Power Mac With An Intel Pentium 4?

[Pentium4iMac]

I saw that Steve Jobs was using a Mac with an Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.6GHz at WWDC 2005. I also read an article that developers could buy a Power Mac with that CPU. (3.6GHz Pentium 4 Apple Mac: unholy alliance? | Crave | CNET UK) However, I've yet to see one. Has anybody seen one, or own one?

 

[pigoo3]

I saw that Steve Jobs was using a Mac with an Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.6GHz at WWDC 2005. I also read an article that developers could buy a Power Mac with that CPU. (3.6GHz Pentium 4 Apple Mac: unholy alliance? | Crave | CNET UK) However, I've yet to see one. Has anybody seen one, or own one?

You're still looking for one of these 5 years later?

I think that the main point of this article (back in 2005)...was putting an Intel cpu in a Macintosh was considered sacrilegious...since in some ways, Apple & Intel or Apple & Microsoft were the fiercest of competitors. Or at least owners of each computer type were VERY VERY loyal to their computer platform of choice.

Obviously Apple has been using Intel cpu's in all Macintosh computers since 2006...so it's sort of a "been there, done that" topic.

- Nick

 

[Pentium4iMac]

Yes, but my point wasn't directed toward the article itself, just that it mentioned you could get a Mac with one.

 

[louishen]

no, the apple team have always run a skunk copy of osx on intel cpu, but didn't make it official until 2006

so osx has at some time run on a pentium 4, but public released copies of osx are designed to run on apple computers, which have never bean built on the Pentium 4

 

[vansmith]

As far as I know, the Intel Macs started with the Core Solos (Mini) and the Xeon (Pro). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm fairly certain that this is the case.

 

[pigoo3]

Yes, but my point wasn't directed toward the article itself, just that it mentioned you could get a Mac with one.

Yes...the article says this setup was available to members of the "Apple Developer programme". I do not know how many folks were a member back in 2005...but it's possible that it was a small number (so very few of these computers actually got out into the public)...and even if it was a large number...it's possible that Apple may have:

- required all developers to return the "prototype" computers at some point
- may have required developers that received one of these computers to keep it a secret...and not even show it to other people

...companies (hardware & software) have all sorts of rules about these sort of pre-production products.

Also...many many prototype computers have been developed over the years (and never saw the light of day in terms of actual production)...and the main significance of this "prototype" computer was that contained an Intel cpu...versus a Motorola cpu which Mac's had since 1984.

- Nick

 

[Pentium4iMac]

...And yet they're boasting about how you can run Cheetah on an Intel.

 

[pigoo3]

...And yet they're boasting about how you can run Cheetah on an Intel.

Where did this "Cheetah" detail come from...I must have missed it in the article you linked...all I saw was a mention of Tiger.

- Nick

 

[Pentium4iMac]

At WWDC 2005, Steve said all versions of OS X were compiled for Intel.

 

[harryb2448]

Three years ago there was one advertised on eBay Australia and I raised it here. Had been used by a retired Mac technician and was the only one of its type to come to this country. Could run OS X and of course Windows.

Was interested in it but went with a Mac Pro instead. Brought about $500.00 at the time.

 

[pigoo3]

At WWDC 2005, Steve said all versions of OS X were compiled for Intel.

Well as many of us know...the "oldest" version of the Mac OS to ship on an Intel computer was a version of Tiger (10.4)...so maybe "Steve" said more than he should have back in 2005...or maybe Apple was thinking/trying to make all versions of OS X compatible with Intel Mac's...but then figured out that it would have been way too much work.

Maybe something we'll never know the answer to.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

Was interested in it but went with a Mac Pro instead. Brought about $500.00 at the time.

That probably wasn't a bad price...considering what G5's still sell for today...and the rarity of the hardware setup (from a collect-ability perspective)!

- Nick

 

[vansmith]

Well as many of us know...the "oldest" version of the Mac OS to ship on an Intel computer was a version of Tiger (10.4)...so maybe "Steve" said more than he should have back in 2005...or maybe Apple was thinking/trying to make all versions of OS X compatible with Intel Mac's...but then figured out that it would have been way too much work.

Maybe something we'll never know the answer to.

- Nick

I've heard that Apple had developed OS X from the beginning to compile on x86 processors. In fact, each version had successfully been built for the x86 architecture. See here and look at "OS X Marklar."

I'm not sure how far back x86 support goes but it has been there for a while.

 

[pigoo3]

I've heard that Apple had developed OS X from the beginning to compile on x86 processors. In fact, each version had successfully been built for the x86 architecture. See here and look at "OS X Marklar."

I'm not sure how far back x86 support goes but it has been there for a while.

Very interesting! Just goes to show all the "Wild" possibilities companies explore for avenues to expand into in the future!!! Maybe Apple was thinking of switching to Intel cpu's (from Motorola cpu's) long before 2006.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Yes, OSX from 10.0 was also compiled for X86 just in case. None of them were ever released to the public though.

The P4 machine you are talking about was ONLY available to developers to get them started making universal versions of OSX Applications. Those machines were never available to the general public.

OSX can only be legally installed on Apple made machines.

 

[Pentium4iMac]

I've heard that Apple had developed OS X from the beginning to compile on x86 processors. In fact, each version had successfully been built for the x86 architecture. See here and look at "OS X Marklar."

I'm not sure how far back x86 support goes but it has been there for a while.

OSx86 if you will. Of course now Snow Leopard is all 64-Bit.

 

[dtravis7]

We do not allow discussion of OSX86. Just a heads up.

 

[the8thark]

And technically a Power Mac with a P4 is still a Mac. And they could put OS X on it and use it. Cause if they hacked it for a Dell or something, I'm sure there'd be millions of people who would cry "Apple use hackintoshes" and I would cry this too.

But in a way this is not unexpected. Im sure it would have taken ages to optimise OS X for the intel CPU's. And all this started a lot longer before any of us knew about it.

 

[louishen]

Considering OSX was base on NEXT's OpenStep, its no surprise that its always been Intel ready, basically OSX has always been able to run on Intel chips, even before it became known as OSX
OpenStep - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_(operating_system)

Its just, when the G5 chip was found to be lagging behind, and was too power hungry for portables, Apple made the switch official policy

 

[vansmith]

OSx86 if you will. Of course now Snow Leopard is all 64-Bit.

It's not OSx86 at all. OSx86 is a group of people who port OS X to non-Apple hardware. OS X happens to be an x86 OS in that it runs on the x86 architecture.