Personally, I think it will be anything with a G4 in it, especially the laptops, since those are the most outdated and the ones that Apple is most desperate to have upgraded. The G5 machines still have some life in them, so those can wait a while.
I think it will be powerbooks inline with updated g4 powerbooks. Think about it. Apple introduces an Intel based mac-mini that is faster that all those dual g5s... Just doesn't sit right with me.
Might just be a tower mac with intel processor, so you can use all the nice things like pci-x and all the features a full intel-chipset motherboard would have.
I think that Apple's statements and upgrades so far this year point clearly to the Mini and laptops coming first. They stated that the consumer models will go to intel first. The G4's are the longest in the tooth so to speek, and their speed increases so far this year have been minimal to non-existant, even though they have better chips to offer than they are currently using in of the G4 product lines. Also Moto/Freescale's performance in improving the design has been poor, so it is the most logical to transition first. Also IBM reciently made an anouncement on the dual core 970 (aka G5) so Apple has some room to manuver with this chip.
So, the G4 computers are the PowerBook, iBook, eMac, and the Mac Mini. It is a good bet that these would be the first to move to intels, unless IBM has an unanounced low power 970 that Apple has ready to release in the PowerBook line, which would keep the pro line on PowerPC's through the end of 2007. There is no indication of this, but the posibility is there. The Mini, eMac (if it survives the transition), and iBook are no brainers, they need faster and cheeper chips as well as a roadmap that brings them more in line with the competition. The iMac would probably be the last consumer model to switch, since it does have a G5 in it and is relatively new.
What I would expect as an agressive scheduel would be:
They stated that the consumer models will go to intel first
I wish people would stop saying this. Apple has NOT officially declared what tier of its product range, or what specific products will first transition to Intel processors. You're getting this...errr...everyone seems to be getting this... from a C|Net article written the weekend before the Intel announcement was made at the WWDC back in June. So get it out of your head.
In my opinion, the transition will start in January, at the MacWorld show in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 10th, 2006.
What I would expect as an agressive schedule would be:
by the end of the year:PowerBook 1.8-2.0 G4 Anounced Jan 06, shipping imediatly through MarchMac Mini iBook PowerMac G5, dual core at 3 Ghz
Anounced at WWDC 2006:iMac PowerBook, Intel
Anounced Jan 07:PowerMac G5, dual core at 3.2 Ghz PowerMac Intel
Anounced at WWDC 2007:Xserve
I think the 3 GHz dual-core PowerMac will show up late this year, actually.
More importantly, I don't think Apple will have side-by-side PowerMac x86/PPC launches. Too fragmentary for a company that really needs to get people on the new platform ASAP.
The argument that an Intel Mac mini will somehow be "faster" than the current shipping dual G5s is simply silly. There is a lot of truth to Apple's old marketing about the G5 being faster than the fastest available x86 CPUs -- it's why people build computing clusters from XServes. Their floating point performace, for instance, is completely unparalleled. (For this reason, incidentally, I expect to see XServes to be the very, very last to transition). The G5 is a *very* fast and capable CPU.
At the same time, a lot of x86 processors are just bad -- the Celeron is horrible and slow, and the Netburst P4s are horrible. FP performance is horrible across the board. The Pentium M is nice, as is the AMD Opteron, but these are the only things in the G5's league.
Intel is not a magic bullet, people -- Intel processors aren't any faster than the PowerPC. They're just cheaper and exist in larger quantities from a more dedicated supplier. This is a business decision, not a technological one.
The PPC->x86 transition isn't an amazing upgrade to the future, like the m68k->PPC transition, at best it's an slight upgrade to the past.
I think the 3 GHz dual-core PowerMac will show up late this year, actually.
More importantly, I don't think Apple will have side-by-side PowerMac x86/PPC launches. Too fragmentary for a company that really needs to get people on the new platform ASAP.
