It's the ONLY ONE. gp makes it sound like they've been doing it forever, instead of starting yesterday.
From an article:... Intel has plenty of 90nm Celeron Ms at very low prices, which could well form the basis for a low-end iBook.
Now, with afficionados proudly comparing MACs to ferraris both in price, power, and class, how does a ferrari with a KIA engine under the hood sound like?
It's so funny it's not even funny.
The question here is what happens with the Powerbooks if Apple introduces the Intel iBook first. Surely they're not going to have an iBook line that's more powerful than their current Powerbook offerings.
My thoughts exactly. How could Apple switch to the Pentium M successor and NOT beat the G4 handily? Even the single-core Yonah's should trounce the G4 easily. My Pentium M 1.5 GHz laptop screams, and that's with only 512MB of RAM.
I can't wait for the new PowerBook series. If Apple can build a nice power and heat friendly ~14" widescreen with a dual-core Yonah, *and* I can triple boot OS-X, Windows, and Linux.. Wow. I'm sold, no matter the price.
*drool*
The current Mac GUI stinks. I have to use it occassionaly for work and it drives me nuts with frustration. Just moving the windows about or (much worse) resizing them is a nightmare on a large screen. The Dock is far too limited, the menu bar too far away, the general layout of the control panel, to say nothing of the madness which is the file tree with its "sometimes I'm Unix, sometimes I'm MacOS" tangle. I hate it.
To give you professional advice, it appears your mastery of moving the mouse cursor across the screen and clicking leaves something to be desired. May I suggest buying a lubricated mouse pad for easier motion til your arm gets strong enough to drag items into the dock on a regular basis.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
"Next January is the January that is coming up next, ie. January 2006."
NO! "Next" does NOT mean "the next one coming up." That's THIS January. "Next" january is the one AFTER that! Arrgh!
(No, I'm not really that mad. But this is the same discussion I have every so often with various people. The fact is, either is acceptable. It just depends what you are used to.)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Also, the high end has just gotten the Dual/Dual machines, so for situations where multiple processors are useful, Apple has a darned good high-end machine.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
Why buy an Intel Mac?
Becuase I could care less about the CPU itself. I use the computer for its software, but because of which CPU architecture it uses.
How many programs have "fat" binaries, with intel versions?
I believe that purchasers of consumer machines, like the iBook, are more heavily dependent on the bundled software that Apple provides. Keep in mind that the consumer machines come with AppleWorks, a basic suite with word processing, spreadsheet, etc. Coming from Apple all of the bundled software will be native Intel code.
As far as other software, with the exception of games and computationally intensive programs - the latter being odd to find on a consumer machine, emulation will probably work well enough in the short term. While the mobile G4 and the Pentium M'ish CPUs may be too close to each other performance wise to make emulation acceptable in general, if an app was only using a small fraction of the G4 CPU then effective emulation is possible. For example if an app only uses 10% of the G4 but uses 90% of the Pentium M when emulated the user experience will be about the same.
Ok,
Here's the skinny. You have two basic types of CPU's in the world. RISC and CISC. "R" in RISC means reduced instruction set. It's great for crunching vast amounts of numbers, but less awesome for other tasks. The instruction set is basically the same for both chips for most end users. The only difference is if the instructions are coded into the chip or not. If the instructions aren't on the chip, then they often have to be run as extra lines of code for many applications. Where's you big performance gain then? Having the instructions on the chip is often perferable in many circumstances.
2 cents,
Queen B
HDGary secures my bank
I agree. The difference is that I will get modded into oblivion and you won't. It is impossible to discuss any negative opinions of Apple on /. It is taken as gospel by many Mac users that there is nothing to be learnt from Windows and that Linux is in some prehistoric age. But, using a window manager where the windows can be moved without skimming right up to the top, or resized from any point inside the frame is fantasticly useful, to say nothing of a multi-button mouse. But such talk is verboten by the invisible hand of the zealots. And don't even mention AMD!!
Ah, well, not my problem, I guess.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
You're right, it's not *THE* civil rights movement, the one with MLK and all that, but it is definitely *A* civil rights movement. Just because you don't care doesn't mean it's not important.
