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Mac transition to Intel processors

The Mac transition to Intel processors was the process of switching the central processing units (CPUs) of Apple Inc.'s line of Mac and Xserve computers from PowerPC processors over to Intel's x86-64 processors.[a] The change was announced at the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said Apple would gradually stop using PowerPC microprocessors supplied by Freescale (formerly Motorola) and IBM.[1]

The transition was the second time Apple had switched the processor instruction set architecture of its personal computers. The first was in 1994, when Apple discarded the Mac's original Motorola 68000 series architecture in favor of the then-new PowerPC platform.[2]

Apple's initial press release originally outlined that the move would begin by June 2006, with completion slated by early 2008 - the transition had proceeded faster than anticipated. The first-generation Intel-based Macintoshes were released in January 2006 with Mac OS X 10.4.4 Tiger. In August, Jobs announced the last models to switch, with the Mac Pro available immediately and the Intel Xserve available by October,[3] although shipments for the latter computer line did not start until December.[4]

The final version of Mac OS X that ran on PowerPC processors was Leopard, released in October 2007, with PowerPC binary translation support (using Rosetta) persisting up through the following version.[5] Support was later dropped in Lion.

In 2020, Apple announced that it would shift its Mac line to Apple silicon, which are ARM-based processors developed in-house.[2]

Background edit

 
A PowerPC 970FX processor, which was used in a number of Apple computers featuring PowerPC G5 processors

Apple had been using PowerPC processors in its products for 11 years when the move to Intel processors was announced.

At 2003's WWDC keynote address, Jobs unveiled a Power Mac with a processor from IBM's PowerPC G5 product line,[6] the first personal computer to feature a 64-bit processor.[6]

He promised a 3 GHz Power Mac G5 within 12 months, but never released such a product.[6] In 2004's WWDC keynote address, Jobs addressed the broken promise, saying IBM had trouble moving to a fabrication process lower than the 90 nm process.[6] Apple officials also said in 2003 they planned to release a PowerBook with a G5 processor,[7] but such a product never materialized. Tim Cook, then Apple's Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations, said during an earnings call that putting a G5 in a PowerBook was "the mother of all thermal challenges".[8]

In addition, there were reports that IBM officials had concerns over the profitability of a low-volume business, which caused tensions with Apple and its desires for a wide variety of PowerPC processors.[9]

History edit

1980s edit

Apple's efforts to move to Intel hardware began in 1985. A proposal was floated after Jobs departed but was quickly disapproved by management.[10]

1990s edit

The first known attempt by Apple to move to Intel's platform was the Star Trek project, a code name given to a secret project to run a port of Classic Mac OS System 7 and its applications on an Intel-compatible personal computer.[10] The effort began on February 14, 1992, with the blessing of Intel's then-CEO Andy Grove.[10]

Apple leaders set an October 31 deadline to create a working prototype. The team met that deadline, and had a functional demo ready by December. John Sculley's departure during the Star Trek project was a factor in the project's termination. Michael Spindler, who took over as Apple's CEO, devoted most of Apple's resources to moving to PowerPC instead,[10] thus initiating Apple's first processor transition.

After Apple's 1997 acquisition of NeXT, Apple began to rework their NeXTSTEP operating system into a successor to the classic Mac OS, codenamed Rhapsody. Jobs (who rejoined Apple upon the purchase) demonstrated an Intel-compatible build of Rhapsody to Dell founder and namesake Michael Dell. Jobs offered to license the new OS to Dell for its PCs, so that users could choose between it and Windows. However, Dell declined when Jobs insisted that the company license the operating system for every PC it ships, regardless of whether or not the user wanted to use Mac OS.[11]

Early 2000s edit

 
Then-CEO Steve Jobs announces the Intel transition at WWDC 2005.

In the years since the end of the Star Trek project, there were reports of Apple working to port its operating system to Intel's x86 processors, with one engineer managing to get Apple's OS to run on a number of Intel-powered computers.[12]

In 2001, Jobs and then Sony president Kunitake Andō reportedly had a meeting to discuss the possibility of running Apple's operating system on its Vaio computers. Jobs even presented a Vaio running Mac OS. Such negotiations ultimately came to nothing.[13]

In 2002, it was reported that Apple had more than a dozen software engineers tasked to a project code-named "Marklar," with a mission to steadily work on maintaining X86-compatible builds of Mac OS X.[14]

It was noted in 2003 by IBM in an article published to its intranet that Apple felt a transition to Intel would present massive software changes that it wanted to avoid.[15] Nevertheless, rumors of an impending announcement of a transition to Intel cropped up in 2000 and 2003.[16]

2005 edit

News reports of an impending announcement by Apple to transition to Intel processors surfaced in early June 2005,[9] close to that year's WWDC. The announcement was made during that year's WWDC Keynote Address.[1]

