>I suspect Chris and many others are going to be shocked in January. I >think this time the rumor mills are correct about a mini Mac with Intel, >and perhaps even an iBook running intel. I particularly like the rumor >about the iPod dock built into the new Mini.
I admit, I am not up to date with the current crop of rumors. Apple officially said June 2006 would be the release of the first Intel based macs. If the rumors have it as Jan, then Apple may very well have bumped up their time line. It wouldn't be the first time they have done something like that. I'm also not surprised that a mini is on the forefront of Intel based machines. Laptops are almost certainly to be in the first run because Powerbook/iBook sales are falling because they aren't powerful enough by today's standards. Intel chips can fix that, and laptops are a hot rapidly growing market that Apple wants to be back on top of. Making a new mini, with cheaper hardware, possibly a lower price, and more power, is also a smart move on Apple's part. The point of the mini was to allow Windows/Linux users a cheap way to test drive OS X. An Intel based Mini will do the same thing, but open it up to allowing Mac users to also test drive the Intel setup. >I think Apple is going to make the switch incredibly fast. Intel hardware >works, and both intel and Apple are going full speed. The clues about >developer releases point to a near finished product. Note that Apple has >nothing new out - don't tell me speed bumps are going to keep the PPC >line alive, so Apple must have a major announcement at MacWorld. Who >knows what, but it will not be a minor announcement. Apple never denied moving fast. Their official timeline was, first Intel out in June 2006, all PPCs GONE by end of 2007. That is 1.5 years to make not only a full transition, but to replace every peice of hardware they sell and remove for sale anything that isn't Intel based. Check out Apple's history of having machines (or their lines) available. 1.5 years is VERY fast for Apple to pull this off. It is fast even by non Apple standards (Apple has always gotten much more milage from their products than other vendors have). If they have moved the release to Jan 2006, then I'd expect a similar move for the termination of PPC. >Prediction: Apple is going to stop supporting older OS versions >incredibly fast. It will be like how you could run iTunes on Wintel or OS >X, but not OS 9. All the new Apple applications will be made to be Mactel >only. Job's history points to it, he is obsessive about completing a >switch quickly and getting everyone onto the "next greatest thing". Apple >is obviously negotiating movie rights, and they are going to implement >some very hollywood friendly DRM into the hardware/software. On one hand, >it will be an incredible home entertainment network, but the direction >will be towards pay per view. I'm not so sure it will be that fast. Apple has made HUGE HUGE pushes for everything to be Universal Binary. They are well aware that people get a minimum of 3 years out of a Mac, and really that time frame is closer to 5 years or more. Apple isn't going to cut off all their users a year after they bought new hardware, that is a sure way of making sure they either leave and don't come back, or never buy anything new again while a major change is brewing. Nope, 10.5 will definitly support PPC. It will likely be out end of 2006. Apple has said they are moving to a 24 month cycle on major OS updates. That means PPC will be supported at least until 2008. By 2008, I think you will see them ceasing support on PPC. But it happen much like the g3/g4 change, existing apps will still support it as they get updated, new apps will not. PPC support won't get dropped until major updates get done to the existing apps. In the end, what will dictate how quickly they drop PPC support will be how many users have switched to Intel hardware. If a large enough user base exists that is still using PPC, they will still support it. >The current dual core G5's will be the last for us Classic-ees'. These may still get a speed bump, but I stongly suspect, the products that are out today is the last version of all the products that will be released as PPC. Some may see speed bumps or other minor tweaks, but there will likely not be any futher design changes to the lines using PPC CPUs. New models will be Intel. I also suspect 10.4 PPC is the last OS version that will support Classic. It is NOT included in Intel versions of OS X, and I suspect 10.5 PPC will not include it either. >If Apple can figure out how to make simultaineous multiple OS booted >hardware, imagine the sales at all the tech support centers, what more >can they ask for but a computer which can run two or three OS's at the >same time! Apple doesn't have to figure out how to do that. Intel already did. Intel licensed VMWare and made an embeded version in a chip set... it just so happens, that chipset is one of the ones Apple has licensed. If they make it active (and I can bet they will, although maybe not in 10.4), it will be basically Virtual PC built into OS X. But even without being able to run multiple OSes at once at the hardware/OS level... Virtual PC I'm sure will be updated, and I'd bet VMWare is going to release an OS X version (they already have a Linux version). VMWare is like Virtual PC done right (and is the reason MS bought Virtual PC in the first place, they wanted to compete with VMWare Server). Also, reports have it, the Intel hardware will be able to boot into any Intel based OS. Apple has officially stated that they do not plan to stop people from doing that, and WinXP has been tested on the developer Intel-Macs. That is why I'm waiting to replace both my laptops. My Powerbook is shot, and my XP laptop is on its last legs. I'm waiting for an Intel based Mac laptop so I can stop lugging two laptops around. I will be able to run OS X 90% of the time, and reboot into WinXP for the times that I need it. It will make me VERY happy. Now I have to go check the rumors as I only get one hardware discount per year, and I was about to pick up a new iMac... if in fact Jan is the new release date, I might wait and get an Intel based machine instead. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
