: Personally, at first I cringed, but then I realized, what the crap, I don't
: know jack shit about processors. I have absolutely not the slightest idea
: if Intel is better than IBM or whatever. Steve Jobs on the other hand has
: been running an extremely succcessful computer company for 30 years, and
: one which more often than not makes very good decisions , too. It's more
: likely that he is correct than that my narrow-minded and biased feelings
: which are not based in any form of actual knowledge, is. I think that's
: the problem with a lot of people, Mac users will always be bashing Windows
: and everything remotely connected to Windows. Time to take a step back and
: not act on impulse?
: Of course, anyone who knows anything about processors is welcome to explain
: to me why this is bad, I'm flexible in both directions here =)
Well, you see, the PowerPC uses a RISC-type architecture, while x86 chips use a CISC architecture. What this means for the end user is...
Actually, I don't have any more idea than you do (and probably a lot less). After getting over the initial shock that I WAS WRONG (!), I've realised that for me it probably doesn't make much of a difference, since, to quote As the Apple Turns's take on the matter, "if Steve Jobs broke into your house in the middle of the night and replaced your PowerPC with a Pentium, swapped your installed Mac OS X with an Intel version, and replaced all of your apps with MacIntel binaries, would you even notice?" For me, as a consumer, the method my computer's using to handle its tasks is pretty much an abstract matter with no real practical value, as long as it's not wasting time by sending electrons to Tuscany for no reason, or whatever. The results of G5/Pentium speed tests have been so varied that I don't think I'm going to notice any change in my user experience.
I understand that it might be tough for the developers, but 3 GHz G5s were meant to be here last year, and IBM's failed to deliver. Apple's obviously decided that although the PPC may apparently have more of a "future" (whatever that's supposed to mean), x86 has got enough life in it yet to warrant the switch. Intel's not likely to run into any troubles manufacturing Pentiums, since they supply pretty much every other computer manufacturer out there with millions of them. I'm guessing that the number of new Mac users is probably going to increase as well, now that the "Megahertz Myth" is more or less a moot point. I can certainly understand why people won't like this, but I'm pretty sure that the move is a good one in the long run. And by 'in the long run', I of course mean 'until x86 finally keels over and catches on fire and everyone (not just Apple this time) switches to a RISC architecture'.
- Reiginko