At the time Apple announced the transition, Jobs attributed the switch to a superior product roadmap that Intel offered,[17] as well as an inability to build products envisioned by Apple based on the PowerPC product roadmap.[7] Meanwhile, pricing disputes with IBM, in addition to a desire by Apple to give its computer the ability to run Microsoft Windows, were reportedly factors for the switch as well.[2][17]

Reaction to the change edit

At the time, a research director for Ovum Ltd. called the move "risky" and "foolish", noting that Intel's innovation in processor design is overshadowed by both AMD and IBM.[18] Another analyst said the move risks diluting Apple's value proposition, since it will now have less control over its product road map, in addition to the risk of alienating its loyal users.[18]

AMD edit

Some observers expressed surprise that Apple made a deal with Intel instead of with AMD.[19] By 2005, AMD had become popular with gamers and the budget conscious,[19] but some analysts believed AMD's lack of low-power designs at the time was behind Apple's decision to go with Intel.[19]

In 2011, Apple investigated using AMD's low power Llano APU for the MacBook Air, but eventually opted for Intel due to AMD's potential inability to supply enough Llano processors to meet demand.[20]

32-bit regression edit

Apple had created the world's first consumer 64-bit desktop computer with its G5 based line-up; however, the first Intel-based Macs included only Intel Core Duo processors, which were 32-bit. Apple refreshed its line of computers six months later, adding Intel's new Intel Core 2 Duo 64-bit processors.

Concerns over Rosetta performance edit

When Rosetta was announced, it was noted that the translation software is designed to translate applications that run on a "PowerPC with a G3 processor and that are built for Mac OS X."[21] It was noted at the time that translated software performs at a level between 50% and 80% of native software.[21][22] The announcement caused concerns over performance.

Intel edit

At the time the transition was announced, it was noted that a degree of enmity towards Intel exists amongst some fans of Apple products, due to Intel's close identification with Microsoft.[23] In addition, It was noted by Intel's then CEO, Paul Otellini, that Apple and Intel's relationship was strained at times, especially due to Apple's commission of an ad that shows Intel processors being outperformed by PowerPC processors.[23]

While there were questions over whether Apple would put the Intel Inside stickers on its products, Jobs dispelled such a possibility, saying it is redundant when Apple's use of Intel processors is well-known.[24] "Intel Inside" stickers have never been included on any Apple product.[25]

Osborne Effect edit

There was concern that an early announcement of the change would cause an Osborne effect,[26][27] but it was also noted that even if an Osborne effect appeared, it would merely mean delayed purchases of Mac computers, not permanent cancellations, and that Apple had enough cash on hand to weather the potential sales decline.[28]

Analysis of financial data suggests that the Osborne Effect did not materialize, with sales for Macs growing by 19% and 37% in the two quarters following March 2006.[29]

Product compatibility edit

The Classic environment, the Mac OS 9 virtualization measure for Mac OS X, was not ported to the x86 architecture,[30] leaving the new Intel-powered Macs incompatible with classic Mac OS applications without a proper third-party PowerPC emulator.

There were also concerns over third-party software support, with reaction to the change being mixed amongst the software developer community, due to a need to recompile software for compatibility on Intel-based Macs.[23] In early 2006, it was reported that a number of software companies, such as Adobe, Aspyr and Microsoft, were not ready to release universal binary versions of their software offerings.[31]

Technical issues edit

In the years prior to Apple's announcement of the transition, it was noted that there was a debate over the difference of endianness between Intel and non-Intel processors, as well as the merits of each CPU architecture.[32] The difference in endianness meant that some software could not simply be recompiled; it required changes to make it work on processors of either endianness.[33][unreliable source?]

Transition process edit

 
Steve Jobs reveals Mac OS X running on Pentium 4 hardware.

2005 edit

During Apple's 2005 WWDC, the company introduced a Developer Transition Kit consisting of a prototype Intel-based Mac computer, along with preliminary versions of Mac OS X Tiger and Xcode, which allowed developers to prepare future versions of their software to run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.[1]

To allow apps built for PowerPC-based Macs to run on Intel-based Macs without recompilation, a dynamic binary translation software called Rosetta was created.[21]

2006 edit

On January 10, Apple unveiled an Intel-based iMac,[34] as well as a 15-inch MacBook Pro laptop, which replaced the similarly sized PowerBook.[35]

On February 28, a Mac mini featuring an Intel Core Duo processor was unveiled.[36]

On April 5, the dual-boot software Boot Camp was released as a trial version, which allowed Intel-based Mac owners to run Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.[37]

On April 24, a MacBook Pro replacement for the 17-inch PowerBook was announced.[38]

On May 16, a replacement for the iBook, called MacBook, was announced, thus completing the transition of Apple's laptop line to Intel processors.[39]

On July 5, a replacement for the eMac, a special configuration of a 17-inch iMac for use in education, was announced.[40]

On August 7, Apple unveiled a replacement for the PowerMac, Mac Pro,[41] and an Intel-based version of Xserve.[42] The unveiling of the Mac Pro was touted by Apple as a completion of its transition to Intel, and said the entire process took 210 days.[41]

