Neowin.net

If I'm able to buy a dual-core Intel PowerBook next year that ran OS X and Windows, then I'm sold!

Global notebook shipments next in 2006 are predicted to grow 17.8 per cent, "driven by lower pricing





!!!!!

Nearly 5% of notebook/laptop market predicted for 2006? Nice.

However, that growth has nit to do with the iPod *halo effect*. Has anyone taken a look at Apple's Intel-driven MacBook Pro? It's twice as fast as the PowerBook it replaces, has built-in iSight, built-in wireless networking, and costs no more than the PowerBook it will replace. More features, faster graphics, faster speed, costs the same. I'm not a fan of Apple Macs; largely because you are literally tied into the Apple hardware structure (by deliberate design); however, I have to admit that the new MacBooks are one area where Apple could actually sell ME one, as buying ANY notebook ties you to that manufacturer. Also, Tiger (10.4.4) is a decidedly slick operating system; anyone knocking it obviously hasn't tried it. I have (though I primarily run Windows XP, and am NOT about to switch whole-hog) tried Tiger, on Intel-based hardware (and no, the hardware in question was NOT supplied or built by Apple), and found the new cat has some VERY impressive claws. While there are some things that XP does that Tiger doesn't, the reverse is also true to an extent. My biggest quibble with Tiger is that Apple insists on refusing to let Tiger loose and compete heads-up against Windows (either XP or Vista). Seriously; how many of the people that build their own systems (these are the folks that WOULD buy OS X retail for use on generic Intel hardware) would EVER buy a Macintosh, even an Intel-powered Macintosh? Of those that would (I will hazard a guess and put that number at less than twenty percent), most of that group would be buying a MacBook Pro (and you'd get them anyway), and you would get them because building a notebook is decidedly NOT for the timid (or even for the average home builder). Apple, I hate to break this to you as a company, but YOUR actions back in the days when the Mac could legally be cloned poisoned that well (first with the G3, then with Altivec and the G4) and then your statements at your own World Wide Developers' Conference *just last year* (that Apple operating systems would ONLY be legally allowed to run on Apple hardware) specifically proved that the same extremist mentality that killed the legal Mac clone marketplace is still alive and well within Apple, even though the company is a heck of a lot bigger than the Mac, or even the Mac and iPod. Apple, you make great notebooks (witness the MacBook Pro); however, your middle and high end desktops are woefully underequipped compared to your competition that runs Windows, and unless you fix it, you will continue to be seen as a *niche computer company*, albeit a profitable niche computer company.