The Apple Intel transition was the process of changing the CPU of Macintosh computers from PowerPC processors to Intel x86 processors. The transition became public knowledge at the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), when Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs made the historic announcement that the company would transition from the use of PowerPC microprocessors supplied by Freescale (formerly Motorola) and IBM in their Macintosh computers, to processors designed and manufactured by Intel, a chief supplier for most of Apple's competitors^[1]. The new Macs run on Intel Core and Xeon x86 processors. CPU can stand for: in computing: Central processing unit in journalism: Commonwealth Press Union in law enforcement: Crime prevention unit in software: Critical patch update, a type of software patch distributed by Oracle Corporation in Macleans College is often known as Ash Lim. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... The tower of a personal computer. ... PowerPC is a RISC microprocessor architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM. Originally intended for personal computers, PowerPC CPUs have since become popular embedded and high-performance processors as well. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor architecture first developed and manufactured by Intel. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... WWDC 2005, at Moscone Center The Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is an annual trade show for Apple developers. ... Apple Inc. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and was the CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney. ... A microprocessor is a programmable digital electronic component that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit (CPU) on a single semiconducting integrated circuit (IC). ... American corporation Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. ... Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is an American multinational communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ... International Business Machines Corporation (known as IBM or Big Blue; NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. ... It has been suggested that Intel Pentium Dual Core be merged into this article or section. ... The Xeon is Intels current generation of server-class microprocessors for PCs. ...

Apple's initial press release indicated the transition would begin by June 2006 and finish by the end of 2007, but it actually proceeded much more quickly. The first generation Intel-based Macintoshes were released in January 2006, and Steve Jobs announced the last models to switch in August 2006, with the Mac Pro available immediately and with the Intel Xserve available by October 2006.^[2] Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... The Mac Pro is a workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. ... A small Xserve cluster with an Xserve RAID. Xserve is the name of Apple Computers Macintosh 1U rackmount line of server computers. ...

Steve Jobs confirms the rumors of the transition at the 2005 WWDC. The lowered "e" is a humorous reference to Intel's former logo.

Image File history File links Apple_Intel_transition_WWDC.jpg‎ Steve Jobs announces the Apple Intel transition at the 2005 WWDC. Source: PC Watch [1] This image is claimed to be used under fair use as: it is a photograph of a historically significant event it is relevant to the aforementioned article its... Image File history File links Apple_Intel_transition_WWDC.jpg‎ Steve Jobs announces the Apple Intel transition at the 2005 WWDC. Source: PC Watch [1] This image is claimed to be used under fair use as: it is a photograph of a historically significant event it is relevant to the aforementioned article its...

Timeline

• June 6, 2005: Apple announces its plans to switch to Intel processors at the Worldwide Developer Conference.

• January 10, 2006: Jobs announces the first two computers in this series, the 15" MacBook Pro and a new iMac Core Duo line, both using an Intel Core Duo chip.

• February 28, 2006: Jobs announces that the Mac mini now also comes with an Intel Core chip, in either the Solo or Duo varieties.

• April 5, 2006: Apple announces the release of Boot Camp which will allow users of Intel based Macs to run Windows XP.^[3]

• April 24, 2006: Apple announces the 17" MacBook Pro, replacing the 17" PowerBook.

• April 27, 2006: Intel announces that processors with the Intel Core microarchitecture would be released months sooner than previously thought.

• May 16, 2006: Apple announces the 13" MacBook, replacing both the iBook line and the 12" PowerBook.

• June 26, 2006: Intel announces the Xeon 5100 series server/workstation CPU.^[4]

• July 5, 2006: Apple announces a special educational configuration of the iMac, replacing the old G4 eMac.

• August 7, 2006: "Transition Complete" - Apple announces the Intel-based Mac Pro, replacing the Power Mac G5, and Xserve, replacing the Xserve G5, at the Worldwide Developers Conference; both use the Xeon 5100 series ("Woodcrest") processors.

