Warning: geekery ahead.

I'm not one to delve into Macintosh punditry, but Apple's announcement (surprising to some people) that the company is moving from IBM-based PowerPC microprocessors to Intel-based Pentium processors leaves me with a few questions.

From Steve Jobs' keynote address, it's clear that the software transition is going to be relatively easy. (In fact, OS X has been running on Intel-based architecture in secret for five years, just as many people suspected.) That's good to hear.

But will this mean more software? Because Macs will be built on Intel architecture, does this mean that it'll be easier for existing Windows developers to port their applications to Macintosh? Will this lead to greater choice? Will I be able to get the latest games before they're a year old? How will this affect Windows emulation?

And what about the hardware? Now that Macintosh will be based on an Intel chipset, does that mean that I can build a Macintosh for cheap from off-the-shelf parts, just as I've built dozens of PCs? Will I be able to take the woefully out-of-date video cards that Apple usually offers and replace them with a modern GPU? Will I be able to swap in sound cards and network cards and other peripherals with impunity?

And what about cost? It's no secret that Macs have long been over-priced. Will they now be priced to compete with, for example, pre-built Windows-based Dell machines? Will a Mac and a PC built on the exact same hardware cost the same? (Or close to the same?)

(Actually, I now realize I'm not even certain that Macs will use the exact same Pentium processors that Windows-based PCs will use; maybe there will actually be subtle differences. Anyone know for sure?)

For years, Mac cultists have argued that Apple's products cost more because of the RISC-based PowerPC architecture. "It's a better, more expensive, processor," they've said. "Though the clock speeds are slower, they're not an accurate representation of performance." Heck — even I've been arguing for years that a Mac of a given processor speed is actually equivalent to a PC one-and-a-half times faster. (Which is still generally true, by the way.)

OS X is a great operating system. It's a pleasure to use. I don't anticipate any change for the user-experience an Intel-based Mac (though I hope for greater speed). But I wonder about the behind-the-scenes details.

(Nice, complete coverage of keynote presentation here.)

On this day at foldedspace.org

2004 — About This Site   My "about this site" page is woefully outdated, so I've created this new one, and am incorporating it as a weblog entry.

2003 — Changes   I'm playing with site layout for the next day or two, looking to add a few features. In the meantime, why not offer my sister-in-law, Tiffany, some advice.