[Christiaan Troo]

so i've been searching around for a simple answer to this question, but my! what confusion still..

as i understand, the new intel macs need UB applications to run smoothly, right?

which doesn't mean that one *cannot* use a version that isn't, it just means that its performance will be greatly diminished, right?

which makes me think that one ideally should wait til those softwares are available in UB..
and not vice versa, like wait for the upgraded versions of the MBP to come out..?
that wouldn't solve anything (right..?)

sorry for these degenerate questions, but i'm trying to figure what to do.

so in the meantime.. what happens?
what if i have older versions of software like LogicPro, Motion, etc .. will i technically still be able to use them, just not as great as possible..?
does that mean i'll have to go out and re-buy all the newer versions when they come out?
that's alot of money ........

or is there any other solution? aside from running them in windows mode?

[mduell]

Non-universal (PowerPC only) applications still run smoothly, but they take a hit in performance in CPU intensive code. Photoshop (PPC only) runs on the Intel Macs under OSX, but it's not as fast as the (x86 native) Windows version.

All of Apple's apps and a number of others are already Universal Binaries. A few notable non-universal apps are Adobe's Creative Suite and Microsoft's Office. The current versions run, but run slower than a native version would.

For Logic and Final Cut Studio you can pay a fee ($30-200, depending on the version you have) to upgrade (sorry, "cross-grade") to the Universal version. See Apple's site for more info.

No OSX apps will run in Windows, and there are obviously not Windows ports of Logic and Motion, so I'm not sure what you're asking.

[Christiaan Troo]

by "Non-universal (PowerPC only) applications still run smoothly, but they take a hit in performance in CPU intensive code", how much are we talking about? someone at my local mac store said it could take a hit of almost 60% in performance, is that true?

and, perhaps a taboo question and confession, but what happens for those who intend to get most of their software given to them by nice folk and such, and who only have older versions, is a "cross-grade" possible? any possibility of copying that onto cd and passing it on?

probably a far stretch, but still...

[mduell]

60% hit for PPC apps on Intel compared to Intel apps on Intel could be right; it varies by app. But you also have to remember that the Intel chips are generally faster than the G4s, so the performance difference isn't that great.

You must have a legitimate copy of the software to cross-grade; pirates need not apply. For example, if someone gave you their old copy of Final Cut 3 (media and license), then you qualify.

[pat++]

From what's i've seen, PPC apps running on Intel are running at roughly 50% the speed you would get if the app was native.