Itanium: A cautionary tale

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Mactel

First, let me say great comments. That info should have been in the article, and the errors taken out (Alpha was killed by HP in favor of Itanic due to investment and interest; it's still the better processor).

On the Mactel, you made a very interesting observation. It wasn't until you mentioned it that I realized that Jobs never mentioned what Intel processor is to be used. It is universally assumed to be a Pentium since it has been mentioned that they will not prevent Windows from running on a Mactel. Also, since OSX is BSD based, it could easily be retrofitted to all the processors you mentioned.

While Alpha would be nice, that would give HP a stake in the Mac, and they are trying to convert the Alpha loyalists away. Itanium is definately a no for the reasons you state. Xscale is an interesting prospect, especially from a power saving perspective, but I wonder if it is a powerful enough processor to replace the PPC.

I think we're more likely to see Mactels using a Pentium-M processor, or perhaps a variation of it. I say variation because there has to be some mechanism to prevent OSX from being easily ported to non-Mac hardware, though this lock will more likely be in the chipset. Jobs has to be cautious about saying Pentium, as many will paraphrase it to mean Pentium 4. This would be wrong, as the Pentuim 4 has the similar issues with heat and power consumption, and would raise more questions about the move. I also expect Intel gave up a good chunk of profit to clinch the Apple deal.

Posted by: jheine   Posted on: 12/07/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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