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MacMagnus · Oct 22, 2005, 04:27 AM

I am in the process of buying a new laptop. Not only am I tired of working as a part-time computer techie at home to keep our windows machine running, but I am also tired of having only one computer when both me and my wife seem to need it more and more these days... I have for a long time been hungering for a brand new powerbook, but now I'm kind of secondguessing myself. First of all I feel that the powerbooks are probably the line that is most going to benefit from the switch to intel, secondly I am kind of worried as to how the PowerPC based computers are going to handle new software and hardware and for how long apple will be supporting them. You see, My wife will definately not allow me to buy a new powerbook in a year or two.

Therefore my plan is to buy a new 12 inch ibook. This I think I can pass on to my wife when the 2. or 3. generation intel based macs hit the shops. This way I get to have new mac now, an opportunity to switch to powerbook later, and eventually get my family windows-free.

Now my only worries are for future compatabilty... So, since I don't feel that I can make any educated guesses about the future, I turn to you people to help me out.

Randman · Oct 22, 2005, 04:35 AM

Apple is doing a gradual move to Intel chips so any new purchase will be supported, software-wise, for several years.

MacMagnus · Oct 22, 2005, 04:55 AM

Cheers mate! I thought as much too, but I had to check.. But what about third party hardware and software? Well, I will probably be on my new intel-powerbook when that is a problem, and my wife will probably not notice, as she basically uses it mostly for word, excel type tasks + internet surfing. However, I probably will not notice any problems either. It's just that it's nice to know that I could do/use stuff. Even though I don't "need" it.

Sorry, just ranting off here. Cheers!

Randman · Oct 22, 2005, 05:38 AM

All the big companies should have everything going. On the PPC, all will be fine.

Some Intel ports may take time. That's a big question of when, not if, though.

Also, you can expect that Classic will likely not be ported over to the Mactels so if you need Classic, it'll have to be on the PPC chips.

B Gallagher · Oct 23, 2005, 01:01 AM

Apple should be supporting all PPC based macs until at least the end of 2008.

tie · Oct 23, 2005, 01:26 AM

Well, nobody really knows. Apple's stance now could just be propaganda, and it could change.

Randman · Oct 23, 2005, 05:28 AM

Apple is in the business of making money. It still has investments in the PPC world. It would be corporate suicide if it dropped PPC support all of a sudden, especially after announcing that that would not happen.

photoeditor · Oct 23, 2005, 07:56 AM

Apple's behavior on supporting old products has really been pretty impressive over the years. It's what, seven years since the last non OS X supporting computers were made, and they are still supporting Classic and OS 9. It's the third party vendors I'm more worried about; Adobe went all-OS X with Photoshop CS in 2003, Photoshop 7 being the last Classic-compliant version, so you effectively only had a one version overlap (i.e. two years) between the two.

I am hopeful that the more cross-platform nature of OS X will help. I understand it is far simpler to write software for OS X on two different platforms than it is to write software for Classic and for OS X.

mduell · Oct 23, 2005, 12:17 PM

Ahh, the great unknown. No one really knows how long Apple will support PPC wiht hardware and software. The latest leaked contracts that I've seen say Freescale will provide them with G4s through 2008, probably just as replacements parts. I'd expect Apple to continue software support longer than the 3rd parties, but who knows for how long.