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October 8, 2005 2:12 PM   Subscribe

What is the estimated time to market (ETTM?) of the intel-based Apple desktops?
posted by ChrisR to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)
 
June 2006.
posted by I Love Tacos at 2:21 PM on October 8, 2005


Though the Intel processors that the new Macs are rumored to run on aren't expected until the third-quarter of 2006.
posted by bitpart at 2:26 PM on October 8, 2005


the impression i got is that they were going to do mac mini/imac first, then laptops, and finally the desktop pro models, so it could be 2007 or later before there are x86 based (pro) desktops.
posted by joeblough at 2:29 PM on October 8, 2005


Unless this has changed, their release plan is much as joeblough says--the rollout will take an entire year, from June '06 through June '07, during which time some of the product lines will still be PPC.

And yes, the desktops will probably come last, as one of the big reasons Apple made the switch is because Intel's chips are apparently better for laptops (and thus also the SFF consumer iMacs/Minis) than the G5 is/would be.
posted by cyrusdogstar at 2:39 PM on October 8, 2005


Here are the actual statements made during the original announcement in June:

"Starting next year, we will begin introducing Macs with Intel processors in them... so when we meet here again this time next year, our plan is to be shipping Macs with Intel processors by then"

and

"We are also working to design some Intel-based Macs, and when we're here next year, we plan to have them in the marketplace"

It leaves a big window between January and June next year. As far as I'm aware, that's all they've said on the subject. If anyone claims to have more information than that, they're making it up.
posted by cillit bang at 4:58 PM on October 8, 2005


In case you can't tell from the comments above: Nobody knows. Apple hasn't announced anything, and won't. All we know is that at least one product line will move to Intel between January and June.

the desktops will probably come last, as one of the big reasons Apple made the switch is because Intel's chips are apparently better for laptops

This does not follow. The Intel chips' suitability for laptops has no bearing on the release schedule for Intel-based desktops.
posted by jjg at 5:23 PM on October 8, 2005


Response by poster: Damn. I had really hoped that there was a concrete "this is how we'll do it" answer, so that I could plan my purchasing.

Bollocks.
posted by ChrisR at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2005


I had really hoped that there was a concrete "this is how we'll do it" answer, so that I could plan my purchasing.

And that's exactly why they won't tell you. If everybody waits for the new machines, the bottom falls out of Apple's revenues.
posted by jjg at 5:42 PM on October 8, 2005


It'll be a long, long while yet before our G4/G5 Macs are so obsolete as to not be worth the effort of releasing dual-platform software. There is little point in delaying: the iBook and Mini are both recently-updated, the PowerBook should be updated before Christmas, etc. Purchase and be happy.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:56 PM on October 8, 2005


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