;-)
No, it's a commercial right or property rights movement. Civil rights is about the rights a person has as a citizen of a country. Note the word "civil".
Apple's Powerbooks used DDR before the current rev (which uses DDR2).
I don't believe the new machines have more bandwidth than the previous ones, the memory bus is still driven at the same speed as before. They just switched to DDR2 because it runs at 1.8V instead of the 2.5V of DDR1 and so they saved a lot of power (witness the greatly increased battery life). DDR2 is also cheaper than DDR1 on the spot market now and soon probably will be cheaper on the contract market too (but not yet, hence the quad-proc G5 still comes with only 512MB RAM!).
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=274390
Altivec is used a decent amount I guess. But as to offloading a lot of work onto the GPU, didn't you see how 10.4.3 killed Quartz 2D Extreme (not that it was used before). Apple's efforts to farm out graphics to the GPU seem to have been less successful than initially hoped.
The G4 Powerbooks are usable, I use one everyday. But really, the G4 isn't very fast, compared to Pentium M or especially a dual Pentium M. Laptops stand to gain a lot in the Intel switch.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
"Consumer notebook buyers don't want less than 15-inches, " he said.
I think this is because Apple customers by now are accustomed to taking it up the rear.
People who use Quark held off on OS X for a long time BECAUSE Quark held off on OS X for a while. After the Quark 5 debacle and how long it took for Quark 6 to come to market, they didn't have a lot of choice.
My sources at Quark tell me that the next major release of Quark (Quark 7) will be for both PPC and Intel Macs (i.e. fat binaries) as they have switched over to Xcode for development.
--Mike
Also, if the Intel iBooks are really that great, and the price drops a couple hundred dollars (which has been reported), then wouldn't it start to cut into the Mini's market?
:-)
With native Intel binaries the Intel based machines will be well loved. The price drop rumors are nonsense. Apple may experience some savings but they are not going to pass it all along to the consumer. If for no other reason than to avoid cannabalizing Mini sales.
I don't think some Mac users realize how important the Mini is to Apple's long-term. The low cost Mini greatly reduces the barrier to try out a Mac. The Mini is a "loss leader" of sorts, Apple is really betting on the second and hopefully "bigger" Mac that Mini owners eventually buy. Apple will not sabotage the Mini(1).
(1) Yes I just predicted rational behavior from Apple. Yes I realize how dangerous this is.
You are confused. TPM by itself is just a tool; Evil is defined by how the tool is used.
Currently the small bit of TPM there is (in theory) being used to make sure that when OS X runs, it's on an Apple box.
What the box is NOT stopping you from doing (and Apple has given indications this is the case) is running Linux, or even Windows on the Intel Mac boxes. That was what all the furor was over, that future Windows boxes might only run windows.
So, your assumptions are exactly ass-backwards. You can hack the computer all you like, you just can't move that copy of OS X over to your Dell (at least not without a little work).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
To save typing:
0 09438
"Identical HW temporary, it's not just DRM chip"
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=168003&cid=14
If it turns out people can easily pirate OS X to run on any Intel box (and there's no reason to think it will not be hacked as you say) then it could be a huge boon to Apple in terms of market share.
Lots of the Windows market share is from unathorized copies, if all the sudden a lot of people start running OS X, even on the sly, it means a very real increase in the number of people showing up in weblogs, in purchases of software (though probably not a lot since someone running a pirate OS can probably also get other software too), but most importantly in exposure to other people. The more people that run OS X the more people may think about buying Apple products because friends like the OS.
I don't think Appple will let resellers sell OS X anytime soon (too many support and quality hassles - the Dell OS X box might well be the ROKR of the Intel Mac world and Apple can't have that). But they can still get a boost from the inevitible pirating of the OS.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Also, don't forget Ashlar-Vellum's Cobalt... they designed SpaceShipOne using it.
There are also many other, smaller & more affordable Mac CAD programs out there (do a Google or Versiontracker search for a complete list).
The version 1.0 thing is a good point, but I have quibbles with the rest:
* Holiday sales: Who will buy PowerPC iBooks (or other Mac hardware) during the holidays, with the Intels coming out in January? If you want to keep your computer for a few years, as many consumers do, you'll want the Intel.
