MacIntels Arrive at MacWorld
Sunday January 22, 2006 at 1:52 am | Filed under Mac
Yeah, I’m late with this news, but if you really cared, you’d already know all about it. If still care, and don’t know. Here’s a short recap:
Apple unveiled the first ever macs powered by Intel chips at MacWorld (their annual deal up in San Francisco) a couple of weeks ago in the form of a new iMac, and the MacBook Pro (formerly known as PowerBook). Besides the chip switch, only subtle changes were made to the existing PowerPC fueled models (although the MacBook Pro has a built in iSight camera, which is pretty cool). Apple claims that with the new chips, there’s a speed increase of 2x for the iMac, and 4x for the ‘book. The iMac is in stores now, while the MacBook Pro will ship in February (15″ model only for now). The rest of the Apple line will roll out in intel-colored clothes throughout this year.
So there’s the meat of the matter. For the first time in a long time, no new iPods were announced! Apple has launched its new commercial mocking PCs, or course. With this chip change and all of the increased attention toward Apple with the success of iTunes and the iPod, I believe that Apple is going to have a huge year. Of course, that’s obvious, right? But I bet they sell more macs than they ever have and they’ll sell them mostly to people that have Windows machines. Hopefully all of that growth won’t ruin part of what makes Apple and having a mac great. The community of people that own macs. Them are some great folks!
Of course, I’ll be one of the millions that buy an Apple computer this year. I’ll be replacing my system this time, buying whatever the top model Powermac (or whatever it’ll be called) that has an intel chip in it. It probably won’t be until later Summer/Fall until I pull the trigger, if they’re available by then, but I think giving the Intel era a bit of time so that the developers can write native apps for the new systems without the need of an emulator.
I found a site that takes the audio from Microsoft’s preview presentations of Windows Vista and pairs them with video of OS X. They’re pretty funny. I know that Vista will be the biggest rip-off ever seen, but I guess that will be dismissed at flattery. That is, if Vista ever comes out. They keep pushing back the date (is there a real date?) and stripping out functionality. Anyway, Windows or Mac user, you’ll probably get a laugh out of these videos.
One Response to “MacIntels Arrive at MacWorld”
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Joel Endicott Says:
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:11 amHowdy Joe, found your site via Rich’s and Jon’s blog links.
I had to make a reply because I just ordered a new 20″ iMac Duo Core this morning from Amazon. They are currently offering a $150 rebate on these machines. Plus, no sales tax and overnight delivery for $30 makes it a no brainer for me. I’m so excited I might just pee my pants.
I think Apple really surprised us all with these new Intelmacs being ready in January. I’ve been reading reviews like crazy, and it’s definately getting the thumbs up. Since I mostly use iLife software on our home machine things will be running at native speeds. And heck, MS Office runs just as fast through rosetta emulation as it currently does natively on my 6 year old G4 Sawtooth machine (which actually runs it very well). So, I really didn’t feel the need to wait for the next round of releases.
I, too, think this will be a big year for Apple. Though I gotta tell you, I like being only 5% of the PC market. Like you say, it’s the community of mac users that really makes macs special. We don’t want to invite too many people to the party. : )
And those videos are great! Vista? Looks just like Tiger that was released 6 months ago!
joel