• September 6, 2006: Apple announces iMacs with Intel Core 2 Duo (Mobile version - "Merom"), from 1.83 GHz to 2.33 GHz and Mac Mini refresh, eliminating the Core Solo from the line up.

• October 24, 2006: Apple announces MacBook Pros with Intel Core 2 Duo (Mobile version - "Merom"), 2.16 GHz or 2.33 GHz processors.

• November 8, 2006: Apple updates the MacBook line with Intel Core 2 Duo (Mobile version - "Merom"), with 1.83 GHz or 2.0 GHz Dual Core processors with 1GB of Ram standard with the two higher end models

The Worldwide Developers Conference is an annual trade show for Apple developers. ... The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh notebook computers by Apple for the professional market. ... The correct title of this article is . ... It has been suggested that Intel Pentium Dual Core be merged into this article or section. ... The Mac mini is the smallest desktop computer marketed by Apple Inc. ... It has been suggested that Intel Pentium Dual Core be merged into this article or section. ... Boot Camp is a software assistant made available by Apple Inc. ... Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... The PowerBook is a line of Apple Macintosh laptop computers that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1991 to 2006. ... The Intel Core microarchitecture (previously known as the Intel Next-Generation Micro-Architecture, or NGMA) is a multi-core processor microarchitecture unveiled by Intel in Q1 2006. ... The MacBook is a line of Macintosh notebook computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc. ... The original Blueberry iBook Clamshell The iBook is a now discontinued line of laptop computers that was developed and sold by Apple Inc. ... The Xeon is Intels brand name for its server-class x86 microprocessors intended for multiple-processor machines. ... The correct title of this article is . ... G4 or G-4 may refer to: G4 (TV channel), a male-oriented (formerly video game oriented) TV channel G4TechTV Canada, G4s Canadian counterpart AEG G.IV, a German World War I heavy bomber Allegiant Air (IATA code G4) Group 4 of the periodic table Gulfstream G400 and G450... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Mac Pro is a workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. ... The Power Mac G5 was Apples marketing name for models of the Power Macintosh which contain the PowerPC 970 CPU. The professional-grade computer was the most powerful in Apples lineup when it was introduced, and was touted by Apple as the fastest personal computer ever built. ... WWDC 2005, at Moscone Center The Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is an annual trade show for Apple developers. ... The correct title of this article is . ... The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh notebook computers by Apple for the professional market. ... The MacBook is a line of Macintosh notebook computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc. ... The Core 2 brand refers to family of 64-bit dual-core CPUs of the eighth-generation Core architecture of Intels x86 microprocessors, which evolved from the 32-bit Yonah mobile processor. ...

Precedents

The Macintosh line underwent a similar transition between 1994 and about 1996, when Apple switched from Motorola's 68K series of chips to IBM/Motorola PowerPC processors, developed jointly by Motorola, Apple, and IBM. This took several years, during which Apple produced versions of the Mac OS that could run on either platform, introduced fairly low-level emulation of the 68K architecture by the PowerPC models, and encouraged third-party developers to release "fat binaries" that could run natively on either architecture. Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... The Motorola 680x0/0x0/m68k/68k/68K family of CISC microprocessor CPU chips were 32-bit from the start, and were the primary competition for the Intel x86 family of chips in personal computers of the 1980s and early 1990s. ... International Business Machines Corporation (known as IBM or Big Blue; NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. ... PowerPC is a RISC microprocessor architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM. Originally intended for personal computers, PowerPC CPUs have since become popular embedded and high-performance processors as well. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A fat binary (or multiarchitecture binary) is a computer program that is native to multiple instruction set architectures (ISA) and thus can be run on multiple processor types. ...

