Jobs confirms first Intel Macs in June of 2006

No big keynote this time around (that was a couple of weeks ago), but Steve Jobs did confirm in a meeting with reporters at this week's Apple Expo in Paris that they're right on schedule to ship the first Intel-based Mac in June of 2006. That probably means no big unveiling at January's Macworld show, but we'll live. We think.

[Ruben Kalath @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

intel? in APPLE? now WAY!!! wow

[Julio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

so should I buy a 1.67 Powerbook now? I have been waiting & waiting. I currently have a PC laptop but converting to everything to mac. Already have my iMac G5.

[bert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

u been living in a hole Ruben!!!

[Julio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

i think ruben is being sarcastic.

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

If you need a Powerbook now, but it now. I'm guessing Apple will release Intel desktop machines before they release a notebook, so you could be waiting close to a year. Not only that, but who knows what kind of problems could arise from being an early adopter -- I'll wait for at least revision b.

Plus this transition is said to take place over a few years, so it's not like your new Powerbook will be completely obsolete. Also, all future programs (at least for the next few years) are supposed to have that Universal Binary thing so they play well with intel and PowerPC. Don't know too much about that, so I could be wrong.

Fishes,
narco.

[Rolphus @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Personally, I'm holding off on getting a Powerbook until the end of this week, just in case there's still an announcement to come. Even a smallish upgrade to the Powerbook would be welcome - I've heard rumours of slightly better CPUs (still G4-based), higher-resolution displays, faster bus (and RAM) speeds, etc. It may well be that none of that happens, but I'm holding on a few days.

[Julio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

i think ruben is being sarcastic.

[Jay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Any Mac bought today will only become obsolete after 10 years (at minimum)

[SK @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Jay, I couldn't have said it better myself! he he he

[Jacob Varghese @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Jay, after 10 years? LOL.

I actually think they will be coming out with Intel Powerbooks first before desktops.
An Intel Centrino powerbook would be a huge hit. More laptops are becoming desktop replacements.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I would get something no earlier than next week just to avoid the snafu of new product announcements the day after you buy (rumors are it should be coming later this week). Personally, I would not purchase the first round of Intel products from Apple. I'm sure they will kick backside, but having used Apple products since the early 80's, I've found that it's a good rule of thumb to wait until the 2nd or 3rd generation of a new Apple product. That way they work out all the kinks and potential shortcomings of their new vision.

Whenever you buy, be sure to be satisfied with what you get right then and there. That way when new products come out, you will still be happy with your purchase.

[James M. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#7-Yes, the 1995 Powerbook 190 is still so state of the art with a 33 MHz bus clock, 4 MB ram, and a whopping 500 MB hard disk

[archimedes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Question;

(For those of us dont completely understand quantum chip superstring theory)

From what I've read Apple is doing the ol' switch'aroo because the machines will run cooler - yes? And the theoretical clockspeeds will be faster.

But can anyone gimme a basic breakdown on why/what is the advantage of the new chips (price? perhaps) on the new macs - will these new macs still reign as the ultimate [consumer] graphic and multimedia workstations?

I ask because even though I've allways been a windows person, I must jump on the G5/6/7 in the next year(s) for a mayor editing and motion graphics project (I will be running things like, Premiere, AfterEffects, Maya, ect)

[Bruce @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

AMD will have dual core Turion's out by then.

Too bad Jobs stuck Apple with the crappy Intel chips.

[Johnny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

archimedes,
Its not so much of a performance/power consumption/heat issue, as it is a politics/roadmap/supply/SteveJobs-frustration issue.

The PowerPC still outperforms Pentiums by about a 1Ghz margin (2.7Ghz PPC ~= 3.7Ghz pentium in most benchmarks) and at lower power usage.

However, Apple has had well-publicized supply problems with IBM, and the current G5 didn't have a mobile branch in its roadmap (so much for 'modular' cpu design) - or at least not at the time the decision was made. Intel has a mobile roadmap, and seems committed to it.

