Well, everyone has talked about it for years, but noone ever honestly though it would happen. Today, Steve Jobs and announced that new Macs will use Intel Processors, instead of their old Motorola counterparts.

So what does this mean? Well, it should mean that the price point on Macs comes down a bit. It’ll also mean they’ll run alot hotter than they currently do (Intel is notorious for “cooking bacon” with processors).

Perhaps the most interesting part is the possibilities:

  • if Apple starts using Intel chips, then that would open them up to X86 hardware, right? Standardized graphics cards (NVidia Geforce in a mac!) perhaps.
  • If so, then could this be Apple’s attempt to shrug off the hardware coil, and become a predominantly software company, that’ll sell you a repackaged PC if you want it?
  • Will OSX become an option from Dell?
  • Will I finally be able to run Star Wars Galaxies on OSX?
  • Will I be able to tri-boot Linux, OSX, & Windows on my PC?
  • And given that OSX is pretty much BSD with alot of fancy UI stuff, could this be the “nail in the coffin” for Linux that so many people have prophecized?
  • Or is it exactly the opposite, is this “Linux on the Desktop, in Prime Time” ?

I suppose only time will tell. Personally, I’m hoping that Apple will ditch the hardware lockin ideas they’ve used in the past and pursue a more open system. From what little I saw of Viraj’s Powerbook, I was quite impressed. Fairly stable, truly elegant, and pretty simple to use, albeit different from both Linux and Windows. But there’s no way I’m going to go buy a laptop or a computer that is non-upgradable and costs twice as much as a regular PC. If I could build a PC to my own specs (with some reasonable restrictions, CPU speed, memory, etc) and then install OSX on it, I’ld do it in a heartbeat (provided I could dualboot it for my games & work).

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