More recently, Apple has transitioned the Macintosh from the earlier Mac OS to Mac OS X, a Unix-like operating system. This transition also took a number of years (a small percentage of older Macintoshes still run the earlier operating system), and was facilitated by the inclusion of Classic, an environment in which an instance of Mac OS 9 could be run, permitting the execution of programs that had not been ported to Mac OS X, as well as the introduction of Carbon for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, allowing programs to run natively on either system. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... Diagram of the relationships between several Unix-like systems A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... Classic, or Classic Environment, is a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allows applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the OS X operating system. ... Sherlock 2 for Mac OS 9 with the new metallic appearance Mac OS 9, introduced by Apple Computer on 1999-10-23, is the last version of the Classic Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS) released before being succeeded by Mac OS X. Upon introduction, Mac OS 9 was advertised as... Carbon is the codename of Apple Computers API for the Macintosh operating system, which permits a good degree of forward and backward compatibility between source code written to run on the classic Mac OS, and the newer Mac OS X. The APIs are published and accessed in the form...

A long-rumored internal project within Apple (rumored to be called "Marklar"), was designed to ensure that builds of Mac OS X remained largely as portable as its predecessor NeXTSTEP, so as to compile for both PowerPC and x86-class processors. Jobs confirmed this, stating that every version of OS X had in fact been compiled for Intel processors as well as PowerPC. It is not publicly known whether Apple maintains current builds for any other architectures. However, since it has recently been confirmed that at least three ARM processor cores are present in Apple's new iPhone product, it is strongly suspected an optimized version of OS X has been ported to the ARM architecture. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A cross-platform (or platform independent) programming language, software application or hardware device works on more than one system platform (e. ... NEXTSTEP is the original object-oriented, multitasking operating system that NeXT Computer, Inc. ... The ARM architecture (previously, the Advanced RISC Machine, and prior to that Acorn RISC Machine) is a 32-bit RISC processor architecture that is widely used in a number of embedded designs. ... The correct title of this article is . ...

Reasons

Jobs stated that Apple's primary motivation for the transition was their disappointment with the progress of IBM's development of PowerPC technology, and their greater faith in Intel to meet Apple's needs. In particular, he cited the performance per watt (that is, the speed per unit of electrical power) projections in the roadmap provided by Intel. This is an especially important consideration in laptop design affecting hours of use per battery charge. Technology roadmapping is a technology management tool that attempts to plan and forecast the necessary steps toward achieving one or more technology related goals. ...

In June 2003, Jobs had introduced Macintoshes based on the PowerPC G5 processor and promised that within a year the clock speed of the part would be up to 3 GHz. Two years later, 3 GHz G5s were still not available, and rumours continued that IBM's low yields on the POWER4-derived chip were to blame. Further, the heat produced by the chip proved an obstacle to deploying it in a laptop computer, which had become the fastest growing segment of the personal computer industry. PowerPC 970FX Processor In computing, the PowerPC 970, PowerPC 970FX, PowerPC 970GX, and PowerPC 970MP, are 64-bit processors in the PowerPC family from IBM. The PowerPC 970 was introduced in 2002. ... In synchronous digital electronics, such as most computers, a clock signal is a signal used to coordinate the actions of two or more circuits. ... A gigahertz is a billion hertz or a thousand megahertz, a measure of frequency. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An ultraportable IBM X31 with 12 screen on an IBM T43 Thin & Light laptop with a 14 screen A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2. ...

Some observers were surprised that Apple had not made a deal with AMD, which has in recent years become a strong competitor to Intel, sometimes introducing technologies more quickly than the traditional industry leader. AMD's shorter track record and smaller production capacity, and Intel's significant brand awareness among the consumers and ability to also provide Apple with complete motherboard designs, have been offered as possible reasons for the choice of Intel. Also, as the laptop market was cited as a major reason for the switch, Intel was a more appropriate choice than AMD, as the Pentium M line of mobile chips has been proven to deliver better performance and lower heat than AMD's rival Turion 64 chips. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ... A brand is a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. ... Introduced in March 2003, the Pentium M is an x86 architecture microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. ... Turion 64 Logo Turion 64 X2 Logo Turion 64 is the brand name AMD applies to its 64-bit low-power (mobile) processors. ...