So, with that in mind, why not switch to Intel? Granted, the Pentium's cost more than comparable performing PPC's, but maybe Intel gave Apple a discount - in fact they probably gave apple a discount on chipsets as well, something IBM probably couldn't do.

The good news is that Apple has managed a major cpu shift in the past (68K -> PPC) and did a decent job of it. They did then pretty much what they are doing now - phasing the new boxen in with legacy support for the existing boxen.

[umijin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

AbsoF-inglutely lame. Apple is SO far behind in it's laptop hardware, it's not funny anymore. There is no excuse for this nonsense. First they tell us that IBM can't make a small enough chip that runs cool, then IBM releases said chip in the same month. Then they tell us that Intel chips will be easy to integrate in to Mac products and we can expect goodies in Jan '06. Now they try to push it back another 6 months... for what?

Apple really, truly need to get its head out of its collective butt and start making portable computing products that keep up with the rest of the world.

The current PowerBooks and iBooks are so unappealing that my wife won't even touch one and won't let me buy it for her. She says they are ugly, too big (even the 12"), too thick, and in unappealing colors. And she's like most other Japanese women in this, as they can easily see better looking laptops at any electronics store here, and they aren't buying Macs.

Wake up Apple!

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Do you really think the Powerbooks are underpowered? I have a 15" 1.25GHz and it runs perfectly fast on 1.25GB of memory. I always have tons of applications open at the same time and I never run into slow-downs unless I'm transferring many gigabytes of information.

[kerensky @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Why does the Read link lead to a page on the music pricing?

[JohnnyRnR @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Interesting sidenote, from my experience all Apple laptops are junk (and always have been) until the memory is maxed out. Once that's done they run lickity split.

If Apple were concerned with putting a quality product in the hands of the consumer they would ship the machines with a full complement of RAM.

[manfesto @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

At #15:

Um, I always thought that Apple said Q2 2006 for the intel macs - I don't recall them ever saying January 06.

And I'm on the verge of buying a 12" iBook - just something to carry around on campus. For $1000, ($949 w/studen discount), it's first and foremost a Mac, it has up to six hours of battery life, 802.11g and bluetooth, and the hard-drive drop protection device (I forgot what it's called) - not to mention a half gig of ram, which is plenty for my purposes. I'd say at the least that's comparable to PC based laptops in the same price range with perhaps a slightly higher premium, and at the most my ideal budget laptop.

And though your wife thinks they are ugly and big (and dont' get me wrong, she is entirely entitled to her opinion - it's not like she's alone in thinking that), I happen to disagree with her, and I know a bunch of other people that do.

[Ahmed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I'm almost 100% sure that some big buzz is gonna happen in January in Mac World SF, I don't think Apple could handle decreasing sales in their computers for almost 3 quarters just because everyone is just 'holding back', think about it, March, April, May 06 will have almost 0 Mac puter sales just because everyone is waiting...
I'm not sure what that buzz might be, they might come out with another 'device' to hold their sales up for these few months iff they're serious about June 06. If Steve is just using one of his camouflage tricks then I'm almost positive that it would be in January, think about it him standing on stage saying "We were planning for June and now you can have them shipping next weekend" how much buzz and turbines in the market is something like that going to cause?! maybe as big controversy in the market as Steve always like to cause :)
After going to 'the' one keynote, Jobs says 'by this time next year we'll have intel macs shipping' which might mean shipping 'before' his keynote in June 06, dunno just guessing and logically thinking...
I also have a strange feeling that they will come back to the handheld market (where's Newton?!) with a device that will rock, sounds very logical and a 'needed' step at this point they haven't been in this niche since the death of the innovative Newton.

[aelso @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Regardless, I still intend to buy a Mac this month, and maybe an iBook aswell

[GregGrunge @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Quote: #11 "I've found that it's a good rule of thumb to wait until the 2nd or 3rd generation of a new Apple product."

