The Intel Macs Have Arrived!

sonikbliss · Post by **sonikbliss** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:18 am

Imacs and Macbook Pro's (formerly known as Powerbooks) only.

I think I'll wait it out a bit though, as I'm sure they'll have some issues.

sonikbliss · Post by **sonikbliss** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:48 am

Here's some more info:

Macbook Pro

Apple has released the fastest notebook ever, dubbed the MacBook Pro, featuring an Intel Core Duo processor. Features of the new portable include a built-in iSight camera, IR Sensor, Apple Remote, ATI Radeon x1600 video processor, and a new, innovative magnetic power plug. The new MacBook Pro is available in two configurations:

1.67 Core Duo - $1999
Ships: February
15.4-inch TFT display with 1440x900 resolution
1.67GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2MB shared L2 Cache
667MHz frontside bus
512MB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD?RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory
iLife 06

1.83 Core Duo - $2499
Ships: February
15.4-inch TFT display with 1440x900 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2MB shared L2 Cache
667MHz frontside bus
1GB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
100GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD?RW/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory
iLife 06

MacBook Pro also features a full-size backlit keyboard, AirPort Extreme wireless networking (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, ExpressCard/34 slot, dual-link DVI video out, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and optical digital and analog audio in/out.

The MacBook Pro is available for preorder at Apple Store.

From Macrumors.com

will.record.for.food · Post by **will.record.for.food** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:06 pm

Im not opening up the mac vs pc can of worms (I use both and each have their strengths and weaknesses)...but the line on the ad they have on their main page made me LAUGH HARD:

What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than its ever done in a PC

They want everyone to try a slice of some fresh Apple Pie!

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:07 pm

will.record.for.food wrote:Im not opening up the mac vs pc can of worms

Yes you are.

sonikbliss · Post by **sonikbliss** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:45 pm

will.record.for.food wrote:Im not opening up the mac vs pc can of worms (I use both and each have their strengths and weaknesses)...but the line on the ad they have on their main page made me LAUGH HARD:

What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than its ever done in a PC

They want everyone to try a slice of some fresh Apple Pie!

It's officially opened.

Seriously though, I thought that qoute was hilarious.

I'm actually kind of dissapointed, I was more excited to find out about the media Mac Mini. It's rumored to have a built in DVR (TIVO Killer), an IPod dock, FrontRow app. Could be a very cool centerpeice for a home entertainment system. But the wait goes on......

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:48 pm

Funny thing about this...
I really don't like Apple much. I don't trust their current software & OS and even hardware practices of releasing revisions that kill software from competitive companies or releasing hardware which won't work with any existing PCI cards. These are pretty serious issues for folks running ProTools, but then Apple sells Logic, so they are in direct competition, but happen to hold the keys to the hardware & OS.

But I said a funny thing and that is that their stock price is coming close to tripling in about the last two years.
I looked at it about a year ago, maybe November of '04 and thought it maybe had another 10% potential from the iPod stuff and so didn't touch. My loss, since it just kept moving up all of last year. I finally started buying this November in small amounts, up to about $800 total as of last week with a target of about $1k total investment.
Then I heard the Mac Expo was this week so I bought my remaining $200 this morning, and it's already up by about 4%. Sure, that's only about $8, but it's already up that far.
Check out their chart for the last 2 years and make that better than quadrupling in the last 2 years.

So it's funny because for as much as I distrust them, and have little love for their products, I might as well make money off of them as long as it's there to be made.
Hopefully they'll announce another split in the next month or so.

-Jeremy

b3groover · Post by **b3groover** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:00 pm

Yay, over-priced Macs using over-priced Intel chips. How clever.

I like Macs, but they are stupidly expensive. When I was buying a notebook, I look into an Apple and realized that for my budget ($999) I could either get a iBook with a dinky 12" screen, 256mb of ram, and an 80gb internal drive or an HP with a 64-bit CPU, 17" screen, 512mb of ram, and a 160gb harddrive.

Guess which one I chose?

sonikbliss · Post by **sonikbliss** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:08 pm

b3groover wrote:Yay, over-priced Macs using over-priced Intel chips. How clever.

I like Macs, but they are stupidly expensive. When I was buying a notebook, I look into an Apple and realized that for my budget ($999) I could either get a iBook with a dinky 12" screen, 256mb of ram, and an 80gb internal drive or an HP with a 64-bit CPU, 17" screen, 512mb of ram, and a 160gb harddrive.

Guess which one I chose?

The Mac?