I don't see Apple releasing a PM update this year, they usually happen around one of the big conferences. November/December is too late in the year for a PM update. I think that the next PM update will be at San Francisco when they will get dual core 970's. Then Jobs can say, "I said that we still had some great PowerPC products in the pipeline and here is one available today!", then he goes into new Intel products in the portable market, and "which is the reason that we are moving to Intel"
As to why they would offer a PowerPC and an Intel PM at the same time? The holdover PowerPC would be at best a speed bump for the line, and act as a transition computer, and may hold over the same as the PM G4 did when the move to the G5 happened. It could also be that the hold-over is on the high end (dual-dual cores) instead of on the low end where price may not be the same factor as it was when the G5 was released.
If they wanted to do that, they just would have, no?
Your first release into a new area is never going to nail it exactly. And Apple has a history of always being slightly under featured. I think Apple eventually gets it and gets the mini done right allowing it to be the mainstay digital hub (media center).
Yes, it's likely the Mac Mini will be one the first Intel Macs and my quess is next April. Apple doesn't seem to be interested in the relatively ineffecient Pentium 4 (Netburst architecture) and the current Pentium M probably isn't suitable for use with OS X. Most of the speculation seems to be about the "Yonah" processor that is likely to be released in February. Yonah is a low power chip designed for laptops and will probably be well suited for the Mac Mini.
Yes, it's likely the Mac Mini will be one the first Intel Macs and my quess is next April. Apple doesn't seem to be interested in the relatively ineffecient Pentium 4 (Netburst architecture) and the current Pentium M probably isn't suitable for use with OS X. Most of the speculation seems to be about the "Yonah" processor that is likely to be released in February. Yonah is a low power chip designed for laptops and will probably be well suited for the Mac Mini.
I agree, but also consider Dothan these are available now and they can be as fast as the P4 in the development boxes. Yonah will be better becasue it will have SSE3 and better FP performance, or that is the plan.
Apple can't change over the line at their leisure. They entered a different world when the switched to intel. They have to keep up with the other computers using Intel processors.
This means that as intel comes out with their stuff apple can't wait till some show to announce it apple must use new chips the nano second they are out because everybody else will.
As for the Pro stuff. I am sure Apple made sure that software remained platform independent just as much as they made sure the OS did. So that would only leave their major partner which will all receive premium Apple support. So those shouldn't be to slow switching either.
Getting all hardware over as soon as possible is the best solution. It means less headache of supporting ppc in the future. They may keep selling ppc products but that will only be until all their contracts are up.
Also having different hardware ISAs will send confused signals to useres when they go to buy hardware. They have to chose between G4s or pentium m's If it was me I would go with what i know. Old mac users would probably take the G4s but new mac users would probably stick with the tried and true pentiums.
Comments
But I find this little nugget from Intel interesting...
Platform_2015
Might just be a tower mac with intel processor, so you can use all the nice things like pci-x and all the features a full intel-chipset motherboard would have.
So, the G4 computers are the PowerBook, iBook, eMac, and the Mac Mini. It is a good bet that these would be the first to move to intels, unless IBM has an unanounced low power 970 that Apple has ready to release in the PowerBook line, which would keep the pro line on PowerPC's through the end of 2007. There is no indication of this, but the posibility is there. The Mini, eMac (if it survives the transition), and iBook are no brainers, they need faster and cheeper chips as well as a roadmap that brings them more in line with the competition. The iMac would probably be the last consumer model to switch, since it does have a G5 in it and is relatively new.
What I would expect as an agressive scheduel would be:
by the end of the year:
- PowerBook 1.8-2.0 G4
Anounced Jan 06, shipping imediatly through March- Mac Mini
- iBook
- PowerMac G5, dual core at 3 Ghz
Anounced at WWDC 2006:- iMac
- PowerBook, Intel
Anounced Jan 07:- PowerMac G5, dual core at 3.2 Ghz
- PowerMac Intel
Anounced at WWDC 2007:Originally posted by @homenow
They stated that the consumer models will go to intel first
I wish people would stop saying this. Apple has NOT officially declared what tier of its product range, or what specific products will first transition to Intel processors. You're getting this...errr...everyone seems to be getting this... from a C|Net article written the weekend before the Intel announcement was made at the WWDC back in June. So get it out of your head.
In my opinion, the transition will start in January, at the MacWorld show in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 10th, 2006.
