Macs

[Odd]

Chris Rees wrote:
> 2009/9/14 Odd <iodine at runbox.no>:
>> Chris Rees wrote:
>>> 2009/9/12 Odd <iodine at runbox.no>:
>>>> Harold Sawyer wrote:
>>>>> Apple has recently (time flies as we get older) changed to the
>>>>> Intel Chips.  Before that, didn't they use Motorola?
>>>> Yes, Motorola and IBM. PowerPC RISC chips. While the architecture
>>>> was more elegant than x86, they had no chance against the Intel
>>>> juggernaut. Apple did the only sensible thing, and switched.
>>>>
>>>> Curiously, PowerPC is in all the 3 major consoles: Xbox 360,
>>>> Playstation 3 and the Wii.
>>> Not really curiously; power management (which Intel is strong on)
>>> isn't such a big deal in a games console. In a laptop etc it's
>>> everything.
>> Not really true:
>>
>> 'The larger feat, however, was to provide that level of processing power
>> on as little an energy budget as possible. "Game machines can't really
>> afford a huge fan and a heatsink," Shippy says -- so the plan was to
>> create a high-performance chip with a smaller footprint.'
>>
>> http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3904/processing_the_truth_an_interview_.php
>>
>> The reason for avoiding x86 was the exact opposite of what
>> you claim. They were too hot.
> 
> That's really interesting, and NOW it's curious, because the stated
> reason Apple moved to Intel was because of this....

While Apple might have said that, the main reason was that the PPC
architecture was running out of steam compared to Intel's stuff.
Apple had to pay IBM big money for producing the G5. IBM have
no incentive to compete with x86, other than in the
super-computing/mainframe segment, so money was the only way
they could be convinced. By moving to x86, Apple could get far more
powerful chips for much less. And sure, the G5 were HOT, literally.

The irony in all this is that PPC could have been a viable competitor
to x86, hadn't Apple sabotaged the CHRP(PReP) architecture back
in the day.

> I'd guess it's because of the Cell architecture rather than the
> traditional multiple cores.
> 
> Damn technological advancements!

Sure is interesting to follow! :)

-- 
Odd