Many of the people buying iBooks probably neither know nor care about Intel macs coming out soon. And why should they? For most people the iBooks as they are offer a lot of speed. When the new Intel macs come out it's not like suddenly there is software the PPC macs will be unable to run; In fact because the Intel mac may have to run some things in emulation it could be just as fast for a while.
* No apps: Who wants to buy a platform with no native apps?
Now that is simply not the case. Consider that every app that Apple makes willb e ready by then - all of iLife, and iWork. That includes word procesors, DVD and photo editing. Third party apps will come when the come, but even before they come along Rosetta will be OK for most apps - at worst someone buying a new Intel iBook may have to run an app for a while about as fast as an iBook they could have bought in December. But really third party aps have had a lot of time to adapt now so I think we'll see a pretty good flow of Intel/PPC universal binaries going forward.
The only thing I imagine will not work well on the new Intel macs is older PPC only games. I tend to think Rosetta may not handle them well; I coudld be wrong. But since when have people owned Macs for games? It's a nice benefit that some come for the Mac but serious gamers have a console anyway.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think this is propaganda to try and push Steve in that direction.
It's a silly story since it has no actual facts, just innuendo. And it's from someone who really, really wants what he says to be true.
It has zero credibility with me. Steve might change but I certainly hope he won't.
D
Apple's current displays are 100dpi (with the exception of the 14" iBook, I believe). This is acceptable quality. I have recently acquired a Nokia 770 which comes with a 225dpi TFT (800x480 in a 4" screen), which is far, far beyond aceptable and into absolutely gorgeous (although it loses out on viewing angle to Apple displays). Hopefully this kind of technology will start to appear in laptops soon - it is nice having 7-9 point text being completely clear and readable.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
This just struck me as funny :-)
:-)
If there's any other way of dying (apart from the death one), can someone please tell me! I'd really like to know! No, honestly, I would
ATB,
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Unless, of course, you are into typing for those exotic applications like email. Most people, even those who don't touch-type, can easily type faster than they can write. Tablets are nice for those FedEx people and their signatures, but for the rest of us, keyboards are just the thing.
..what's the truth here? Are Intel processors more powerful than Motorola/IBM?
The truth is that Apple told the truth but that it was cleverly phrased by marketing people so that consumers, and/or more importantly zealots, would misinterpret it. The truth is that:
1. Historically and in general a PowerPC CPU is 25-35% faster than an Intel CPU of the *same* clockrate. Apple used phrases like "up to twice as fast" and this was true, you could find a specialized app that greatly benefitted from the RISC architecture of the PowerPC and get to 2X. However clockrates were not the same, clockrate is not the perfect measurement but it does matter.
2. Apple was disingenuous in some of it's comparisons, the comparisons were "rigged" to a certain degree. The ByteMarks comparison where they used an old 486 version on a Pentium CPU. Fudged SPEC comparisons. Gcc "leveling the playing field" when gcc x86 is known to be weaker than gcc ppc and better x86 compilers are used for commercial x86 apps. Apple didn't lie, they did fully disclose all this in the "small print" but few had the technical sophistication to understand. While unacceptable in a paper presented to a scientific journal it was all pretty standard stuff for maketing literature and advertisements.
Just as a point of information: Apple will not introduce such dense displays until the GUI is completely independent of raster characteristics; otherwise, you would see some extremely tiny UI elements in such a screen on a laptop...
Once Apple has enough developers transitioned to the new imaging model (Quartz 2D) rather than QuickDraw, I imagine they will initiate this move in the hardware.
The main constraint here is software at the moment...
Same reason you buy a Laptop with Windows. To run applications only supported on the OS X side.
If a Mac Intel laptop will also boot Windows, then the people who need both for work (like me). Won't need 2 desktops and 2 laptops anymore.
Apple's move to the world of x86 might spur new software development for the platform. We could see more developers making commercial apps for the Mac as well as more game developers embracing the Mac. From what I understand its easier to develop software for an x86 architecture than it is for the PPC.
