How will Apple handle the 64 bit change on intel?

jbaker78jbaker78
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
So its seems Apple have made a relatively smooth transition from PPC (32 and 64bit) to intel (32bit). How do people think Apple will handle the change from intels 32-bit Core duo/solo processors to the newer 64-bit Core 2 duo/Extreme processors?



Obviously they can continue to run the intel devices in 32 bit mode, however if there is the availability of 64 bit mode then how are they going to utilise it? Are we going to see two versions of programs? Are universal binaries going to contain PPC, i32 and EMT64 binaries?



Its seems in the intel/AMD x86 world its all or nothing when it comes to 64 bit modes. You either run windows XP or windows XP64. Linux has particular binaries for either 32 bit or 64 bit systems.



What do people think apple will do to handle this situation whilst providing the best performance available? I am personally was surprised that Apple moved to the 32 bit Yonah chips with the 64 bit capable Merom (and kind) roughly 6months behind.



Cheers

Jason

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 1
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    This question has been asked ever since Apple announced the switch to Intel. Except for the deafening silence, Apple has said nothing about its post-PPC 64-bit plans. The closest that Apple has ever come to addressing this issue was to kill speculation that it will use any Intel processor outside the x86 family. English translation: no Itanium. Anything else that you might hear about x86-64 is pure speculation.
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