Apple going all-in for Intel with OS X 10.6?

By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 12 June 2008 10:42

Opinion and Analysis

Rumours that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is to be the first Intel-only version of Apple's operating system have been bolstered but not 100 percent confirmed. What's the latest?

Are PowerPC-based Macs nearing their use-by date? HardMac (the English-language version of French Mac site MacBidouille) has published what is says is a screen capture from the developer preview of Snow Leopard.

One of the requirements listed in the image is "An Intel processor".

Previous rumours have suggested Snow Leopard will require a Core 2 Duo processor, ruling out some early Intel-based Macs. If we can take HardMac's claim at face value, the idea that Core Solo and Core Duo models aren't excluded from Snow Leopard should please owners of Macs equipped with those processors.

While it is still possible that PowerPC code will be included (completed?) by the time Mac OS X 10.6 ships in "about a year", this seems less likely.

I still feel that dropping new operating system support for hardware that's barely three years old would be a mistake on Apple's part.

Why? Larger businesses may work on a three-year hardware cycle, but one of the Macintosh's attractions has always been that it has a longer useful life than Windows-based systems, and small business is notorious for squeezing the last drop out of its assets.

What's Apple's motivation? Page 2 has some suggestions.