Benefits of the move

Advocates of the transition point out the potential for the new Intel Macintosh systems to run four classes of software at near native speeds: Mac OS X binaries, Java/.NET applications, Unix applications, and potentially now Win32/x86 applications. No other hardware vendor can offer more than three of these. Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995. ... Microsoft . ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... Windows API is a set of APIs, (application programming interfaces) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. ...

Originally, emulation software such as DOSBox or Virtual PC was required in order to run x86 software on the Macintosh platform. Such software could now enjoy much more success with near-native performance through virtualization, such as is currently being done by Parallels Desktop for Mac. For those customers wishing to achieve a more conventional environment, a dual, triple, or even quadruple boot solution would likely be possible on an x86 Apple device. Apple has already indicated they do not intend to take steps to prevent other operating systems being deployed on their new machines, and have subsequently released the Boot Camp software (including Windows drivers for Mac hardware) to facilitate setting up a dualboot system. This article is about emulation in computer science. ... DOSBox is an emulator which creates a DOS-like environment intended for running MS-DOS-based PC computer games which may not run properly on newer PCs. ... Virtual PC is a virtualization suite for Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems, originally created by Connectix, subsequently acquired by Microsoft. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... In computing, virtualization is a broad term that refers to the abstraction of computer resources. ... Parallels Desktop for Mac is a software product by Parallels, Inc. ... Dual booting or dual-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a computer, and choosing which one when it boots. ... Boot Camp is a software assistant made available by Apple Inc. ...

Although most games depend on the use of DirectX APIs not available on Mac OS X (on either processor type), it should be easier to port API-independent code now that developers no longer have to resolve endian issues associated with moving from x86 to PowerPC. Also developers no longer have to port x86 assembly to PowerPC. Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. ... An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that a computer system or program library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by a Length. ... When integers or any other data are represented with multiple bytes, there is no unique way of ordering of those bytes in memory or in a transmission over some medium, and so the order is subject to arbitrary convention. ...

Hurdles associated with the move

Reaction to the change

The announcement of Apple's intention to switch to Intel-based Macs caused concern because Rosetta, the PowerPC dynamic translator, when first announced, only emulated a G3 at 60-80% of a similar power CPU's clock speed. Apart from this, Classic, the Mac OS 9 virtualization for Mac OS X, cannot operate on the x86 architecture, leaving the new Intel-powered Macs incompatible with original Mac OS applications without a proper third-party PowerPC emulator. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... 300 MHz Motorola PowerPC 750 processor with off-die L2 cache on the CPU module of a PowerMac G3. ... Classic, or Classic Environment, is a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allows applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the OS X operating system. ... Sherlock 2 for Mac OS 9 with the new metallic appearance Mac OS 9, introduced by Apple Computer on 1999-10-23, is the last version of the Classic Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS) released before being succeeded by Mac OS X. Upon introduction, Mac OS 9 was advertised as...

The performance of Intel's chipsets was a concern, along with the x86 architecture itself, and whether it would affect system performance and application quality. Other problems include endianness (see discussion, background, and etymology) and reduced floating point performance in real world applications relative to equivalent or contemporary PowerPC processors. A chipset is a group of integrated circuits (chips) that are designed to work together, and are usually marketed as a single product. ... In computing, endianness is the byte (and sometimes bit) ordering in memory used to represent some kind of data. ... In computing, endianness is the byte (and sometimes bit) ordering in memory used to represent some kind of data. ...

It was also feared that it may be possible for Windows and Windows applications to run natively on Mac hardware, possibly killing off Mac OS X and/or applications developed for it. There was concern that the early announcement of the change would cause an Osborne effect, and there was the possibility that Intel could force Apple to use the Intel Inside branding, which would have been considered tasteless.^{[citation needed]} The Osborne effect is exhibited when a companys revelation of information about future products results in customers delaying purchases of the current offering. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) (founded 1968) is a US-based multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ...

There were also fears that Intel, who took part in the development and implementation of the USB serial bus, would force Apple to drop all development and support of its FireWire serial bus on all Intel Macs. That has not happened, and some analysts have questioned the legality of such a move should it occur. Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ... The 6-pin and 4-pin FireWire Connectors FireWire is Apple Inc. ...