/.ers here Gaming is a Big Business! DirectX is a direct result of Microsoft wanting to make it easier for game developers to make games for Windows. Without the ability to efficiently run games how well do you think Windows 95 would have done in the home market. In my opinion it would have failed or at least suffered. DirectX saved the Windows platform from failing from the outset. So, for those who say gaming is useless just remember that its a multi-billion dollar a year indusry and Apple's move to x86 will help make the Mac a more viable gaming platform.
Despite the comments made by a few
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
He didn't troll. He posted an unpopular but legitimate opinion and backed it up with content. He then got modded down by zealots. How was his post "Off-topic"?
No, that's not it at all. The menus are too far away and require too much mouse movement to be effective. Remember that they're placed there because they're supposedly faster to access. Of course, that was when the screens were 512 pixels wide, there was no multitasking and every app was full screen. The fact that mac users seems so enamored with keyboard accelerators is further evidence. Macs require too much mouse movement and too much clicking. What the hell is a triple click? Grow some more buttons already.
Just what qualifies your advice as professional?
I really hope he does - keeping the "premium" songs and albums at their current price point, and lowering prices on the rest. Ten to fifty cents per song seems about right for me for most music, given the economics of broadband, and the lower quality of lossily compressed material.
On the other hand, I've been meaning to try out allofmp3.com... =)
I've been typing all my important documents on a computer since I was in high school in the late 80's. I even take notes on my laptop now. For me, writing with a pen is counterproductive. It is *so slow* and trying to up the speed really kills the per-character legibility (i.e. I can't read my own writing). Whereas typing fast only introduces spelling errors that I can usually resolve easily from context. Plus if I miss something writing, I have to try to squeeze it into the margin...when typing I can just create a new line when I need one.
Keyboard/trackpad is no good for drawing, but how often does the average person need to draw, even when taking notes? And the creative professionals who do need drawing ability likely already have nice Wacom tablets or screens.
Tablets are great for forms though, which makes them really well suited to vertical applications like inventory management. Heck most restaurants these days use touchscreens for order management, and these are a type of fixed tablet. Of course these are not the markets that Apple is interested in. And I just don't see the full-page mobile tablet taking off in their markets.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Let's see - Apple is going to upgrade the iBook with Intel and, if the rumors hold, it's going to outperform their high-end PowerBook line?
Does this make sense? Unless the iBooks are so crippled as to be totally uninteresting (slow graphics, very limited memory, bad bus speeds) why would anyone buy an old technology PowerBook?
Now I can see Apple doing the Mac Mini first but not the iBook if its performance really outstrips the G4 PowerBook.
See how far Apple has been looking and planning ahead. Microsoft should just close up shop now.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Yeah, maybe sometime after Dell gets them. Dell buys several times the number of Intel processors that Apple will. Who do you think Intel will favor first?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I have a Thinkpad A21p and it does have a 15" 1600x1200 panel. It looks great. I only wish I had enough ram to run XP so I could use cleartype. (I have only 128MB, it's only a 1GHz P3)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Having held and used both, I can assure you that the 12" PowerBook is smaller and lighter than the 12" iBook. (You can also check the specs.) The metal skin is thinner than the plastic shell of the iBook.
The keyboard is also better (IMHO) as it sits on a fixed, reinforced backing, not the flexible one used by the iBook.
The screen hinge seems smoother; the iBook models seemed "creaky" with plastic-on-plastic hinges.
The aluminum skin does show scratches more easily than the plastic.
Triple click? I've been programming Macs since System 7 and the only triple click i ever heard of was to select a whole line of text (doubleclick->word, tripleclick->line, quad-click->paragraph sometimes).
??
The difference here is that your comments are deliberately confrontational. If you offered calm, rational opinions and made clear and cogent points in support of them, that would be one thing. But you offer your opinions as being self-evidently superior to those of others and pre-emptively dismiss any dissenting opinions as being "zealotry." You repeat tired and outdated mantras like the "one-button mouse" thing as if they were the nail in the coffin of OS X - I use a three-button mouse with scroll on my PowerBook all the time. Works like it ought to. Nobody requires you to use a one-button mouse under OS X, and even Apple sell a multi-button mouse now. I don't know any OS X users who primarily use a one-button mouse. You yourself say that you only use OS X occasionally, which suggests rather strongly that your dislikes are more a matter of "difference" instead of "inferiority."
