Steve jobs hints at a switch to x86


Recommended Posts

This could be a hint, or it could be a scare tactic for Motorola to get their thumbs out of their asses:

Some analysts have also urged Apple to move to microchips from Intel Corp. INTC.O from those made by Motorola Inc. MOT.N and International Business Machines Corp. IBM.N to cut costs.

Asked about that possibility, Jobs said that first the company had to finish the transition to the OS X operating system, expected around the end of this year.

"Then we'll have options, and we like to have options," he said.

Link

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/38494-steve-jobs-hints-at-a-switch-to-x86/
Share on other sites

Even if Apple did switch to another chip manufacturer, it wouldn't insure a transition to an X86 line of chips. Almost every major chipmaker has different chip departments for different chip types. Intel is known for it's Pentium line up, but makes more than X86 chips.

Plus, a vast majority of applications won't run. Photoshop 7 for example.

Only cocoa apps will be able to be easily converted, Photoshop 7 and the majority or major apps are Carbon.

This is done to scare Motorola, there are plenty of other Chip manafacturers out there that can supply custom desktop chips to Apple.

IBM's Power 4 chip is a possibilty and it's a beast.

Originally posted by Dazzla

Plus, a vast majority of applications won't run. Photoshop 7 for example.

Only cocoa apps will be able to be easily converted, Photoshop 7 and the majority or major apps are Carbon.

This is done to scare Motorola, there are plenty of other Chip manafacturers out there that can supply custom desktop chips to Apple.

IBM's Power 4 chip is a possibilty and it's a beast.

I'd sell every PC I own and jump on Apple if they switched to the Power4 chip...those things are awesome!

For those that don't know, it's a powerPC based chip with even shorter pipes, insane clock speeds, better floating point and beats the living crap out of almost any other chip available...The Power4 is to G4 as Pentium4 is to Pentium2.

I'm sure chaning from Motorola to Intel does not mean a change to x86. Intel's manufacturing the G3 chips right now for Apple from what I understand... And the license for the PowerPC CPU architecture is owned by Apple, Motorola and Intel together.. Correct me if I'm wrong though. I just read an article a couple of days ago about this, can't remember where though..

lmao you PC people are hilarious. Just because Intel is making the chips that doesn't mean they are going to be x86. They can just drum up a deal so they give Intel the technology to make powerpc chips. lol you poor people getting your collective knickers all in a twist.

Originally posted by cerbero

I'm sure chaning from Motorola to Intel does not mean a change to x86. Intel's manufacturing the G3 chips right now for Apple from what I understand... And the license for the PowerPC CPU architecture is owned by Apple, Motorola and Intel together.. Correct me if I'm wrong though. I just read an article a couple of days ago about this, can't remember where though..

The G3 is produced by IBM and Motorola. IBM far exceeds Motorola in this, it's capable of scaling it's version of the G3 to 1.5GHz. Their top end G3 will outperform the high end G4 from Motorola.

The G4 though has Altivec, this is owned by Motorola and if Apple wanted IBM to produce G4 chips (which would be a good thing) they would have to buy the rights from Motorola.

Here's some specs:

IBM G3

Motorola's limited G4

The fabled G5

This looks pretty appealing

Originally posted by Dazzla

The G3 is produced by IBM and Motorola. IBM far exceeds Motorola in this, it's capable of scaling it's version of the G3 to 1.5GHz. Their top end G3 will outperform the high end G4 from Motorola.

The G4 though has Altivec, this is owned by Motorola and if Apple wanted IBM to produce G4 chips (which would be a good thing) they would have to buy the rights from Motorola.

Here's some specs:

IBM G3

Motorola's limited G4

The fabled G5

This looks pretty appealing

Ah yes. I confused IBM with Intel.. Sorry about that :)
Originally posted by johnqpublic

just as with the mmx extensions, altivec doesn't offer as significant of an advantage when there's about 500mhz more of raw processing power ... let's give it up IBM!

Agreed, Motorola can only ship 1GHz G4's atm but IBM can ship G3's at 1.5 GHz.

Apple doesn't mean **** to Motorola.

