There’s been a lot of jabber (some of it quite heated) on the web about the new “Macintel” computer move by Apple. Here’s what we know right now:
- Apple has announced that Intel-based Macs should hit the streets by June next year
- PowerPC Macs will continue to be produced through the end of 2007
- Developers have tools available now to begin making the transition
- Apple is apparently doing this because they feel that Intel is better able to move CPU chip technology forward than IBM was
- OS X will have to be ported, but word is, as each iteration of OS X has been released, an “Intel” version was also created “just in case”
- Rosetta will support running PowerPC programs on Intel, but with likely speed hits. Rosetta may not support programs that require the G4/G5 Altivec engine (most music software). Of interest is one assertion that all the plug-ins that run in a host program must be ported to Intel, or the host will be forced to run in Rosetta
- By the time the Intel Macs hit, many programs will likely already have been ported (remember, we’re at least a year away from the new machines)
- Developers can create a single program that will support both PowerPC and Intel, due to Apple’s new “Universal Binary” approach
- Your Mac is not obsolete today. Nor will it be obsolete next year. Nor does it make sense to wait to buy a new Mac (if you need one today) – as mentioned above, we’re still at least a year away, and you can be assured that there will be bugs and kinks to be worked out, especially where music/audio software and hardware is concerned. (If you want to be contrarian, you could say that any computer you get is obsolete as soon as you buy it, but let’s not go there….)
- No word on whether we’re talking about Pentium 4 Intel chips, or if Intel has developed something new for Apple to work with.
- According to Apple, PCs will not be able to run OS X
- Conversely, it seems likely that Macs will run Windows, though this will not be supported by Apple
Rather than get excited about this whole thing (though it is pretty exciting, especially if it results in machines that are significantly more powerful), the best approach is probably “business as usual,” making music. When it’s time to change over, it will be time to change over