As it happens, I also have a nice Athlon64 system running Linux in the next room. It works really well. Fast, stable, etc. The thing I like in my Xorg gui that I miss most in OS X is middle-button paste. But of course, Windows doesn't have that either. I've got a Windows XP system sitting right next to the Athlon64 - and the only thing installed on it is Civ IV. I've used Windows since the 2.x days, and I've had Win 3.0, 3.11, 95, 95 OSR2, 98, 98SE, and Windows XP systems on my desktop (skipped ME and 2000). I've also got a laptop with XP. I had my first Unix computer at home in the early 80's, and I've used Linux as my primary OS since 1999. I got this PowerBook in February of this year. I also have a couple of IRIX systems sitting in a closet. Does that somehow make me a zealot? No. But it does make me informed and experienced.
The difference isn't which side we're on, the difference is how we present our positions. Your approach is to attack anyone who disagrees with you FOR disagreeing with you, before they even get a chance to hear your point. In other words, you sound like you're out to stir up shit, not to have a discussion. Honestly, opening a discussion with "The current Mac GUI stinks" IS a troll. The clear implication is that anyone who likes the OS X GUI must be a self-deluding idiot. It's an insult; indirect, but an insult nonetheless. Is it really a surprise when people respond in kind?
There's nothing impossible about discussing negative opinions of Apple on Slashdot - you're doing it now. What you appear to want is to discuss Apple negatively without being modded troll. That can be done as well, but it requires a more calm and non-confrontational approach to your phrasing. You could say, e.g., "the current Mac GUI doesn't do what I want," or, "In my opinion, the current Mac GUI isn't as functional as Win XP's (or X11 with Windowmaker, or E17, or whatever it is that you like)," and then provide examples and support - and then any troll mods would be unjustified. You might still get them, but not as many and then your zealotry accusations would have some meat to 'em. As it is, people aren't modding your opinion "troll". People are modding your attitude "troll". That's because you sound like a troll. It's really pretty simple. Are you maintaining the position that you simply wanted a discussion of OS X, pros and cons? Or are you ready to admit that you wanted to annoy OS X users who read Slashdot?
BTW, what's wrong with talking about AMD? Apparently you believe that it's obvious what will happen to you if you voice the obviously-correct opinion about AMD, but honestly I have no idea what is obvious or what will happen. Care to enlighten me?
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
Off-topic? Not really. But I think a "troll" mod is somewhat justified, based on his phrasing and self-admitted lack of experience. Attitude, sir. I think my response to his response covers it all. You are free to disagree.
Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks.
I thought the thing was that single core Pentium M's are mopping the floor with G4's?
Forgive my ignorance, but if Apple hardware can dual boot into Windows, why would it not follow that corporations will ask their Mac users to book into Windows for Outlook, Office, 3rd aprty apps, instead of having to support OS X and Windows? would it not then follow that subsequent licenses would be only for Windows, since the Mac people can access it now? Does it then follow that without applications to run OS X on, OS X becauses as useless as OS/2 Warp?
So then, it seems the solution is to be able to run a "virtualized" windows OS in a WINDOWS, not dual boot it!
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
The industry uses Solidworks, ProE, and Autocad.
Nevermind Protel, Orcad, Cadence.
Or specialty tools like the design packages published by Altera and Xilinx.
All the reality distortion fields in the world won't change that.
..don't panic
Of course not in "all" areas, and the same is true when compared to a G4.
This chip has allot of potentional. It will be a downgrade for anything that requires heavy use of a SIMD, but overall it will be a nice upgrade, especially because of the possibility of an extra core.
I'm still waiting for Intel to produce something that's worthy of a desktop replacement though. I figure by 2007 they'll finally have something.
Man, running GIMP on my 1.25GHz G4 is terrrrrible, then again I just downloaded the pre-compiled binary instead of compiling it myself, but still, it was horrible. Photoshop 7 flies.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
Honestly, the only thing that really gets me about the OSX gui, is that you can only resize windows from the bottom right, instead of any edge.... As for the rest, I kind of like it.. apps are pretty consistant in their UI..