Originally posted by @homenow
What I would expect as an agressive schedule would be:
by the end of the year:PowerBook 1.8-2.0 G4
Anounced Jan 06, shipping imediatly through MarchMac Mini
iBook
PowerMac G5, dual core at 3 Ghz
Anounced at WWDC 2006:iMac
PowerBook, Intel
Anounced Jan 07:PowerMac G5, dual core at 3.2 Ghz
PowerMac Intel
Anounced at WWDC 2007:Xserve
I think the 3 GHz dual-core PowerMac will show up late this year, actually.
More importantly, I don't think Apple will have side-by-side PowerMac x86/PPC launches. Too fragmentary for a company that really needs to get people on the new platform ASAP.
Originally posted by Blackcat
Okay, we are now meant to believe Yonah will save the world etc etc it's clock-for-clock 2x the speed of a G4 etc etc (deja vu 970?).
So it goes in the Mac Mini first, according to CNET. At, say, 1.6GHz. Suddenly the Mini is faster than a PowerMac or PowerBook?
Makes no sense.
I reckon iMac & Powerbook, then iBook & Mini. PowerMac last.
I agree with your reasoning. The new processors will go in products that are heat sensitve and provide highest profit margins.
At the same time, a lot of x86 processors are just bad -- the Celeron is horrible and slow, and the Netburst P4s are horrible. FP performance is horrible across the board. The Pentium M is nice, as is the AMD Opteron, but these are the only things in the G5's league.
Intel is not a magic bullet, people -- Intel processors aren't any faster than the PowerPC. They're just cheaper and exist in larger quantities from a more dedicated supplier. This is a business decision, not a technological one.
The PPC->x86 transition isn't an amazing upgrade to the future, like the m68k->PPC transition, at best it's an slight upgrade to the past.
Originally posted by Commodus
I think the 3 GHz dual-core PowerMac will show up late this year, actually.
More importantly, I don't think Apple will have side-by-side PowerMac x86/PPC launches. Too fragmentary for a company that really needs to get people on the new platform ASAP.
I don't see Apple releasing a PM update this year, they usually happen around one of the big conferences. November/December is too late in the year for a PM update. I think that the next PM update will be at San Francisco when they will get dual core 970's. Then Jobs can say, "I said that we still had some great PowerPC products in the pipeline and here is one available today!", then he goes into new Intel products in the portable market, and "which is the reason that we are moving to Intel"
As to why they would offer a PowerPC and an Intel PM at the same time? The holdover PowerPC would be at best a speed bump for the line, and act as a transition computer, and may hold over the same as the PM G4 did when the move to the G5 happened. It could also be that the hold-over is on the high end (dual-dual cores) instead of on the low end where price may not be the same factor as it was when the G5 was released.
Originally posted by Blackcat
If they wanted to do that, they just would have, no?
Your first release into a new area is never going to nail it exactly. And Apple has a history of always being slightly under featured. I think Apple eventually gets it and gets the mini done right allowing it to be the mainstay digital hub (media center).
Originally posted by Maddan
Yes, it's likely the Mac Mini will be one the first Intel Macs and my quess is next April. Apple doesn't seem to be interested in the relatively ineffecient Pentium 4 (Netburst architecture) and the current Pentium M probably isn't suitable for use with OS X. Most of the speculation seems to be about the "Yonah" processor that is likely to be released in February. Yonah is a low power chip designed for laptops and will probably be well suited for the Mac Mini.
I agree, but also consider Dothan these are available now and they can be as fast as the P4 in the development boxes. Yonah will be better becasue it will have SSE3 and better FP performance, or that is the plan.
This means that as intel comes out with their stuff apple can't wait till some show to announce it apple must use new chips the nano second they are out because everybody else will.
As for the Pro stuff. I am sure Apple made sure that software remained platform independent just as much as they made sure the OS did. So that would only leave their major partner which will all receive premium Apple support. So those shouldn't be to slow switching either.
Getting all hardware over as soon as possible is the best solution. It means less headache of supporting ppc in the future. They may keep selling ppc products but that will only be until all their contracts are up.
Also having different hardware ISAs will send confused signals to useres when they go to buy hardware. They have to chose between G4s or pentium m's If it was me I would go with what i know. Old mac users would probably take the G4s but new mac users would probably stick with the tried and true pentiums.