What will the Intel chips bring to Macs?

With the new iBook update, I want to get an iBook,and also take advantage of the free iPod deal (student thingy). How close is the intel update supposed to be (I know, it's hard guessing when Apple is gonna make an update), and what would it actually bring?

I'm quite confident that I won't really be affected by the switch to Intel chips, but I'd still be bummed out if I was left out on a few things. I'm going to use the iBook mostly for school, taking notes and all that, as well as multimedia/entertainement. I know that the iBook will keep doing that for years, so that's why I wouldn't really regret my purchase.

But, I just want to know if, whatever Intel is going to offer to the Macs, is actually worth waiting for.

It's probably not worth waiting, I can speak from experience when I say that having an iBook makes schoo life much simpler. If you're into having the hottest technology, like myself, you may want to wait. I hear the Intel chips are balzin' fast. Other than speed, I really dont think much else will change.

I'm hearing it'll be a while before the Intel chips will be in full swing (2006, 2007) and I'm sure Apple won't leave us PPC users behind I wouldn't hold your breath on the Intels just yet.

Just go for it, between the education discount and the free ipod mini, can you really lose? No, the answer is no haha, seriously though come 06/07 by then you will be itching for a new notebook anyway, take good care of your notebook and sell it on eBay when the new ones come out, because there will be a market for people that are still looking for PPC that are anti intel, then you will have a good base amount for a new notebook. I just purchased and ipod and then returned it a day later because I needed the money for a camping trip, I was going to buy a powerbook anyway and now the free ipod deal just makes it all the better! GO FOR IT!

The first-run MacIntels won't have much native software. The big names will be there (Photoshop/Indesign, Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver, and of course all the Apple apps like iLife and FinalCut) but the dozens of shareware apps and utilities will take some time.

If the first MacIntels ship in the first half of 2006, then I'd expect most of the software will be in place by early 2008. I doubt we'll see any major MacIntel-only apps until 2010. I think PowerPC apps will be available at least until then.

What interests me are what Apple cold do with the hardware. People are buzzing about "Tablet Macs" and "Video iPods" using Intel's mobile CPUs.

Thanks a lot guys; I planned an iBook purchase for today, but alas, I'm short a few hundred bucks to cover taxes. Hehehe. The "student union" free iPod mini deal, I can't pass that up. I'm actually going to use the $225 (canadian) rebate, and get the new iPod 20gb color. I was planning to get a fully-equiped Asus W3V Windows laptop, but I didn't really need it cause I hardly play games (which was one of the reasons for wanting it). That, and with the Longhorn release coming (in about a year or so?), that would be a waste of a lot of money that doesn't support the 64-bit OS. In the end, if it did bother me to NOT have the latest, fastest laptop, I'll have to re-sell it anyway, and it's just more plesant using the Mac for school, as well as re-selling it.

Thanks for the quick reply guys. Can't wait to get my mac (in 2 weeks hopefully).

Go for it! Apple wont stop making the PowerPC model until the end of 2008. I would buy b/c of the free ipod deal

I work for Apple Retail, so I can say this about justifying a purchase today when something new might come out tomorrow. When you buy a computer, buy it with your needs in mind. In other words, if the computer today suits your needs, then even if something bigger and better comes out tomorrow, your needs still haven't changed. So, as long as the computer you want to buy has suited your needs, that's all that really matters.

That's what I finally realized. Again. Hahaha. I would looke at so many laptops, and some that are fully-equiped for gaming and everything, but after my infatuation, I go back thinking/knowing that the iBook will suit my needs just fine. Now with the iBook update, I can spend $200+ less because I wouldn't have to buy the upgrades, and I also get a free iPod! (or $225 the 20gb color )

Same thing I realize with the PPC-to-Intel upgrade, and even the Vista/Longhorn upgrade. I don't need a super-blazing-fast PC. I'm still running on this old PIII 733mhz that I've had for the past 5+ years.

Yipeee. Just waiting for my student line-of-credit to be accepted by my bank (response tomorrow!), and I'll be purchasing an iBook + 20gb iPod!

I've been wondering this for awhile now. For a long times, it seems as though one reason that may have kept an uninformed windows user from purchasing a Mac was that when reading Mac specs side by side with PC specs, the difference GHz make it look a lot slower. I myself thought this until someone on the forum was nice enough to post a video that disproved this. To be honest I felt a little silly actually believing that this company was surviving when their computer are more expensive and slower than their Windows counterparts.

Regardless, is the intel switch going to be putting Macs and PCs at the same GHz speed, therefore making it easier to compare specs, or even if they will be similar will the OS still make it impossible to compare specs? Thanks.

IMO the differences between OSX and Windows once they switch to Intel will still be similar depending on how well applications are ported to each OS. There will be the same constants - processors, RAM, bus speed, etc - but ultimately it comes down to the programs and how each one utilizes the same resources. But this is opinion and I'll see when they do it People are hopeful when looking at the test machines that were available