Intel Mac

[lavagal]

Anyone wanna wax poetic on this new machine, the Intel Mac? Is it all you'd want it to be? Do you want it? How come? Is it the yin yang of computers?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Intel Mac

Intel/Mac...hmmmm......hmmmm......sounds like Chevy/Ford......hmmmmm just doesn't sound well together....you know like Tuna/Peanut Butter

[pzarquon]

Re: Intel Mac

I've yet to play with one at the Apple Store, if they've got 'em set up already, but at this point I'd be more interested in getting deals on the former top-of-the-line models being phased out than these new machines. The speed boosts from the new architecture are nothing to sneeze at, but aren't across the board (and they can even be slower depending on the application), and this early on in the transition, I'd be worried about compatibility, even with tight emulation.

That's in transitioning from an existing Mac setup, of course. Starting from scratch? Go for it. The MacBook Pro is especially intriguing...

[Paul]

Re: Intel Mac

One thing for sure, the change has not been good for Apple stock. It went down from $86 a share to $67 in just two weeks.

[jkpescador]

Re: Intel Mac

Remember to check www.dealmac.com (Thanks! Blaine).

Also if you are a student or government employee remember to use those stores online to get a discount even on iPods. The new nano is $140 (free shipping) ... $9 off. Well the discount is much more on computers.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Intel Mac

One thing for sure, the change has not been good for Apple stock. It went down from $86 a share to $67 in just two weeks.

Ahhh 1st quarter is always dismal. By 3rd quarter stocks should be looking better.

[Miulang]

Re: Intel Mac

Apple as a whole should start looking a whole lot better since they've reduced the prices on some of their iPods and made those a whole lot more affordable to a whole lot more people.

Miulang

[tutusue]

Re: Intel Mac

I've yet to play with one at the Apple Store, if they've got 'em set up already, but at this point I'd be more interested in getting deals on the former top-of-the-line models being phased out than these new machines. [...]

Yep...me, too! I'd especially like to find a great deal on a Powerbook 15". I don't think I'm ready to plunk down the money for a first generation change altho' a production company I work with has a bunch of new Intel iMacs.

That's in transitioning from an existing Mac setup, of course. Starting from scratch? Go for it. The MacBook Pro is especially intriguing...

That one sounds like a winner altho' the same holds true about first generation changes. I'll wait but will look forward to one in the future.

[Cameron]

Re: Intel Mac

I think they changed to intel a little too soon, especially after reading this article.

http://news.com.com/IBM+touts+new+ch...l?tag=nefd.hed

Then again who knows how much those chips will cost once they work out the heating problems.

Either way I'm not a mac person. I love their sexy hardware but have never been fond of their os. Almost too user friendly if that makes any sense.

[mel]

Re: Intel Mac

One of my favorite Mac websites to read is low end mac. They have great articles that address Macintosh usage in real world situations... and focus on us regular people who are using macs that are 2, 3, 4 or 5 year-old (or even older) platforms.

As far as the Intel Macs go, the old adage of never buy version 1.0 of anything probably holds true.

In this article, the author writes:

For best performance, software code needs to be compiled into programs that are optimized for the hardware. Apple has reworked its operating system and many of its own programs to make good use of the new Intel processors, but most third-party software, including commonly used programs like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, have not yet been updated for the new hardware.

Intel Macs can run these older programs using built-in translation software called Rosetta, but the translation comes with a speed penalty. These programs feel sluggish, seeming to run at about half the speed they would on a recent-generation PowerPC iMac.

The result: The new hardware runs software optimized for it faster than the models they replace, but it runs other programs slower than last-year's models.

Reports are out saying that Adobe will be kind of late into getting their programs to run on MacIntels. So right now the best Macs to run Adobe programs are the Power Mac G5 and some of the G4s.

Which means for now it may be better to buy a close-out G5 instead of a brand new MacIntel model... especially for those of us who have a lot of Mac software (as Ryan mentioned earlier).