Yeah, it would be nice to have OSX on Intel but thats only because we, presumably, wouldn't have to buy new hardware. There is no way I can see Mac making only the OS as a source of revenue. Can't make enough money on it. They are really a hardware company in the end. The only reason I think MS was able to pull off what it did is the enrollment of large companies upgrading Office, OS desktop and server and other major apps every year or so.

I think Apple is trying to consider AMD as the next runner up. I don't know if AMD would make a complete switch to MAC or still make PC hardware. Of course, the system has to remain proprietary to some degree which isn't bad as long as the hardware is good. I'm always annoyed at the low-quality crap hardware you see on the PC.

Lets make this interesting though. What if Apple went with SPARC (which SUN uses), Alpha or MIPS (which SGI uses) based processors instead? All are completely different architectures than X86 and have had a lot of money dumped into research for them and all are proven performers. While SUN and SGI don't manufacture their own chips, my argument is that there are other fab plants in the world other than AMD, Intel and Motorola and other processor technologies.

Dazzla, consider that while Motorola isn't really desparate for money right now (they sell a lot of Communications and semiconductors), I recall reading sevarl months they really screwed up on some major contracts for the US military (I think they were for satellites). While Apples' business may not be a huge chunk, they might want to reconsider since they probably are going to lose some businness from the military.

Well if Jobs wanted to take MS head on, he would get together and do a few things:

1. Make Mac OS run on x86(and make it so current cpus could handle it)

2. Write drivers for the majority of hardware out there, that doesnt of course, have drivers for mac already there.

3. Make a nifty utility that allows u to transfer ur docs and saved pics and **** from Windows to ur nifty new Mac Os-PC.

Just my thoughts....Heck, I would repartition some space for mac os on Pc

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Ford execs say they made a mistake when they replaced human engineers with AI by David Uzondu Ford recently announced that over the last three years, it's had to rehire about 350 "gray beard" engineers to mentor younger staff and reprogram diagnostic systems and AI tools that were failing to meet up to quality expectations. The company's VP of vehicle hardware engineering, Charles **** said that leaders overlooked the deep experience of veterans who survived many product cycles. **** admitted that simply replacing them with AI was a huge mistake, and that while AI is "a fantastic tool," it remains "only as good as the information you use to train it." The rehired engineers now run mandatory meetings to troubleshoot vehicles and reprogram automated engineering software and AI tools to prevent glitches before production. These technical specialists hunt for failure points before parts ever reach the plant floor, helping prevent the massive recalls and defects that previously cost the company billions as it aims to cut one billion dollars in expenses this year. In last year's JD Power Quality Survey, an annual study that measures the quality of a car during the first three months of ownership, Ford finished 10th among mainstream brands and scored below the industry average. But this year, JD Power ranked the automaker as the top mainstream brand, placing it above the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ford attributed this massive improvement directly to the expertise of these returned engineers. Ford's realization that AI cannot magically design and test quality vehicles without senior human oversight is just the tip of the iceberg. When Careerminds looked at companies that conducted AI-driven layoffs, researchers found out that 35.6% of those companies had to rehire more than half of the employees they previously fired. Another 32.7% had to rehire between 25% and 50% of them. In 2024, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, proudly announced that its new chatbot was doing the work of 700 full-time customer service agents. As a result, the fintech company froze hiring and cut hundreds of positions. But by mid 2025, and into 2026, Klarna was scrambling to recruit human agents again because customer satisfaction had plummeted. It turns out, while AI is very good at answering basic questions like how to check an account balance, when faced with complex customer issues that require nuance, the thing usually resorts to the unhelpful, robotic corporate jargon we all know and love.
    • Free AI in IDEs is shifting to paid models Or you know, you could just learn to actually design and code apps, use frameworks to handle the repetitive parts and not use AI at all - and voila... free for life!
    • In a sane world US antitrust laws wouldn't even allow these companies to be in the position to be subjected to EU directives. As you say, better than oligarch nothing.
    • Apple reportedly has a second-generation iPhone Fold planned for 2027 Good grief, Apple hasn't even released a first folding phone and the Apple faithful is already obsessing over the sequel? Seriously people, go out and touch grass... because this level of obsession is borderline stalkery/neurotic.
    • I checked on the IPs associated with every login and they're all mine... And whenever I get a new prompt, there is no activity to show for it. 
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      405
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      169
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      129
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Xenon
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!