Intel-driven Macs are here; so is new iPhoto

[wingsley]

At MACWORLD Expo in San Francisco this week, Apple introduced several new products, among them:

1: New iMac, using an Intel Core Duo processor.

January 10, 2006 2:33 pm ET
MacCentral
"MWSF: iMac with Intel processor is up to twice as fast"
By Peter Cohen
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/01...imac/index.php


2: New Mac laptop, using an Intel Core Duo processor.

January 10, 2006 3:14 pm ET
MacCentral
"MWSF: Intel-powered MacBook Pro laptop unveiled"
By Mathew Honan
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/01...kpro/index.php


3: New iLife suite, including revised iPhoto 2006 and all-new iWeb

January 10, 2006 3:40 pm ET
MacCentral
"MWSF: Web site tool leads iLife ’06 changes"
By Mathew Honan
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/01...fe06/index.php



The new Macs have "Intel Inside" and the new software is optimized for both PowerPC and Intel.

"Dude, you're getting a MacTel!"

[Buco]

This is a good move for Intel, but I just dont see how Mac benefits from this when they already had a great system!

[Balrog]

Heh .. have you seen the benchmarks? The Core Duo completely wipes the floor with the IBM processors...

[coldrain]

Heh .. have you seen the benchmarks? The Core Duo completely wipes the floor with the IBM processors...

heh, have you seen real benchmarks? The Core Duo barely beats the single core 2gzh G5 iMac. That is 2 cores against one. Image what the Dual core G5 would do. It would eat the Core Duo for lunch.

[Balrog]

Ahh, but the G5s weren't in the notebooks were they? And of course, it depends on application .. some see more benefit than others. In a single-threaded application I wouldn't be suprised to see Intel not doing particularly well against the G5.

[Balrog]

Also, it's just kinda nice to see Apple finally coming into line with the x86 world .. I just wish they'd gone with AMD instead..

[Rhys]

I'm stuck until Apple comes out with an intel 12" ibook.

[coldrain]

The G5 was the better technology, only hampered by IBM's lack of wanting to invest in its development (ie. getting a low power notebook version out of the door). They rather developed game computer processors... a shame. Apple did not go for Intel processors because they were better, but because their PPC suppliers proved unreliable.

But what is done is done, lets hope Itel's move of "back to the pentium 3" (that is what the Yonah and centrino/pentium M are) will give performance gains in the near future.

It still is not smarter to buy an Intel Mac, since not a lot of software is available as dual binary. If you are eyeing an iMac on the moment, go for the G5 version.

And do not totally underestimate the G4 either, its vector unit made it surprisingly fast in altivec enabled applications.

[Chucko]

And do not totally underestimate the G4 either, its vector unit made it surprisingly fast in altivec enabled applications.

FYI, Photoshop is AltiVec enabled. That should be reason enough to go G4 or G5 this year for us shutter nuts. I think I read that Adobe will go to Universal Binary (i.e. compiled for both PPC and x86 out of the box), but not until the next major release!

[Rhys]

It's interesting...

What I would like:

Laptop with wifi, sudden motion sensor, 40gb drive, 12" screen.
I have $300 in Apple credit and $500 in the quick-and-easy bank account.

It makes sense to go for the 12" iBook BUT I am in a quandry as to whether to go for the 12" powerbook and have the superdrive instead.

I'm not that fussed about CPU speed as 1.4Ghz seems fast enough.

I could use an external DVD burner, I suppose. I could also use an external HDD.

Or I could get a cheap Dell B120 for $499 and wait until the intel based macs are out although if I go dell then if I get the 6000 (for $800) then my wife's Dell bits are interchangable with mine.

Then there's the point that I'd have spent $500/$800 on top of the price of an Apple.

It's most perplexing!