“In a few months, nearly 3 million freshmen will head off to college. Included in the gear most of them lug along will be a computer, often brand new. This year I have some advice for the college-bound: Unless you have a compelling reason not to go with a Mac, an Apple laptop or desktop offers the best combination of features, ease of use, and value,” Stephen H. Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek. “While I have been a Mac fan for years, I have never felt strongly enough to make the Mac a default recommendation. But things have changed. Mac software, both the OS X operating system and the applications such as iPhoto and GarageBand bundled with it, have gotten steadily better, while Windows seems stuck in a rut. Meanwhile, new Mac hardware based on Intel processors has erased the performance gap between Macs and products from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others in the Windows camp. The move to Intel also lets Macs run most Windows programs, either by rebooting using Apple’s Boot Camp software, or right on the Mac desktop using Parallels Workstation.”
MacDailyNews Take: Performance gap erased? Tell it to a Power Mac G5 Quad owner. We grow tired of the revisionists’ love for Intel. We’re not specifically targeting Wildstrom here, he’s just the one who set us off on this tangent. Many times have we heard and read, “Now, I can consider a Mac since they went Intel!” And this was even before Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop for Mac, by the way. Before the Core Duo, the PowerPC-based Macs were competitive at the very least with Intel-powered PCs. The people that lovingly accept Macs now just because they come with Intel Inside should know that they sound silly. They must be brainwashed after years of hearing Intel’s chimes in TV and radio ads. Somehow, just knowing that the processor says “Intel” instead, makes some people more accepting of Macs. To them we say that PowerPC-based Macs offered the exact same superior experience vs. Windows PCs for years and years. Yes, just before the Intel switch, the PowerPC G4 we were all stuck with in Mac portables suffered from a performance gap vs. some portable PCs, but there was no such performance gap when Apple’s first G4 PowerBooks debuted. And the G5’s inside the last Power Mac towers certainly did not have any such gap on the desktop. A Power Mac G5 Quad offers unmatched price/performance right now, today. The new processors from Intel that Apple’s using now are not Pentiums. Apple was right to switch when they did, but they were also right not to switch to Intel sooner. By the way, this is written on an Intel-powered MacBook Pro and the performance is amazing! But, those who change their opinion and accept Macs now based solely on the fact that they have “Intel Inside” are just plain silly. Now, back on-topic:
Wildstrom continues, “Students who know about Windows Vista, the first major improvement in Windows in five years, might be inclined to stick with PCs. But Vista, which won’t be out until next year, may not do much more than catch up to OS X. And before Vista ships, Apple plans to release a new version of OS X called Leopard that will likely raise the bar even higher.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David K.” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: One more thing… Students: Buy a Mac get a free iPod nano.
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macromancer’s right. MDN is criticizing the “PERCEIVED performance gap, which is probably more important than the actual perfomance.”
I continue to have no problem with MDN defending the past honor of the PowerPC and criticizing those who would now choose a Mac simply because it has Intel Inside and for no other reason.
Pete,
No actually I didn’t miss anything. The author is not talking about 3 or 4 years ago, when Powerbook G4 were released. He is talking about now. A lot has changed in computing since the original PowerBook G4, for MDN to even mention it is silly.
And whether MDN is specifically targeting Wildstrom or not, they directly quoted him and disagreed. They also admit that he set them off on a tangent, and that’s exactly what MDN’s take is, A TANGENT. The first line of MDN’s take is a direct quote from Wildstrom’s article, and MDN’s response was “tell that to a Powermac G5 owner.” Well guess what? Wildstroms quote was not referring to Powermac G5’s, he was referring to Intel based Macs, which are the MB, the MBP and the iMac. Anyway, you look at it. MDN’s comment to Wildstrom’s quote was wrong and out of context.
And those of you who are waiting on Vista might want to read this story here at MDN. http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9891/
It might be a much longer wait then you will be able to tolerate, not to mention the quality isn’t there either with Vista. I Certainly wouldn’t want to go to College with a totally new laptop and a totally new operating system like Vista which may not run any of the software that the college requires you to run. That would be like failing every course before you started.
Actually I enjoy MDN’s Takes – and am usually disappointed when they don’t have one.
MDN’s note above made me chuckle.
MDN does a good job highlighting their takes. If you are tired of their takes or simply prefer not to read it, don’t. They’re easy enough to spot.
Peace.
You’re all absolutely right. I agree completely.
I personally don’t have any problem with MDN doing a take.
I just enjoy correcting them, and pointing out when they are wrong. In the above case and as someone else pointed out. They were wrong three times today.
I love Apple and I own a new MacBook but you guys have got to drop the Apple company line on the PPC processors. In my job I’ve used pretty much every permutation of the Mac for the last five years.
I’ll give you that the quad desktop is a fast machine, but in every other case, including single G5 iMacs, the Intel chips wipe the floor with PPC based systems.
Maybe its the dual core architecture, maybe its that Intel’s chips are optimized for more “day to day” system tasks as opposed to media-based tasks such as encoding video, etc. I don’t have the background to make engineering argument, but I do know that the Intel Macs snap open apps, close windows, etc. in a far snappier fashion than any but the very fastest G5 systems did.
I think we can give the idea that PPC chips were equal to Intel chips a rest finally. Apple had a marketing argument to make while they were shipping PPC systems, and I don’t doubt that PPC was more able in some arenas. But it is clear to me that, overall, the Intel chips are quite superior for general computing.
The performance of an Intel powered MacBook Pro is truly amazing for MDN while typing on it.
