Apple / Intel Rumours

“The rumors floating around for the last few weeks that Apple will turn to Intel processors for future systems are now being moved from the rumor column to the confirmed column, according to some news organizations” – InfoWorld.com

Apple and Intel – the history

“Apple has seriously considered switching to Intel at least twice in its history. One previous project code-named Star Trek actually ported Mac OS 7 to Intel based hardware in 1992. Most recently, internal IBM documents noted that Apple considered switching to Intel but felt it would cause too much trouble:” – MacRumors.com

This time?

Apple is about to announce that it is dropping IBM chips in favour of those made by Intel reports suggest.

The first Apple computers with the Intel chips onboard could appear by mid-2006, technology site CNet reported over the weekend.

The move would mark a big change in Apple strategy, and a boost to Intel at the expense of IBM.

Industry watchers are expecting an announcement by Apple on the deal on Monday at a company conference [World Wide Developer’s Conference]. – BBC News Online

Why?

Why would such a deal come about? Supposedly IBM are not making (or refuse to / cannot make) a wide enough set of chips for Apple’s needs.

Additionally, IBM now has the contract to providing PowerPC chips for Microsoft’s imminent Xbox 360 console, Sony’s forthcoming PlayStation 3 game machine and Nintendo’s future game-playing machine. Apple isn’t their biggest customer.

Likely?

Here’s Jim’s opinion:

Well, the media is just going nuts thanks to a rumor started by ‘analysts’ at the Wall Street journal about Apple possibly using Intel chips in upcoming products, and everyone’s just falling all over themselves buzzing about the possibility. Personally I think that anyone in the media that starts talking about such things should be fired for their incompetence, but here’s my take on all of this.
First of all, nowhere in the original article was the word PROCESSOR mentioned. You know, that really big chip that runs the whole show? Last time I checked, Intel made more than just Pentiums, and Apple has used Intel chips in the past in its products. In fact, at this very moment I’m staring at an Apple multi-port Ethernet card removed from a G4 server, and it has Intel chips all over it.

Personal Opinion

I’m a Mac zealot, and the initial thought of this possibly being true initially made me a little uncomfortable…

…then again, what’s the big deal?

If Apple can get better, lower priced chips elsewhere, then why not? The Mac relies on a lot of industry-standard components for its machines now, a far cry from over a decade ago.

If they were about to announce going into partnership with Microsoft to develop future Mac operating systems, that would be something to really worry about. (It’s never gonna happen, right?)

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this isn’t just some elaborate wind-up. Steve Jobs may well make some form of announcement, it may even involve Intel, but it could well be different to what everyone has been rumouring – we know how the mainstream media have messed things up before, and unfortunately on far more important issues.

Rather than repeat everything that has been said thus far, here are some links that might be useful for further reading:

We’ll wait to see what (if anything) Mr Jobs has to say on the matter.