Many of these fears were put to rest at Macworld 2006 with the arrival of the first Intel-based Macs. Rosetta was improved to offer much faster speeds than originally demonstrated (though benchmarks suggest that PowerPC code still does not perform as well under emulation on a Core Duo iMac as it does on a G5 iMac^[5]). Intel's new Core Duo CPUs perform nearly as well as the most powerful Power Mac G5 towers, and outperform the G5 chip in the 2005 model of iMac on both integer and floating point SPECmark tests. Limited compatibility with legacy Classic Mac Applications could be achieved by using emulators such as vMac, Basilisk II, and SheepShaver running on either Mac OS X or on Windows running on an Intel Mac. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The Power Mac G5 was Apples marketing name for models of the Power Macintosh which contain the PowerPC 970 CPU. The professional-grade computer was the most powerful in Apples lineup when it was introduced, and was touted by Apple as the fastest personal computer ever built. ... The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) is a non-profit organization that aims to produce fair, impartial and meaningful benchmarks for computers. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... History Basilisk II is an open source software emulator which emulates the 680x0-based Apple Macintosh computer on a variety of operating systems, including BeOS, Linux, Windows NT and Mac OS X. The last version of Mac OS that can be run within Basilisk II is Mac OS 8. ... SheepShaver is an open source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. ...

Applications native to both PPC and Intel-based Macs such as Safari web browser were found to perform better on the Intel-based Mac than on the PPC-based Mac. Fears of an Osborne effect were dismissed after sales of Macintosh computers for the Christmas 2005 quarter saw an increase over the previous Christmas. Intel-based Macs like the MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac mini were not branded with Intel Inside. The Osborne effect is exhibited when a companys revelation of information about future products results in customers delaying purchases of the current offering. ... The MacBook is a line of Macintosh notebook computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc. ... The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh notebook computers by Apple for the professional market. ... The correct title of this article is . ... The Mac mini is the smallest desktop computer marketed by Apple Inc. ...

Viruses

In some quarters there have been fears that the use of Intel processors would render the Macintosh vulnerable to Windows viruses. Virus code is specific to the operating system or environment it affects, not merely the processor type. PowerPC processors enforce some restrictions on the alignment of executable code, which could make exploiting certain vulnerabilities less difficult on an Intel CPU, however most modern Intel chips offer similar security features. One possible loss of security that is fundamental to the architecture is that the return address is passed on the stack in x86, unlike PowerPC, which have a special Link Register to store the return address, which is only pushed on the stack if the procedure calls another procedure, which makes buffer-overflow attacks easier on x86, though Mac OS X supports the XD bit which make it harder to actually cause a buffer-overflow attack to execute code. Regardless of CPU architecture, a user on Mac OS X is by default granted a lower level of privilege than on Windows XP. In the absence of a privilege escalation exploit, malicious software running under Mac OS X would only be able to damage files writable by a particular user, but not core system files. The same level of security is possible on Windows but it is much harder. Viruses that interact with the system at a very low level would also have to contend with a different system architecture, kernel, APIs and filesystem. Vectors of exposure such as ActiveX and Outlook should also not be a problem, since neither runs natively under Mac OS X. Vulnerabilities such as the WMF problems in Windows would also not be directly applicable. A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. ... NX stands for No eXecute. ... Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... Privilege escalation is the act of exploiting a bug in an application to gain access to resources which normally would have been protected from an application or user. ... ActiveX is a series of high-level, Internet/Intranet technologies Microsoft introduced in late 1990s. ... Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook since Outlook 2003) is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Windows Metafile. ...

