The news is in and official. Apple will begin to use Intel microprocessors by 2006. Apple also plans to switch all Mac models over to Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Probably the biggest shocker of the day is that Steve Jobs presented the 2005 WWDC Keynote on a 3.6GHz Intel-based Mac! In fact, Mac OS X has been developed to run on Intel microprocessors for the past five years! If you are a Mac developer, and have $999 to spare, get the Developer Transition Kit now! The Developer Transition Kit will allow you to create universal versions of your applications which will run on both Intel-based and PPC-based Macs. You can read the live text-based coverage of the 2005 WWDC Keynote here.
Now, one thing that I hope Apple will include with the Intel-based Macs is the ability to select your OS upon boot. Upon starting the computer, the user would be presented with a screen which asked the user to select which OS to start. This would effectively corner the market in Apple’s favor. Why buy a PC and a Mac when you could by a Mac that boots into both Mac OS X and Windows?
Update: The 2005 WWDC Keynote is finally available as a one hour QuickTime streaming movie. You can find it here, but the feed will probably be clogged for at least a few hours.
Comments
10 responses to “Apple Switching to Intel”
I would love to dual boot to OS X or WinXP strictly for gaming and development purposes. But generally I would stick to the OS X side. But that all would not matter. What I may end up doing is use 2 computers. I would use email and web on my older computer and do gaming and development on my new one and use a KVM switch to jump between them.
If the price is right, I’ll do one computer over two any day. Especially if it’s a PowerBook. ^_^
The ability to run Windows on Macs will finally do away with the need for VirtualPC for Mac, thank God! I have VirtualPC on my Mac and it is a dog – I only use it when I absolutely have to!
Virtual PC is what made me buy a spare PC in the first place. I couldn’t believe how slow it was.
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“the ability to select your OS upon boot.”
I seriously doubt that they will ever do that.
Apple doesn’t just prefer to control both the hardware and the software – they have to – if they intend to maintain their desired level of usability.
Yes, but if Apple wants to corner the industry, Windows support is one thing that they need. Of course, it may also ruin them. The entire Mac community seems to be split exactly 50%/50% on this issue.
Why would anyone spend money on Apple hardware (apart from me) if they could by a cheap PC and run OS X on it? Or am I missing something?
Apple has stated that they will not prevent Windows from being installed and run on the Intel-based Macs (though they will not support it), but I have a feeling that they will do something to prevent Mac OS X from being run on anything but their hardware.
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