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AAPL Stock: 497.67 ( -11.79 )

Apple demos Leopard, ships Mac Pro

updated 04:55 pm EDT, Mon August 7, 2006

Apple at WWDC


Apple on Monday at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco debuted new Intel-based Mac Pro and Xserve systems to complete its transition to Intel, followed by a preview of Mac OS X Leopard. Replacing the Power Mac G5 and the older G5-based Xserve, the new systems feature dual dual-core 64-bit Intel processors and maximum storage capacities of 2TB each. While Apple offered a sneak peek at its next-generation operating system which will replace Tiger in the near future, the company said it would hold out on all of its "top secret" features to give Microsoft less time to copy its designs. Apple painted a clear picture of similarities between Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista -- which is due to ship in early 2007 alongside next version of Mac OS X -- while poking fun at the Redmond-based company as it offered glimpses to the future of its own Leopard software.


by MacNN Staff

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  1. jpaluh

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    Joined: Aug 2006

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    08/08, 12:46am | report spam | Reply |

    PowerPC & Leopard

    Will Leopard be Universal and work on PowerPC's?

  1. kw99

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    Joined: Nov 2001

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    08/08, 02:16am | report spam | Reply |

    It is doubtful

    that Apple will not support PPC on Leopard, when PPC Macs were being sold until yesterday. The better question is how far back in the PPC model history with Leopard support. Because sales of Intel Macs are doing so well, my prediction is that Leopard will support back to the same PPC Macs as Tiger. There is no reason to artificially limit the potential user base for Leopard.

  1. kw99

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    08/08, 02:35am | report spam | Reply |

    Configurations

    What Apple is doing with the "customize your Mac" process at the online Apple Store is smart.

    They start you off with a lower-mid-level config (mid-speed processor and minimal other specs) and let you configure it up from there. Or down... you can choose the 2.0 GHz processors and 160GB drive and get the price down to $2124. That's pretty good, considering even the "low-end" Mac Pro is quad-core. [The way the (up to) four drives slide in sideways is very elegant. Nobody designs the inside of the box like Apple.]

    But that leaves the door open for another desktop Mac model. The gulf between the screenless Mac models is large... between a Mac mini and a quad-core Mac Pro. I think Apple will introduce a smaller tower that uses the Conroe chip, basically the next iMac without the screen and WITH room for some internal expansion options.

  1. LouZer

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    08/08, 08:19am | report spam | Reply |

    Re: it is doubtful

    There is no reason to artificially limit the potential user base for Leopard.

    And yet they've done this in the past. Apple's policy seems to only support 5 years back, so certain computer models that can run Tiger might be left off the list. But PPC better be supported for 3/4 more years, at least. Otherwise, they'd be pissing off a good # of customers.

    BTW, the reason would be to spur sales of new macs.

  1. kw99

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    08/08, 11:05am | report spam | Reply |

    Re: it is doubtful

    > BTW, the reason would be to spur sales of new macs.

    I realize that... That is why I commented on the sales nunbers of Intel Macs. Because they have been doing very well already (with a large percentage of sales coming from Windows users), Apple has little incentive to "artificially limit the potential user base for Leopard." With this new Windows user market opening up, the new sales gained by "force-upgrading" the users of the oldest supported Macs will be insignificant. Might was well encourage them to pay $129 for the OS upgrade. Steve Jobs said himself at the WWDC that he wanted to make Leopard available to the largest possible Mac user base.

  1. suryad

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    08/08, 09:04pm | report spam | Reply |

    Question on the Mac Pro

    Well besides the fact that I really want the top of the line config with a 30 inch monitor and an ati 1900 xt...umm is there no RAID enabled on those machines with multiple hard drives?

  1. kw99

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2001

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    08/09, 04:16am | report spam | Reply |

    you set up RAID

    using the Disk Utility program. As it has been amusingly demonstrated, you can even RAID five usb floppy drives (with floppy disks inside) using this Mac OS X utility. What's the question?

  1. Deal

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: Apr 2001

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    08/09, 10:08am | report spam | Reply |

    Leapord will support PPC

    I'll bet that all the new features are processes that are universal, and therefor it really isn't difficult for Apple to release it for both chips.

    They also look to make a lot of money on the upgrade. With no PPC Macs having ever shipped with Leapord, and at probably $100 per copy, they will gain more by selling it for PPC than they will including it on Mac-tels.

    It's just the smart thing to do.

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