Good to know, good to know.
I only ever get about 30 wpm no matter what keyboard I am using but the performance of an Intel powered MacBook Pro is truly amazing.
Good to know.
I guess all of these damn ads everywhere have a good side. You get to type on a MacBook Pro.
Good to know.
I love how all these PC writers now think Macs are faster and cheaper now that they run Intel chips, although they still don’t have 64-bit and are actually slightly more expensive now.
http://getkickedoffaplanewearingthis.blogspot.com/
Matty,
Yes, the new Intel’s do “wipe the floor” with single G5s. That’s probably why MDN wrote, “Before the Core Duo…” and “The new processors from Intel that Apple’s using now are not Pentiums. Apple was right to switch when they did, but they were also right not to switch to Intel sooner.”
At many times in the past the PPC equaled or beat the best Intel had to offer. At the end, when Apple switched, Intel was poised to make mincemeat of PPC. Apple saw this and switched. Just as MDN wrote, right?
The way I read it, MDN is saying that:
1 – PPC vs. Intel pre-Core Duo wasn’t a huge performance gap most of the time (except at the end when IBM wouldn’t or couldn’t make a G5 for portables and Apple was stuck with G4 PowerBooks and iBooks)
2 – Those who love Macs now just because of the Intel name are silly.
I agree 100% with MDN.
MDN is great – and do my eyes deceive me? Are the Intellitxt ads turned off?
If so wahooo and thanks MDN. They really pissed me off.
Excellent points MacZeus! MDN’s take is quite wrong in this instance.
“simple solution: don’t read it, or better yet, why do you keep coming back?
The MDn take is part of this site’s humor. There are plenty of other bland sites out there to visit.”
I do check every single Apple news site not only MDN.
What I’m basicly saying, is that MDN doesn’t have to look at everything negatively… Sorry I just don’t get that “humor”…
My daughter’s computing rig for University?
iMacG5 17″ for power not portability where it’s needed (in her room)
iBookG4 12″ for portability not power where it’s needed. (taking notes, working on papers between classes)
With smart shopping, we have paid less than buying the Powerbook/MacBookPro that would do both.
Not sold on CoreDuo yet. Not much for buying version 1.0 of these types of things!
UNFORTUNATLY!!!
Students enjoy PLAYING 3D GAMES to kill time cheaply and APPLE doesn’t offer a CHEAP EXPANDABLE TOWER.
A student who likes to hardware tweak their computers CAN’T DO IT on a Mac, unless they spring for the high end PowerMac G5 (and then only so much) and then they can’t run WINDOWS #3D GAMES on it.
Again, Apple doesn’t pay attention to the market’s needs.
Aaron, you are too funny. MacZeus is defending a position s/he took, which subsequent analysis has shown is just as wrong as anything s/he claims MDN did today. Pete and Judge Bork both put it all on the correct perspective. MacZeus is the one that teed off without taking full context into account.
Actually Poppycock,
No one here has yet proven my point wrong. Re-read my last post.
It’s as simple as this:
MDN’s take : Performance gap erased? Tell it to a Power Mac G5 Quad owner.
The author very clearly stated that he was referring to the new Intel based Macs. Not PowerMac Quad G5’s. MDN’s point is not relevant to what the author was saying.
“1 – PPC vs. Intel pre-Core Duo wasn’t a huge performance gap most of the time (except at the end when IBM wouldn’t or couldn’t make a G5 for portables and Apple was stuck with G4 PowerBooks and iBooks)
2 – Those who love Macs now just because of the Intel name are silly.”
Hey, I’ve never used anything except a Mac (at home at least). Like Jobs said, the heart of a Mac is the OS, so I don’t really care much about the processor one way or the other.
I just find it hard to believe that Intel chips were suddenly faster when the Core Duos arrived. Maybe they were. But, as I said, I think Apple marketing had a lot to do with the perception of myself and other Mac users.
MDN – “Before the Core Duo, the PowerPC-based Macs were competitive at the very least with Intel-powered PCs.”
Not to the average Joe consumer. When going to Best Buy, Dell, etc., the MHz myth was very evident. Many people did not believe that a PowerPC running at 1/2 or 2/3 the speed of an Intel/AMD processor was as fast as the Intel/AMD processors.
Intel processors are one HUGE advantage now for Apple – the best-known name in desktop/laptop processors AND runs OS X and Windows. No more talk about speed differences, and it even seems like Apple is among the first if not the first adopters of new Intel chips and technology. Now Apple can say, “We have the best, fastest chips Intel offers, as good or better than offered by Dell, HP, etc.”
As far as the average Joe consumer is concerned, this is huge, and it opens up Apple as a choice for Windows users who really don’t follow or care to know about technology issues.
MacZeus,
Believe it or not, but I brought a Mac SE to my Harvard Business School class final back in 1991. Of course, everyone else had school-issued IBM Thinkpads, but being at the public policy school, I had to fend for myself. Exams were turned in on diskette.
I musta been crazy, cause I even wrote the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model into an Excel spreadsheet, where everyone else got to program it into their school-issued HP12c.
“The move to Intel also lets Macs run most Windows programs”
Anyone heard of a Windows app that doesn’t run on a Mac running Windows? I haven’t.
“Students who know about Windows Vista, the first major improvement in Windows in five years, might be inclined to stick with PCs.”
Why? If I remember correctly, all current Intel Macs meet Vista requirements. They can put Vista on a Mac just like they could a PC.
MacZues you dont know the history of performance gaps.. i do.