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

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 12 June 2008 10:42

Opinion and Analysis

No doubt Apple wants to sell more hardware, but that shouldn't be at the expense of its reputation for building reliable hardware with a long working life - especially when the reliability seems to have slipped recently with issues such as the capacitor problem that also plagued other companies in the industry.

Still, I can see why the company is keen to complete the switch to its current architecture as it would reduce development and QA costs - which would also flow through to third-party developers if they were to take a similarly aggressive line.

Certainly, those who have switched platforms in the last couple of years won't be affected, and I'm OK as I upgraded from an iMac G5 last year. But I suspect a vocal crowd of long-term Mac loyalists will feel that a 2009 debut of an Intel-only Mac OS X 10.6 is (if you'll excuse the imagery) asking them to bend over.

That must be balanced against the number of other users who will happily use the arrival of Snow Leopard as an excuse to buy a new computer. But ith food, petrol/gas and other prices soaring, there may be fewer people than Apple is bargaining for with the spare cash and inclination to do that.

If you're still using a G4 or G5 Mac, where do you stand on this issue?

And if you're already in the Intel club, how soon after Snow Leopard's release do you expect to put it on your computer?