by alternatefutures » Sat Jun 07, 2003 6:06 pm
Some info: Apple is NOT considering switching to AMD or Intel. If they move from Motorola the top contender is IBM's PPC970, of which Apple has purchased several hundred thousand, and some people are even saying to expect the switch this month. I give low odds on that, but Apple tends to keep things hushed up until the last second, so its possible (in which case my condolences to everyone who bought a Mac recently). If Apple can maintain its prices with dual PPC970 solutions the balance of computing power could shift dramatically. The current Motorola chips lag behind AMD and Intel solutions, even in dual configuration. The situation if Apple sticks with Motorola will become critical when AMD releases the Athlon 64 later this year and Intel releases Prescott early next year.
The only thing the Mac is actually better at is in the print industry, as it has better color matching between what's displayed on the monitor and what comes out from the printer. Since you don't print out AMVs, there's no advantage to the Mac, save FCP. Of course, the PC has programs to match FCP: Vegas and Avid Xpress Pro.
For OSes, stability between XP and OSX are at parity, maybe OSX is a tiny-weeny bit more stable than XP, but it's nothing to brag about. Both of these OSes bog down their systems, OSX more so than XP. For stability and speed you want Win2K. Otherwise, use what you know.
Anyway, if you think Apple will move to an x86 architechture you're dreaming. Apple wants control over the hardware its OS runs on, and the idea of bargain basement manufacturers selling machines made with shoddy components that run OSX is not something they want to deal with. The main reason you hear more about XP problems is the varying quality controls across PC manufacturers. If OSX was allowed to roam free you'd hear the same complaints.