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
...just like other tablet PCs, but done the Apple way, the right way.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
In UK English, corporations are collections of individual people, hence "Apple are...". In the US, a corporation is considered one entity, so we say "Apple is...".
I've occasionally wondered whether the difference attributes to the status of corporations as legal persons in the US as opposed to elsewhere...
At least since the iMac, probably since the 6500 (the first personal computer- x86 OR PPC -to break 300mhz), Apple has ALWAYS lead the jump to new and improved technology and aesthetics with the consumer hardware. The pro hardware comes along later - learning from flaws in the revA consumer stuff and fitting in new features in the process.
There's also a good chunk of mac fanboi out there that are all OMG!!!!! GLEEEEE!!!!!!!! when Apple releases new kit. We're talking the kind of people that bought an iMac, then turned right around and bought a blue-and-white G3 when those were released.
Also... the big advantage of the mini is you're not bound to a specific keyboard and monitor. Much as I love my iBook, the keyboard blows compared to my old powerbook and a 12" display makes my face hurt (it's nice but it's too damned small for my eyes) - the mini lets me use my existing pile of mid-90s Apple CRTs (DVI -> VGA adapter with a VGA -> 25-pin Mac adapter plugged into that, FOR THE WIN!) and my existing keyboards and input devices. It's certainly true that if you're starting fresh (say, just out of high school), a notebook is a much better bang for the buck... but if your house is the Macintosh equivalent of an elephant graveyard, the mini fits into that magic slot of "slightly more expensive than a processor upgrade."
The irony there is that, if the iBooks went Intel before PowerBooks, a cheap iBook would be faster than a more expensive PowerBook.
As a Civil Engineering student and a Mac user, I'm curious: does that mean that these Mac programs suck even worse than SolidWorks (which is horribly unstable, for one thing), or is it just that "the industry" doesn't want to have to learn something new and convert all their files?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Two points. First, the clock speed on the bus in PowerBooks remains remarkably low. 167MHz as far as I know (not taking DDR into account, which manufacturers claim makes it 333MHz). Huge bottleneck here with most x86 systems doubling that. As it has always been, bus speed is more important than your CPU clock. Second, we've seen no serious improvements to the G4, just (slightly) better fabrication processes which allow for higher multipliers. What makes this suck even more is Apple has resorted to overclocking the G4s in PowerBooks. Freescale states: “[The MPC7447A is] [d]esigned as pin-compatible replacements for Freescale’s MPC7447 products, these new processors have been shown to reach speeds of 1.5 GHz.” Funny considering I saw a recent source (can’t find the link) that said G4s are maxed out at 1.4GHz. Not that these minor gains mean much for most interactive tasks, of course, but it just goes to show how Apple’s long-in-the-tooth G4 platform is becoming hacked and stretched.
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That's true.
You repeat tired and outdated mantras like the "one-button mouse" thing as if they were the nail in the coffin of OS X - I use a three-button mouse with scroll on my PowerBook all the time
So you agree with the tired mantra.
I don't know any OS X users who primarily use a one-button mouse.
And so do all your friends.
You yourself say that you only use OS X occasionally, which suggests rather strongly that your dislikes are more a matter of "difference" instead of "inferiority."
Just as those who use it all the time may be "used to" it rather than it being "superior".
Your approach is to attack anyone who disagrees with you FOR disagreeing with you, before they even get a chance to hear your point.
Having seen many people modded off the screen for saying what they don't like about OSX, I know that the people doing it are not interested in discussing the point. You are actually bothering to post a debate, by definition you are not one of the zealots I was referring to.
Honestly, opening a discussion with "The current Mac GUI stinks" IS a troll.
Well, it's an honest troll if it is. The subject of this thread was the new Intel Macs and the only reason to buy such a beast surely is the OS, and having had to use said OS this week I was feeling frustrated with it. So, I'm not trolling in the sense of taking a stance just to wind people up, but I was aware that that would be the effect. But then I get wound up when I read about how fantastic OSX is and how all us non-Mac users are just fools for not seeing the light. I reckon we're even.
Are you maintaining the position that you simply wanted a discussion of OS X, pros and cons?
