Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | Tech News on ZDNet

Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | Tech News on ZDNet

Well, looks like the rumor mill was right. Monday Apple will announce their intention to drop IBM and the PowerPC design in favor of an as yet, unidentified Intel based system. This isn't totally unexpected given the high cost of PowerPC chips and the supply chain issues which have marred the working relationship between Apple and IBM.

As expected, the changes will require at least two years to really phase in and there will be some definite growing pains as developers are forced to write code for the new x86 compiled OS. While this is somewhat disheartening for me, as a recent Mac-returnee, it isn't the first time Apple has put customers through the wringer. Anybody else remember the early migration from Motorola's 68xx series to the early PowerPC 6xx?

This choice by Apple is definitely a gamble but sometimes the only way you can make it is to risk it all. I for one hope Apple doesn't fall on its face and I also hope that IBM continues to develop Power based chips to fit a wide variety of needs. Looks like the desktop however just isn't one of them.