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:08 pm

Here's an interesting bunch of info from a survey of Apple employees:
http://www.vault.com/go/to.jsp?place=34267

-Jeremy

spankenstein · Post by **spankenstein** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:00 pm

I am interested to see how the Apple vs. PC market plays out now that it's a level playing field hardware wise.

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:42 pm

spankenstein wrote:I am interested to see how the Apple vs. PC market plays out now that it's a level playing field hardware wise.

Oh, but it's not. Apple's not using the same Intel chips (Pentiums, Celerons, etc) that are going into PC's. Sure, Intel's manufacturing some hardware for Apple. No big deal.

I've said it before: Apple is *not* going to give up their lock on proprietary hardware. That's where they make the money. You're not going to be able to buy a copy of OSX for your Dell desktop. You may be able to get a hacked copy to work, but that's hardly the same thing.

spankenstein · Post by **spankenstein** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:24 pm

John Jeffers wrote:
spankenstein wrote:I am interested to see how the Apple vs. PC market plays out now that it's a level playing field hardware wise.
Oh, but it's not. Apple's not using the same Intel chips (Pentiums, Celerons, etc) that are going into PC's. Sure, Intel's manufacturing some hardware for Apple. No big deal.

I've said it before: Apple is *not* going to give up their lock on proprietary hardware. That's where they make the money. You're not going to be able to buy a copy of OSX for your Dell desktop. You may be able to get a hacked copy to work, but that's hardly the same thing.

Wishful thinking. It's the same it's the Intel Duo which is the dual core centrino. Everyone will have these soon. No you aren't going to legitimatly run it but there were hacks for it a couple days after the developer boxes were released. Intel is not going to fab a different chip just for Apple! They aren't that big with their massive 3% of the consumer PC market.

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:45 pm

spankenstein wrote:Wishful thinking. It's the same it's the Intel Duo which is the dual core centrino. Everyone will have these soon. No you aren't going to legitimatly run it but there were hacks for it a couple days after the developer boxes were released. Intel is not going to fab a different chip just for Apple! They aren't that big with their massive 3% of the consumer PC market.

Dude, you just agreed with me. Like I said, you're not going to run it legitimately. It will be a hack. Apple isn't giving up their hardware business. Therefore, not a level playing field. OSX will continue to be the more expensive option for those who can't figure out how to (or don't want to) run a hacked copy.

BTW, dual core Centrino? That doesn't make sense. Centrino's a chipset, not a CPU.

My ePenis is bigger than yours. Or I guess iPenis, since we're talking about Macs.

EDIT: My iPenis just shrunk. I googled for Intel Duo, found out what you're talking about. You are superior.

But my point about the playing field not being level due to hardware lock-in on Apple's part still stands.

spankenstein · Post by **spankenstein** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:58 pm

But the hardware lock-in is just DRM. It's nothing specific other than a chip that says "yes run OS X on me." The level playing field is when people see the $800 HpDellCompaq and compare it to the $2000 apple and start to wonder why. Before Apple could always hide behind the PowerPC platform. They always cited how much faster it was with the Altivec engine than a comparable PC chip. When they decided to go with Intel there was a nice case study type thing where apps ported from Altivec so SSE2, maybe SSE3 I don't recall, were so much faster than the Altivec.

Apple is a marketing company then a software company followed by a hardware company. They now REALLY have a lot of marketing to do. They have to sell the lifestyle and the image. I've always looked at Sony (at least the computer division) as what Apple will be: high priced and image based. The Vaios are cool... if you're in to that.

Anyway, my point was that the "hardware" is a joke... and always has been. Apple has been selling fancy icons with display PDF for the last few years... Oh... and overpriced music downloads.

I dont' care about my ePenis, iPenis, realPenis... I'm just adding my opinion to what I see. I think Apple's look slick. There is no doubt there, they have some visionary designers. I like the idea of their software. I work in and on Linux all day and have always had a special place for NeXT machines... but computing is a commodity market commanding commodity prices and to some degree Apple confirmed that by partnering with Intel.

Centrino is the "platform." Intel is a "platform" company now.

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:41 pm

Good points, well made. I think people already compare the $800 PC to the $2000 Mac and wonder why. That's why Apple doesn't have more market share. Hell, I'd buy a Mac if they were comparably priced--as you said, they are slick.

spankenstein wrote:I dont' care about my ePenis, iPenis, realPenis...

Yeah, I was just kiddin', ya know. Hence the stupid little smiley face.

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The Intel Macs Have Arrived!

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