Actually, I'd love to see any Mac user just admit that the current OS is not perfect, particularly in the GUI department. I meet people all the time that tell me that they pay the extra money for a Mac because Apple "know how to do" UI's, but I see no evidence that they know how to do anything any more other than make attractive UI, which is not the same thing at all. This has gone on for years. Indeed, decades - but at least in the 80's it was true.
BTW, what's wrong with talking about AMD?
The last time I suggested that Intel were having a very bad few years and that AMD would seem a better partner if you were going to jump processors I got modded off the board again. And that's partly the reason for the "what's the point?" - I wouldn't touch Intel with a 10' pole at the moment except perhaps in the mobile arena, and then only with caution. I can't see why Jobs tied his hands with the deal. Why not use both? Intel for laptops, AMD for desktops. The simple and obvious answer is that Intel bribed Apple with big discounts. Or, to put it another way, quality was not the deciding factor.
I'm off to listen to "I'm sorry I haven't a clue".
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
American Independence = Motivated by high taxes on tea
Indian Independence = Motivated by high taxes on salt
Black civil rights = Motivated by limited seating on buses
These were all business transactions, weren't they? Are these civil rights movements, commercial rights movements or something else?
As it turns out, oppression often takes the form of economic activity. Saying you can't call it civil rights doesn't take away from the fact that people are trying to keep from being oppressed. Note that Rosa Parks paid for her bus ride. She much preferred riding the bus to walking. That doesn't mean forcing her to the back was simply a kind of commercial rights issue.
TW
From my previous post, the specifications from Freescape indicate 512Kb of L2 cache. Intel is just slightly ahead on this front, and that means a lot (updated this past October).
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The current Mac GUI stinks.
Isn't it great that nobody's forcing you to use it, then? Personally, I'm extremely glad to have the choice. I choose to use Mac OS X, you can use something else.
I personally hate all those extra menu bars in Windows, even when I'm using my big LCD display, and think that the Mac tends to use more sensible keyboard commands to let me avoid using the mouse. I find that I use the mouse much less, on my Mac, than I do on a Windows machine, and think that helps my productivity. Heck just the CMD-Tab vs. CMD-` distinction must save me several minutes a day. I've never really understood the big deal with tabbed browsing, since I can just switch between browser windows with CMD-`
"We have nothing in common, your attitude annoys me, and your political views are appalling."
The specifications of the MCP7447AEC (which is used by the latest PowerBooks, last updated in August of 2005) indicate the chip is rated only for 1.42GHz (with massive power consumption, might I add). Wow. Once you start looking, you start finding new ways that the G4 sucks to everything else out there.
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Photoshop uses the "Velocity Engine." This is the high-level interface to AltiVec that makes it so fast on G4+ systems. Has there been a MacTel port of the Accelerate Framework, which holds the vImage code, to use x86's MMX, SSE, et al? Without this, any app. that does image/signal processing is going to take a major performance hit. Rosetta isn't going to cover this one...
I disagree: Apple needs to come out with a low-cost machine to defend against people en masse hacking OS X to run on a POS eMachines or Dell or whitebox computer. Its the economic term called substitutions, either by Windoze or by whiteboxes. If I can't buy an Apple for less than a grand it gives me almost 700 reasons ($$$) to get it running on a whitebox. If they drop the price to $500 (like the mini) then it just about makes it easier to go buy the whole deal from Apple.
even the date stamps on the posts don't have a year.
They do if you change your preferences.
A latent existence
Your whole AC post is dispelled just by looking at the top selling laptops on Amazon...
Or, for those inclined to larger boxes how about top-selling desktops?
Gee, 'ya think many people use Amazon?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I really hope he does - keeping the "premium" songs and albums at their current price point
The problem is that "premium songs" does not just mean "Britney & 50 Cent", it means "whatever sells." So if you and a million other people start buying John Tesh because it's 50 cents a pop, they will merely raise the price.
From what I've seen there are a few factors at work. One is wanting a consistent computing setup companywide. One is wanting high value out of the computers used. Another is maintaining momentum from the past. All three were addressed a few years ago where I work when the Sun engineering workstations were discarded in favor of Dell x86's, but Pro/E continued to be the CAD software of choice. Sun didn't have competitive performance for the price, the engineers got machines which could run anything that anyone else in the company could, but no one had to re-learn how to do CAD work.