Hardware-oriented

There are questions over the extent to which Apple will retain control over the non-processor components of the system design. Apple is traditionally a systems builder, and some fear that Apple's industrial design philosophy may be affected if the company switches to non-Apple parts. Others note that Apple has slowly been switching to standard parts since the introduction of the PCI Power Mac in 1995, and say that using a non-Apple chipset in itself would not harm the Mac's image. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The new Intel Macs employ a new Intel technology for firmware, Extensible Firmware Interface, not the Open Firmware Apple had been using. EFI removes the traditional PC reliance on the BIOS while providing more functionality.^[6] In computing, firmware is software that is embedded in a hardware device. ... The workings of the Extensible Firmware Interface The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. ... Open Firmware (also, OpenBoot) is a hardware-independent firmware (computer software which loads the operating system), developed by Mitch Bradley at Sun Microsystems, and used in post-NuBus PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh computers, Sun Microsystems SPARC based workstations and servers, IBM POWER systems, Pegasos systems, and the laptop designed by... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The use of the x86 architecture allows Windows to run natively on Apple hardware, and opens the possibility of using the Wine package to run Windows executables directly. Some fear that the change will make Mac OS X a less valuable target for software developers, since Mac OS X users can use a dual-boot setup, or, perhaps, Wine, to run Windows apps instead. Others say that it could be a boon to switchers, since they would not have to leave their Windows applications behind while trying out Mac OS X. The idea of Mac OS X being available on regular PCs has also been discussed, but Apple has said that they will not allow regular PCs to run Mac OS X. It was previously thought that since XP is incompatible with the Extensible Firmware Interface, it would not be run on Intel-based Macs.^[7]. Prior to the Boot Camp announcement, a prize contest^[8] resulted in a working solution for dual-booting Windows XP and Mac OS X on an Intel Mac. Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista will not be EFI-compatible on 32-bit platforms, but the latest version of Boot Camp allows Vista to be installed on any Intel Mac. Wine is a project which aims to allow a PC with an x86 architecture processor running a Unix-like operating system and the X Window System to execute programs that were originally written for Microsoft Windows. ... Dual booting or dual-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a computer, and choosing which one when it boots. ... Switch was an advertising campaign launched by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc. ... The workings of the Extensible Firmware Interface The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. ... Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...

Intel was seen among the Macintosh community as a purveyor of hot-running chips (especially the Pentium 4). Apple themselves mocked the Pentium range in their "Toasted Bunnies" advertisements of the late 1990s. However, the Pentium M chips, which were designed for laptop use, run much cooler than the Pentium 4. Apple claims the new Intel Core chips, which are based on the Pentium M microarchitecture, have dramatically better performance per watt than the PowerPC G4 and G5. New Intel Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading logo The Pentium 4 is a seventh-generation x86 architecture microprocessor produced by Intel and was the companys first all-new CPU design since the Pentium Pro of 1995. ... Introduced in March 2003, the Pentium M is an x86 architecture microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. ...

Finally, the relative quality of the x86 architecture has been discussed. Critics of the switch say that x86 was a poor choice because of its lack of hardware registers compared to the PowerPC, and the lack of AltiVec (also known as Velocity Engine). Proponents have responded by saying that the x86 architecture has evolved greatly since the original 8086 was introduced, and that CPUs in general have combined RISC and CISC philosophies in their internal designs for some time, making the distinction obsolete. They also point out that improvements to coming versions of SSE may equal AltiVec, and that most programmers rarely deal with x86's peculiarities now because the compiler does the work. In computing, a hardware register is a storage area for hardware I/O (input/output) of different kinds. ... AltiVec is a floating point and integer SIMD instruction set designed and owned by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance), and implemented on versions of the PowerPC including Motorolas G4 and IBMs G5 processors. ... AltiVec is a floating point SIMD instruction set designed and owned by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance), and implemented on versions of the PowerPC including Motorolas G4 and IBMs G5 processors. ... Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC), is a microprocessor CPU design philosophy that favors a smaller and simpler set of instructions that all take about the same amount of time to execute. ... A Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) is an instruction set architecture (ISA) in which each instruction can indicate several low-level operations, such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store, all in a single instruction. ... SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions, originally called ISSE, Internet Streaming SIMD Extensions) is a SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instruction set designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMDs 3DNow! (which had debuted a year earlier). ... AltiVec is a floating point and integer SIMD instruction set designed and owned by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance), and implemented on versions of the PowerPC including Motorolas G4 and IBMs G5 processors. ... A diagram of the operation of a typical multi-language, multi-target compiler. ...

