Some logistical reflections on the announcements from Macworld 2006

First thing I saw that snared my interest was the introduction of the new Intel iMacs (I’m a hardware whore). The fact that Apple recently realigned the ports on the machine in their last refresh should have been a clue as to its near future. But what I noticed next was pretty interesting.

The statistics from the Apple website for the iMac and form the stevenote itself says that the new iMacs are 2x to 3x faster than previous ones. Now after researching the new Core Duo chips on Intel’s website, Apple’s website and elsewhere around the net, nowhere did it mention whether the new Intel was 32 or 64 bit. After trying to look into the subject a friend of mine let me know that they are in fact 32bit, which it an odd choice because it would seem as a downgrade to the 64bit G5’s that Steve Jobs touted as the best newest processors when he inaugurated the “64bit revolution� more than two years ago.

Going back to the speed benchmarks, it makes sense that this processor class was chosen by Apple. Running at 32 bits at the same speed as a G5 processor having dual cores, the Intel chip is slightly faster then the G5, having the only difference being price. 2-2GHz cores cost as much as one G5 2.1Ghz processor according to Apple’s price scheme. What this ultimately means is that the Intel processors are cheaper, more energy efficient and run faster that the G5’s, even though they are in the archaic land of 32bit.

Which brings me to another question. Are there 4 different versions of Mac OS X floating around- 32 and 64 bit for PowerPC and 32 and 64 bit for x86 architecture? This is assuming that Apple decides to use a 64bit Intel processor in their high-end professional (prosumor?) line of Powermacs (MacDesk Pro?). I feel that when upgrade time comes for 10.5 either MANY of us will be left in the dust or will be very confused as to what kind of upgrade will even be available to us. But that is a story for when 10.5 is at least in Beta, and according to the typical year and a quarter release scheme, it should be released shortly after Q3 2006.

One last thing I thought was curious. When I bought my white iBook in 2001 it came with a 45 watt power adapter. Since the introduction of the larger Powerbooks (Alu 15� and 17�) the only power adapters sold were 65watt, which work with older systems that had been bought with the 45 watt adapters. Now, the new Macbook Pro has an 85-watt power adapter. This leads me to believe that (assuming that the 15� Macbook does not consume SO MUCH more power than the 15� Powerbook) they will release larger screened versions, maybe even a 19� behemoth seeing that the previous 17� Powerbooks used only a 65 watt adapter.

All in all I feel that Apple is taking steps to increase their market share and by upgrading one consumer and one professional product they are trying to balance this transition, while keeping the consumer happy and content to buy their products. And it is also good to note that current 32bit technology can run step for step alongside 64 bit speeds, if not faster.