Thursday, June 09, 2005

WSJ.com - Personal Technology: What the Apple Plan To Switch to Intel Chips Means for Consumers

WSJ.com - Personal Technology: What the Apple Plan To Switch to Intel Chips Means for Consumers: "Will users be able to install and run Microsoft Windows on the new Intel-based Macs?
Apple's official position is that it won't block the use of Windows on its new machines. Unofficially, however, the company says people won't be able to just buy a copy of Windows XP and install it on an Intel-based Mac. That's because Apple is unlikely to build in all the standard under-the-hood hardware pieces that Windows is designed to mate with. And it won't supply any special software called 'drivers' to help Windows use the unique under-the-hood hardware Apple will use.
However, I expect some third-party company to supply the missing drivers and otherwise make it possible to run Windows on an Intel-based Mac. Microsoft itself might even do this. That would allow Mac users to run Windows programs that lack Mac equivalents at speeds comparable to a Windows computer's.
Will Mac prices fall due to the switch to Intel?
There's no way to tell now, but I doubt it. Apple's lower volumes, higher quality and unusual designs will likely keep it out of the very basement of the market."

No comments: