This story on CNN Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips is burning up the wires Mac wise, and there is a ton of commentary pro and con, positive and negative. I won’t hazard a guess. The news coming the day before the Apple developers conference can only fuel this discussion. Let me inject my two bits worth.
Using Intel does not mean that the OS-X and the entire Mac line will switch to the Pentium CPU from Intel. Intel makes a lot of good CPU’s that are NOT x86 architecture. ARM, Alpha, xScale all come to mind. The truth be told there are intel chips are already in Apple Mac’s as controllers and what not.
What would make more sense is if Apple contracted Intel to produce PowerPC chips for the next generation of Mac’s. This makes more since for both as Intel has been cut off from the next generation of game consoles producing a competing PowerPC chip would be good for them. The amount of money to be make from Intel selling CPU’s to Apple, will pale in comparison to the game console market it could be buying into.
And for Apple, it could get the speed increase, power reduction, and those architectural enhancements that it has be unable to get IBM to provide in the current PowerPC line.
Win = Win or rather Mac = Mac
One more note: How about OS-X on the new Intel motherboard with firewire? How would that affect Longhorn?