http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0511intelibook.html

Think secret has the down and dirty that says an Intel based iBook will come out in january, what do you guys think? I always take these rumors with a grain of salt, but who knows, right?

I recall the Mini was the original favourite to get Intel first. Then there was a rumour it would be the iMac. iMacs are too new though. I reckon the iBook is a fair bet actually.

Does anyone remember just after the Mini came out, there was an Intel 'concept' machine which was remarkably similar? That was before the whole Apple/Intel announcement, but the deal must have been well and truly in the offing by then. Makes you wonder.

The order Macs will adopt Intel chips in is a tough one to call:

I reckon iBook or Mini first and second, then PowerBook, then PowerMac. The only thing I can't place at all is the Xserve. That quad-dual core P4 rumour the other day and the fact that the Xserve hasn't got the dual core G5 yet makes it awkard. I think they'd be better off doing a dual core G5 version first. So lets put it last behind the PowerMac.

I doubt that apple will hit up the lower line macs first. It doesn't make as much sense to me. Since this will most likely be a speed bump, they arnt going to canibalize their performance systems.

I say that everyone is in for a surprise come January. Powermacs, powerbooks, ibooks, and maybe even mac minis, but I wouldn't count on that. Apple's sales are hurting bad, due to their lack of upgrades in the portable market, the largest growing segment in the computer industry. They would have to be stupid to not update the portables. This is one of the main reasons for switching anyway. And, again, they arn't going to canabilize their top performers. So, why update the ibook without updating the powermac?

Well, it's just wild speculation as to what will be upgraded first or last, but the laptop line will probably go first. Personally, I think the LAST to upgrade will be the Powermac. Why? Because it will be a top performer for a long time, even against the intels.


That's just my two cents.

Here is the dilemma as I see it in regards to portables, Right now the g5 systems run at 2ghz and above. the powerbooks start at 1.5 and the ibooks at 1.2 or so. What pentium will they put in the iBook that won't look (stress on the word look) faster than the powerbooks and even some g5's to the average Mhz conditioned consumer?

That's why (and I read this somewhere, I think at ThinkSecret) the first line to get an Intel makeover will be the PowerBook. They'll be scrapping the 12" (:(, I read it in that same thing, whatever it was), but will upgrade the 15" and 17," and maybe they'll add an (*gasp*) even larger one! Y'know, a REAL desktop replacement, like the ones made by Alienware. Next will of course be the iBooks, then the PowerMacs (because the iMacs are already so damned cool), and then, and ONLY then, the iMacs. As far as the Xserve line goes, who knows? It's not one of their top sellers, so they'll keep it on the back burner.

Post edited by: JediJoker7169, at: 2005/11/17 15:48

Post edited by: JediJoker7169, at: 2005/11/17 19:38

They won't scrap the 12" PB. It sells too well. They'll do the Mac Mini fairly early, since its aimed at switchers. And switchers understand the word 'Pentium'.

I can see the ibook going first, the pentium mobile dosen't run at very high clock speeds really anyway so its not going to make the rest of the line look especially slow. I would have thought that apple could produce a cheapish 12" ibook 1.5-1.6 Ghz using the pentium mobile, at least if you look at the exising windows laptop costs and guestimate the apple premium it works out at about the same as the existing 12". Also I imagine that the core ibook market just wants a computer "that works" so won't really notice what chip they have in thier laptop. If rosetta makes the transisition as painless as prommised then swapping the low end over, where nobody really expects blazing performance should work well for apple. All the itunes, iphoto, iwork apps will be ported and as I saw mentioned elsewhere it gives the big app makers time to finish porting their apps.
makes some sense to me, damm i just realised that i should have left the house 10 minutes ago!

Yes I also see that Apple may put a line of iBooks running a x86 or x86_64 based CPU instead of that massive G5 that uses massive heatsinks to keep cool.