The Core Solo and Core Duo chips are 32-bit designs. On August 7, 2006, Apple released the Mac Pro and Intel-based XServe, introducing Intel 64 (Intel's implementation of x86-64) architecture into the lineup through the use of the Xeon processor. Since then, all other computers in Apple's product line, with the exception of the Mac mini, have been updated with the 64-bit Core 2 Duo. 32-bit is a term applied to processors, and computer architectures which manipulate the address and data in 32-bit chunks. ... The Mac Pro is a workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. ... A small Xserve cluster with an Xserve RAID. Xserve is the name of Apple Computers Macintosh 1U rackmount line of server computers. ... The AMD64 or x86-64 is a 64-bit processor architecture invented by AMD. It is a superset of the x86 architecture, which it natively supports. ... The Xeon is Intels brand name for its server-class x86 microprocessors intended for multiple-processor machines. ...

While the current benchmarks comparing Core Duo to Core 2 Duo processors show very little difference when running in 32 bit, The 64 bit edge will become more of an issue with the release of OS 10.5 (Leopard), and when users wish to dual boot Windows Vista in full 64 bit mode.

Existing applications

The Universal badge indicates software that will run at full speed on both PPC and Intel Macs.

Java applications (that don't rely on Java Native Interface), Dashboard Widgets, and scripts that execute inside an interpreter all work immediately on both processors and are immune to changes. OS X applications that can't be migrated run inside a PowerPC dynamic translator on Intel called "Rosetta." Rosetta was originally limited to a G3 instruction set, but now currently supports AltiVec and the G4 instruction set, leaving only the G5 additions unsupported. Rosetta is an instruction translator comparable to the 68K emulator that allows PowerPC Macintoshes to run pre-PowerPC code, rather than a virtual system like Classic; it does not require a second operating system to be loaded as a subsystem before the application can work. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (737x993, 518 KB)Converted to PNG from EPS --Keeleysam 23:11, 26 March 2006 (UTC) Courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (737x993, 518 KB)Converted to PNG from EPS --Keeleysam 23:11, 26 March 2006 (UTC) Courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. ... The Java Native Interface (JNI) is a programming framework that allows Java code running in the Java virtual machine (VM) to call and be called by native applications (programs specific to a hardware and operating system platform) and libraries written in other languages, such as C, C++ and assembly. ... Dashboard is an application for Apples Mac OS X v10. ... A widget (or control) is an interface component that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. ... Scripting programming languages (commonly called scripting languages or script languages) are computer programming languages designed for scripting the operation of a computer. ... An interpreter is a computer program that executes other programs. ... In computing, binary translation is the emulation of one instruction set by another through translation of code. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... 300 MHz Motorola PowerPC 750 processor with off-die L2 cache on the CPU module of a PowerMac G3. ... AltiVec is a floating point and integer SIMD instruction set designed and owned by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance), and implemented on versions of the PowerPC including Motorolas G4 and IBMs G5 processors. ... PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of PowerPC microprocessors. ... In computing, the PowerPC 970 and the PowerPC 970FX, also known as PowerPC G5, are 64-bit processors in the PowerPC family from IBM, which was introduced in 2002. ... Classic, or Classic Environment, is a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allows applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the OS X operating system. ...

AltiVec itself has been encapsulated since Mac OS 10.3 by a vectorization library; this library automatically selects between AltiVec on the PowerPC and SSE (or equivalent regular instructions) on x86. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions, originally called ISSE, Internet Streaming SIMD Extensions) is a SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instruction set designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMDs 3DNow! (which had debuted a year earlier). ...

