Apple launches first Intel Macs
Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday served up the first Intel-based Macs, introducing a new high-end laptop and a revamped iMac.
The new machines both include Intel's Duo dual-core chip. The iMac will come in the same sizes and sell for the same prices as the current models, but the Intel chips make it two to three times faster, Jobs said. A new laptop computer, called the MacBook Pro, will be available in February, he said.In addition to the crop of new Macs, Jobs announced a new version of the iLife suite that adds a tool " iWeb" designed to make it easy to create Web sites with video, audio and blogs, and new features meant to simplify the sharing of photos over the Web and the creation of podcasts.
Jobs said Apple would transition to an all-Intel line-up of Macintosh computers by the end of 2006.The release of the new Macs comes just seven months after Jobs shocked the computer world with an announcement that Apple would move to Intel Chips, after years of using the PowerPC hardware made by IBM and Motorola.Jobs said last June that Apple would have computers ready to ship by June of this year. Beating that mark by almost half a year will help ease a transition some feared would result in several quarters of diminished sales.
Once released in February, the MacBook Pro line of laptops will include a £1,429 model running at 1.67GHz and featuring a 15-inch screen. That version will also come with an 80GB hard drive and a new infrared sensor to use with the Apple Remote control device. A second version will feature an 1.83GHz processor and a 100GB hard drive and cost £1,779."The MacBook Pro is the fastest Mac notebook ever, obviously," Jobs said.The company's consumer applications, including iLife, will run natively on the new Intel processors starting immediately, as well as on the Power PC chip. Professional audio, video and photo applications will be updated in March, and customers will be able to buy a "crossgrade," or new version of the existing software.
Most other applications will run smoothly by using the translation software called Rosetta, which will come with every new Intel-based Mac, he said. Microsoft's Office will be one of those applications.Microsoft Mac Business Unit General Manager Roz Ho joined Jobs onstage to say that the software powerhouse is moving ahead to create an Intel-based version of Office. She announced a deal between Apple and Microsoft under which Microsoft will continue creating new versions of Office for Mac for a minimum of five years.
The "commitment should leave no doubt in your mind that we're here to stay, and we're in it for the long term," Ho said.The quick release of the Intel-based products has left some developers, who expected a few more months before release, scrambling to transfer their own applications over to an Intel-compatible version. Code written specifically for that hardware will typically run faster than software written for the PowerPC chips, but using the Rosetta translation software.
Some of the largest developers have already done considerable work, and are nearly ready to release product.Developers are starting to release Intel-based versions of their products too, but they hadn't been warned of the change in the release schedule, Jobs said.
Leaving no doubt that Apple would launch a marketing blitz around the Intel-based machines, Jobs showed off a new advertisement introducing the products. Reminiscent of the "1984" commercial that touted the first Macintosh computer, it painted the new line of products as a liberation for the Intel chip itself.For years, the Intel chip has been "trapped inside PCs — dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks", the ad says. "Starting today, the Intel chip will be set free, and get to live life inside a Mac."