Quote: #15 "Then they tell us that Intel chips will be easy to integrate in to Mac products and we can expect goodies in Jan '06. Now they try to push it back another 6 months... for what?"


At least they (Apple) don't have the same ideology on new product releases that MicroShaft has... being the "let's release it, let it screw up in the market, and we'll fix the bugs later..."

[uclatommy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

archimedes,

the fundamental theorem of quantum chip superstring theory allows a proccessor to manipulate time, thereby allocating proccesing power to a moment in the past when the proccessor wasnt being used. This allows the proccessor to seemingly "anticipate" proccessing tasks; proccessing requests before it recieves them.

[archimedes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Finally!! a clear, precise and direct answer!! Jeeeeesshhh... I was getting worried there for a sec. Had to endure aprox 9.3 other totally fallacious and overly complex comments. What's up wi' dat? They totally ignore me.

I completely understand now. I was unaware that QCST (quantum chip superstring theory) was able to work in such wondrous and extraordinary ways. Ummmm, I feel a bit vexed. ...H 2 O... ok im good.

Now, does it include a jetpack? Because if it does I'm totally sold. Specially if we can find a way to travel at lightspeed. Im sure apple can do it. They can call it the iPack. Proxima Centaury here I come!

Hey! is it Ptolemy or Uclatommy?

[Matt The Geek @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Ahmed you of course are correct. The intel apples will be released ahead of the publicly announced "schedule". Everyone talks about the "osbourne effect" (when did ozzy make computers, anyhow?) and we know that didn't happen entirely like the legend goes, but big steve knows that it is a real phenomenom and will do just as Ahmed said.
If he doesn't I will eat my hat (which is fortunately made of tasty soy-based bacon substitute)

[Chris Christensen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I think you need to read that report again very carefully. You reported that they will ship IN June. Jobs said they would ship BY June. He is leaving open the possibility they would ship sooner. A good way to fight the Osborne effect is to ship earlier. So, we shall see.

[zenware @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

i would worry more about the present.
actually i think that today's powerbooks and ibooks are great computers that can allow lots of tasks that most people don't even need, like web designing,making music, photoshop etc... but often forgotten, before wandering about where we are going with the processors, is the fact that actually Tiger the very operating system is buggy, and seems to lower the life of laptop battery to about one hour for some people, ( which can be replaced by a "newer technology" spare which will work better for the same price. i recently for example got an Ipod battery replacement for 25 bucks that gives me a 18 hour battery life , and definitely makes me mad at Apple for letting details like that ruin the great product they have invented.
my original battery did not give me more then 2 hours on a 40 GB ipod 3rd, gen. and Apple refused to deal with it even under warranty.
Now , to go back to laptops,
The powerbook display is kind of desapointing for a machine with such ability, and yet still a screen that you touch with your finger, that looks like jelly.
so if in a week Apple was coming out with a really long life battery and a top of the line display, i would be very happt to still be at 1.5GHZ and with G4 processor.
to be honest, i feel that one of these days your old Mac G4 will sell for 20.000$ as an amazing Apple product (sentimental antique) that is not manufactured anymore and longued by Mac Users.
The Intel thing is just a political move that will not make such a big difference for the main user.
Conclusion, observe what is here now.
Don't get me wrong i have never used anything but Mac since OS 8, and Have almost prayed for Steve Jobs, because he has given the earth a human computer OS, and sexy machines, but i am not going to help him turn to a greedy bureaucrat who forgets his Hippie days, that inspired him to give others a way to "think different"

[Philip Beni @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

This sucks, the macs will probably be more money, and there will definately be a huge drop in speed, reliability, computer life expectancy, and overall preformance. Did i mention the speed drop. I wonder if i will be able to run windows and mac on the same computer without running it through an emulator. That might be nice. But that means that mac would probably run on a pc, which means more viruses. I just hope i can get the power mac g5 dual 2.7 before the switch. Will i be able to run the new versions of Mac on my mac mini and ibook?