Comments on: Four years later: Why did Apple drop PowerPC?

Why did Apple drop the IBM-backed PowerPC architecture and switch to Intel in 2005? Four years to the month, one person involved in the discussions between Apple and IBM offers some insight.

[RompStar_420]

G5 are not junk. I have a dual-cpu (not dual core) 2.0GHz model, bought it brand new, and 3 years later, I still lover it. I upgraded the RAM to 4gig, can do 16. When I first got it, it only had 512MB of ram, so that made it slow, because of swapping, but after the ram was upgraded, it was very fast and still is today.

I used many computers before and nothing, well (with the exception of the new PowerBook) compares to it's performance, I still love it and I look forward to using it for the next 10 years.

The only gripe that I have, is that when I put the computer into sleep mode, the FANS starts to rev up really load and the computer crashes, not sure why this happens, did some research on it, I never put it into sleep mode and that never happens, otherwise it is a great computer and it always was for it's time.

[hwmaster1]

Amen!!!, Praise the Lord, and I second that!!!

[Daedalu]

After years of being a Mac only user my family changed to the PC, and I was glad we did at the time.
Software, Yes we could find it to buy. At a cost that was 1/3 more than the PC version , if one could find it.
As I see it , in the last 6 months I have seen Mac users get more desperate in there statements.
And I think most of this is due to Windows 7.

Now does Mac/Apple make a quality machine? Yes they do. But is it worth the price That one pays? No it is not. One other thing that made me change over was the Mac's where to proprietary , Most if not all parts had to be bought from Apple! And there cost was always more than the same part for a PC, that is from the same company!

And in my area people are changing over from Mac to the PC and at a goodly rate! Schools here are also changing over to the PC, there is a reason for this, Cost and software availability , And that is stated in the brief to why it was done. Also the cost of up keep had risen and in today's world that is a big factor. Mac is going to have to do something besides making a flashy new case to get buyers back.
And they are going to have to get there software in order to what people want at a price that is close to what can be bought for the PC.
And if they do not there market share is going to stay stagnant or drop as users are going to go for the best deal when it is compared to other machines.

If you like a Mac then by all means buy one! But I would say to check what is going on in the rest of the computer world before you do so and do not just go and buy a Mac just because it is a Mac.

[hwmaster1]

Well, Steve Jobs and Apple are just simply morons. When you look at the superior design of a RISC processor such as the PowerPC was, that was simply idiocy at it's grandiest. I just bought--late, I know--a used G5 PPC Dual 2.0GHz system on e-bay, and upgraded it to Leopard, then compare the performance vs a clone I built with the best i775 chipset motherboard and the fastest PC8500 memory (8Gb @ CAS 4-4-4-12) and a Dual Core from Intel running @ 3.0GHz (the E8400) running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit; and the G5 with just 4Gb of PC6400 beat it in the most dirty possible way.....for Apple to sacrifice performance to save a buck....Steve Jobs & Apple you are idiots. If you wanted to drop IBM so bad, should have chosen AMD Opteron, that would have been maybe not a PPC but at least would have done better than Intel---and cheaper might I add.