I'm sorry but you can't redefine civil rights to glorify your operating system politics. Also your examples were pretty naive, the "motivations" you provided were merely rallying cries to motivate the masses. The true motives were to replace absent and hostile rulers with local leaders. If Washington, Jefferson, and Adams went to the masses and said rebel to make us your leaders things would not have went nearly as well. Even "just" wars sometimes need to be "sold".
I'm all for Linux and Open Source but when you equate the OSS movement with civil rights and self rule you trivialize the latter. Put your emotions/politics aside and think about this a little deeper. An operating system, a word processor, and such are pretty trivial and temporary things.
They have low-resolution, small hard drives, little memory.
Funny that. Throw in a slow processor and sell it for $999, and you would have the current iBook!
Seriously, when is Apple going to dump 1024x768 resolution? I don't think you can even buy a PC laptop anymore with such a low resolution screen.
No CAD tools for OSX? I think you haven't looked around enough ;) Try http://www.nemetschek.com/ , makers of VectorWorks. AutoCAD-compatible formats and workflow, besides they offer the Cinema4D Rendering Package. They started on Windows, but their Mac OS X version of Vectorworks works BETTER on Macs, specially when, for example, importing floorplans from AutoCAD: on some cases the windows version might complain about layer errors, wich the Mac version fixes automatically ;)
I Hope you find this useful :) Cheers
Inverse economics, I like it!
Hey, that was "informative"... too late, nobody watching.
(And yeah, I knew the Quark story -- but it does go to the fact that high-end users are not the same as early adopters. Business users aren't the first to adopt a new OS, as the number of people still on W2k attests. The pros want stability, and aren't going to do something like switch from Photoshop or Quark to the competition casually in order to have a shiny new box.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Hmmm.... you need to increase the acceleration of your mouse. Whenever I've used a Mac with a mouse, I have only needed to jerk the mouse quite less than three inches to go from one corner of the screen to the other on 30" monitors at 2560x1600 (and much less in smaller monitors). Right now I can't make that test because I only have a Powerbook and a Windows PC with a PS/2 mouse in front of me. But, for what it's worth:
On the Powerbook, I can go from one corner to the other (1280x854) with only one swipe through the trackpad. The speed is set one tick faster than the middle setting. There are four more ticks to the right, and if I set it at the maximum, I can cover the diagonal by swiping over half the trackpad. But that's way too fast for me. (Note that there is no acceleration control for the trackpad).
On the Windows PC (an old Dell P4), at 1600x1200, I can travel the diagonal by jerking the mouse once around two inches. I have never touched the mouse settings so far: the speed is in the middle tick, the acceleration is in... surprise: low.
Let me set it to High (there are None, Low, Medium, and High settings). Ok, now I can cover the 1600x1200 diagonal with a 1 inch jerk (again, way to fast for me).
I never change the mouse settings for computers that aren't mine, but my experiences have been consistent with the above data, both with Macs and PCs. My guess is that you simply move the mouse too slowly. There is no shame on that, simply adjust the settings so that they better suit you.
As much as I hate to admit it, users of iBooks and iMac make up the bulk of Apple's computer sales. To try the brand new chip out on the majority of their customers is like rushing a new drug to market before it can be tested on the rats. Steve Jobs said thatthe PowerMac line would be first and they should keep it that way. http://www.kennethstillmanvideo.com/
"Consumer notebook buyers don't want less than 15-inches, " he said. "Even if Apple came in at lower prices on a 12.1-inch display, that might not be enough to sway many buyers. But realistically, I don't see Apple going that low in price for that big a display."
;)
"Consumer notebook buyers dont want less than 15-inches" someone dumb said, "Even if Apple made a machine that was actually portable, customers are dumb and want something that they cant take to class."
I mean seriously, why not 12"? Have any of you actually used a 12" Laptop? I one everyday (Averatec 3200) and I am going to be buying a 12" iBook or Powerbook when they come out with Intels, because it works so well. A little heavy though.