Apple Computer's historic shift to Intel Corp. microprocessors came months earlier than expected as CEO Steve Jobs on Thursday debuted personal computers based on new two-brained chips from the world's largest semiconductor company.
The first Macs to deploy Intel's Core Duo processors will be the latest iMac desktop, whose circuitry is all built into the display, and the MacBook Pro laptop.
When it announced the massive switch in June, Apple said it expected to begin making the transition by mid-2006. On Tuesday, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was joined at the Macworld Expo by Intel CEO Paul Otellini to unveil the new jointly designed computers.
The shift comes as Apple is on a streak with its hugely popular iPod music players. Earlier, Jobs said the company brought in a record $US5.7 billion in sales during the holiday quarter as it sold nearly three times as many iPods as it did in the same period a year ago.
But Tuesday's focus was on Apple's Macintosh computers. Jobs said its entire Mac line will be converted to Intel by the end of this calendar year.
Otellini came onstage wearing a clean-room suit that the chip company has famously used in its ad campaigns - and that Apple once lampooned in an ad of its own.
For years, Apple shunned Intel, which has provided chips that power a majority of the world's PCs, along with Windows software from Microsoft Corp. In the late 1990s, Apple even ran TV ads with a Pentium II glued to a snail.
But Apple, looking for faster, more energy-efficient chips, became increasingly frustrated in recent years as its chip suppliers, IBM and Motorola's spinoff, Freescale Semiconductor, failed to meet its needs.
Of particular concern was IBM's apparent inability to develop a G5 chip that would work well in notebook computers.
Intel, on the other hand, has been focusing on developing chips specifically tailored for notebooks. In 2003, it launched its Centrino notebook technology with a processor that boosted battery life by minimizing its power demand without hurting performance much.
During last week's International Consumer Electronics Show, Intel unveiled the latest generation, the Core Duo, which features two computing engines on a single piece of silicon.
It was that chip that the Apple decided to fit into the new iMacs and MacBooks.
Though the change to Intel has occurred faster than expected, it still poses some risks.
Besides potentially alienating a fan base that's accustomed to doing things differently, Apple's move opens up the issue of backward compatibility and the possibility that PC users might run pirated versions of Mac OS X, Apple's critically acclaimed operating system, on their generally cheaper non-Apple computers.
During his speech, Jobs demonstrated software that that will make older software work on older Macs with a minimal performance hit. But he did not comment on how the company will lock its operating system to its hardware.
The change, however, does not appear to have alienated another important player, Microsoft, which offers a Mac version of its popular Office productivity suite.
"We're formalising our commitment to this platform," said Roz Ho, general manager of the Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit. "We'll continue shipping Office [for the] Mac for a minimum of five years."
The new iMacs will have the same all-in-one design as previous models and will be available with 17-inch and 20-inch screens with prices starting at $1999 to $2649.
Jobs claimed the new models are two to three times faster than the iMac G5, based on an IBM chip.
"With (the) Mac OS X (operating system) plus Intel's latest dual-core processor under the hood, the new iMac delivers performance that will knock our customers' socks off," said Jobs.
The MacBook Pros - with 15.4-inch displays are priced at $3199 and $3999.
All the new computers will include Apple's Front Row software and a remote control, which lets users to watch videos, listen to music or browse photos from across a room.
The machines also will be bundled with Apple's newly announced iLife '06 suite of digital lifestyle programs. In one of the updates, the latest version of iPhoto will let Mac shutterbugs share pictures much like bloggers and podcasters share content.
"This is podcasting for photos," Jobs said.
With a few clicks, users can post an online feed to which others -including Windows users - can subscribe. As changes are made to the album, subscribers automatically receive the updates.
The iLife suite also will enable the one-click export of video to iPods as well as a simple, drag-and-drop method of creating DVDs. The program also will support third-party DVD burners.
We haven't tried this ourselves, but word is iJailbreak, an iPod touch version of Jailbreak for Intel Macs, has been released for download. At this point it is only reported to work with Intel Macs. We are testing it out on our iPod touch right now, check back for updates. Hit the link to download it yourself, be sure to let us know how you get on! Update with pictures within [iJailbreak]
