AppleInsider suggests Apple may not use Intel's Montevina platform
Interesting... is this a possible response to the Hackintosh?
Apple Insider is reporting that Apple may not be using Intel's Montevina chipset in upcoming Macs, but may instead make its own chipset, or contract another chipset vendor to make a special chipset just for it.
This would be a way for Apple to distinguish itself, as since Apple has switched to using standard Intel processors, chipsets, and ATI/Nvidia video cards, there has been little to distinguish Apple computers from similarly equipped white box PC's - thus making it difficult for Apple to justify the price difference.
If Apple moved to a custom chipset, it would be more difficult for people to run OSX on standard PC's, and it would increase the time between new OSX releases being released and Hackintosh patches appearing.
Frankly, I would not be surprised if Apple eventually went even further - perhaps switching to a multi-core Power7 architecture processor.
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To finally prove myself I was in deed right, I went and bought the cheapest semipro laptop i could find. I wanted it to be as OS X compatible as I could find. Acer Aspire 57XX was the closest thing to a 2.0 ghz-2GB ram-macbook I could find. I removed the miniPCI wireless and replaced it with an Airport miniPCI from a real macbook donor. With this I had everything as close to a macbook as possible, except the network gigabit card, I used a macbook air ethernet USB adapter instead. I installed one of the many "OS X´s" floating around the web and after a minor audio driver adjustment, I had the Aspire running OS X flawlessly. Stable as a rock, something no version of Windows could ever dream of. Hell, the thing almost felt like a mac, even the trackpad was mapping different. It´s scarry how much a PC changes when it runs a superior OS. I went ahead and ran World of Warcraft and it did run decently, almost like a Powerbook G4 1.5 Ghz with 512 ram. Then we ran Cinema 4D graphic tests and rendered a 2 megapixel image to test the processor speed and overall behavior of the machine. I was glad that the exact same expecs Macbook with exact same processor speed (2.0 ghz core 2 duo), 2GB kingston ram, and 160GB HD, beat the Aspire by 49 seconds! The Aspire had the exact same X3100 video card, the same 965 intel chipset, the same Kingston ram memory and the same Fujitsu 5400 rpm HD... And the same OS X version with all the updates available at the time. Why was the Aspire slower? Was it the power supply? No. Was it the CD R/W ??? No! Was it the battery? Of course not. What about the I/O manager? Well, there´s the rub.
Even though PCs "can" run OS X, they will never run it like a Mac. It works like a hardware emulator with poor performance. Macbooks are supposed to be the lower end Macs, and if a PC can´t even give me a macbook experience , then it´s worthless. (macbooks are $1099.oo Aspire 57XX were $1,299.oo)
The Aspire was reconfigured back to its original state and returned to Best Buy in exchange for a PS3... awesome choice! Any residual software was permanently deleted as this hack was performed under the educational purpose plea.
Treat yourself to the best, get a Mac.
Danny
As far as delaying Hackintosh ports, it doesn't seem likely at all, unless Apple goes about and makes everyone give up their Intel systems, they still have to support them in future releases just as they supported the G3, G4 and G5 through the ages.
For the shameless Apple guy, I'll treat myself to the best and keep doing what I do while you keep doing what you do. Shameless advertising doesn't do much to sway people when your said experience isn't universal to the masses.
I have the strange feeling that i am the only geek around here that actually pays for its software. Yeah, i'll keep doing my thing... you go ahead and you keep doing what you do, eventually we'll cross the same path and the universe will regain it's balance.
Computers and humans, both made of the same basic component... star dust.
Danny
You probably are the only one to pay full price at least. I either get evaluation editions of everything from the companies or I use educational discounts to purchase for about 10% of the retail price.
I'd rather we not cross the same path, these "get a mac you'll love me for life" things are really a waste of time.