A new version of Xcode has been released that supports the generation of Universal Binaries for Intel and PowerPC, the new system's equivalent of the earlier 68K-PowerPC fat binaries. Cocoa applications can be ported simply by recompiling them and checking for endian problems. Carbon applications may require some additional tuning, but not of the complexity of the transition from Mac OS 9. Applications written using Metrowerks CodeWarrior suite will need to be modified; those which use PowerPlant will run after some code changes, described by Apple and Metrowerks. Metrowerks does not appear to have announced the future direction of its compiler suite after the transition, although it has sold its x86 Compiler/Debugger technology to "a third party." Xcode is Apple Computers IDE for developing applications and other software for Mac OS X. It is shipped free with Mac OS X. First introduced on October 24, 2003 along with the release of Mac OS X v10. ... A universal binary is an executable file that runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macintosh computers, which was first introduced in WWDC 2005 to ease the transition from the former architecture to the latter in 2006 and 2007. ... A fat binary (or multiarchitecture binary) is a computer program that is native to multiple instruction set architectures (ISA) and thus can be run on multiple processor types. ... A Cocoa application being developed using Xcode. ... Carbon is the codename of Apple Computers API for the Macintosh operating system, which permits a good degree of forward and backward compatibility between source code written to run on the classic Mac OS, and the newer Mac OS X. The APIs are published and accessed in the form... Metrowerks was a company that developed software development tools for various embedded, game, handheld, and desktop platforms. ... CodeWarrior is an integrated development environment for the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and embedded systems. ... A powerplant can mean: An aircraft engine (usually used in countries other than the U.S.) A power plant (a large facility that uses materials to generate electricity) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Metrowerks was a company that developed software development tools for various embedded, game, handheld, and desktop platforms. ...

Classic will not be supported on the x86 architecture. This means that pre-Mac OS X software will not be able to run on Mac OS X out of the box, to which some users running older applications (such as QuarkXPress 4 and 5) have objected. (This also represents the first time in the history of the platform that applications dating from 1984’s original 128k Mac have been unable to run on a stock Mac.) However, third-party emulators, such as Mini vMac, Basilisk II, and SheepShaver, have been ported to Intel-based Macs, allowing some pre-Mac OS X software to run. Classic, or Classic Environment, is a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allows applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the OS X operating system. ... QuarkXPress is a page layout application for Mac OS X and Windows, produced by Quark, Inc. ... vMac is a Macintosh Plus emulator for the Macintosh platform, Windows, BeOS, NeXT and other platforms. ... History Basilisk II is an open source software emulator which emulates the 680x0-based Apple Macintosh computer on a variety of operating systems, including BeOS, Linux, Windows NT and Mac OS X. The last version of Mac OS that can be run within Basilisk II is Mac OS 8. ... SheepShaver is an open source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. ...

References

1. ^ Apple press release, June 6, 2005:Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006
2. ^ "WWDC Live Keynote Update"
3. ^ BBC News article, April 5, 2006: Apple makes Macs run Windows XP
4. ^ MacWorld article, June 26, 2006: Intel rolls out 'Woodcrest' chip
5. ^ Anandtech, 30 January 2006: Apple Makes the Switch: iMac G5 vs. iMac Core Duo
6. ^ Apple's transition documentation: Extensible Firmware Interface
7. ^ Engadget, 11 January 2006: New Macs not XP friendly, but Vista is good to go
8. ^ Onmac.net, 16th March 2006: Windows XP on an Intel Mac

Apple Inc. ... June 6 is the 157th day of the year (158th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... April 5 is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... MacWorld magazine (April 2004) Macworld is a monthly computer magazine dedicated to Macintosh products. ... Engadget is a popular technology weblog and podcast about consumer electronics. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... (Redirected from 16th March) March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ...

External links

• Apple Universal Binary Programming Guidelines
• Apple/Intel FAQ (unofficial)
• The OSX86 Project (unofficial)
• MacWorld Expo 2006 QuickTime WebCast
• Intel EFI Open-source implementation, code-name 'Tiano'
• Mactel-Linux
• Boot Camp, Apple's beta solution to dual-boot Windows XP