Apparently the latest rumors making the rounds reguarding Apple is that they are in secret (SHHH! Don’t tell anyone) talks with Intel, the King of the X86 world, to possibly switch the Mac line over to their Pentium chip. While this is the stuff that makes Fanboys faint, don’t bet the farm on it. The only way Apple would make a switch like this is if they were planning on giving up making computers.
The is no way that Apple could compete with Dell/HP/Gateway/Bob’s computers and snackbar (NOW with GYROS!) and still have the profit margin they currently enjoy using IBM’s 970 line. Yes, IBM hasn’t been cranking out faster chips as quickly as Steve Jobs might like (or predicted), yes, MHz for MHz, the Intel side is a little faster, and yes, Apple could possible give Microsoft a run for their money by making their OS compatible with the 95 percent or so of the other computers out there, but it would also most likely doom the company.
Think about it. We are in year 5 of the great switchover from the classic Mac OS (OS 9 and below) and OS X (10.0 and above). Much of the software that was available for the classic OS never made the leap to OS X and replacements for many of those titles are now just beginning to trickle in. Apple has shown remarkable patience during the great migration and the companies that supported OS X in the beginning are now seeing some of the fruit of their labors. How many of those same companies do you think are interested in making yet another switch to X86 hardware? If they have their feet in both the Mac and Windows camps, they already have at least two very different customers to satisfy (Three or possibly four is they support the Classic Mac OS and Linux as well). Now just as there could be light at the end of the tunnel, you’re going to pull the rug out again?
While the X86 hardware is certainly speedy-quick, Apple would have to be even more insane than I think they are by making a move like this. How many additional drivers alone would have to be created to support this? While the thought of having all the hardware currently available for Intel-based computers might make you drool, just making it available for X86 based computers doesn’t mean you could go out and buy that 512 Mb video card and stuff it into an xMac. Just ask the Linux folks out there (Been using X86 for years) how much of that gear works for them without special drivers being created.
Also think about this. How long do you suppose that Microsoft would continue making Office for the Mac if Apple starting competing with them on the same hardware? Unless Apple has a compatible Office Suite ready to go (iWork is hardly a replacement in its current state), this would be a serious blow to the world of Mac.
Most likely this could lead to other consumer devices with the Apple brand. Perhaps an Apple media center or some other set top device maybe, but not the Macintosh. Of course I have been wrong before and unlike many I would never say never. I feel however it would be a mistake. Lets just wait a bit and see what Apple can do with say the IBM Cell multi-processor or even some of the other 97x chips that they have up their sleeves before jumping into another camp as of yet.
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