Ongoing support for PowerPC following transition edit

Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), released in August 2009, was the first version of Mac OS X (later macOS) to require a Mac with an Intel processor, ending operating system support for Power PC Macs three years after the transition was complete.[43][44] Support for Rosetta was removed from Mac OS X with the release of 10.7 Lion, which was released in July 2011, five years after the transition was complete.[45][46] The last Apple application to support PowerPC processors was iTunes 10.6.3, which was released on June 11, 2012.[47]

Apple has a policy of placing products that have not been sold for more than five years, but less than seven years, as "vintage", meaning hardware services from Apple Stores and service providers are subject to availability of inventory, or as required by law. After a product has not been sold for more than seven years, it is considered "obsolete", meaning it is not eligible for hardware support.[48] All PowerPC-based Macs were obsolete by 2013.

In spite of the PowerPC machines being considered obsolete, use of the systems remains popular in retrocomputing; multiple community projects exist that aim to allow PowerPC Macs to carry out modern tasks, such as the Classilla and TenFourFox web browsers.

Legacy edit

A Mashable article in 2016 noted that the decision to switch to Intel processors gave many people who wanted a Mac, but couldn't commit to giving up Windows, a way to have both via Boot Camp and a number of virtualization programs,[49] and that Mac, as a computer platform, had a renaissance following the transition, with more apps being developed.[49] The article also said following the transition to Intel, Mac, while still outsold by Windows and other computer systems, has had a remarkable comeback, and also noted that Mac users tend to be loyal to the Apple ecosystem, which leads to purchases of other Apple products such as iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch.[49]

On June 22, 2020, Apple announced plans to transition the Macintosh to ARM processors over a two-year period, following a roadmap similar to the Intel transition, including universal binaries and a Rosetta 2 compatibility program. Apple had been using ARM processors in the iPhone since 2007, and had been using them in the iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV, and Apple Watch as well, and had been designing its own ARM processors since the Apple A6 in 2012.

Timeline edit

  • June 6, 2005: Apple announced its plans to switch to Intel processors at the Worldwide Developer Conference and released a Developer Transition System, a PC running an Intel build of Mac OS X 10.4.1 in a modified Power Mac G5 case, to all Select and Premier members of the Apple Developer Connection at a price of $999.[1][50]
  • January 10, 2006: Jobs announced the first two computers in this series, the 15" MacBook Pro, the first laptop to support SATA, and iMac Core Duo line, both using an Intel Core Duo chip and offered to trade in the Developer Transition Kits for iMacs.
  • February 28, 2006: Jobs announced that the Mac mini now also comes with SATA connection and an Intel Core chip, in either the Solo or Duo varieties.
  • April 5, 2006: Apple announced the release of Boot Camp, which allowed users of Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP[51] (later versions of Boot Camp allow later versions of Windows).
  • April 24, 2006: Apple announced the 17" MacBook Pro, replacing the 17" PowerBook.
  • April 27, 2006: Intel announced that processors with the Core microarchitecture would be released months sooner than previously thought.
  • May 16, 2006: Apple announced the 13" MacBook with SATA support, replacing both the iBook line and the 12" PowerBook.
  • June 26, 2006: Intel announced the Xeon 5100 series server/workstation CPU.[52]
  • July 5, 2006: Apple announced a special educational configuration of the iMac, replacing the old G4 eMac.
  • August 7, 2006: "Transition Complete" - Apple announced the Intel-based Mac Pro and Xserve, replacing the Power Mac G5 and Xserve G5, at the Worldwide Developers Conference; both use the Xeon 5100 series ("Woodcrest") processors.[41][42][4]
  • October 26, 2007: Apple shipped Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard", the final release with PowerPC support. Macs using a G3 processor cannot boot this operating system as the backwards compatibility with them have been removed, only G4 and G5 processors with a minimum 867 MHz clock speed are supported. Although it runs on PowerPC machines, it omits the Classic environment, ending Apple's support of software for the classic Mac OS.
  • August 28, 2009: Apple shipped Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" exclusively for Intel Macs. PowerPC Macs cannot boot this OS as the backwards compatibility with them have been removed. This is also the final release with Rosetta, allowing PowerPC software to run on an Intel Mac.
  • March 1, 2011: The beta version of the then-upcoming Mac OS X Lion removed "Rosetta" and lost the ability to run PowerPC based software.[53]
  • June 23, 2011: Support for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard came to a end, formally ending Apple's support of PowerPC on Mac OS X.[54][55]
  • July 20, 2011: The release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion formally ended Apple's support of PowerPC-based software.
  • August 7, 2011: PowerPC hardware reached "vintage" status having been discontinued five years prior, ending most of Apple's service and parts support for PowerPC hardware.
  • June 11, 2012: Apple released iTunes 10.6.3, their last application with support for PowerPC processors.[56]
  • August 7, 2013: PowerPC hardware reached "obsolete" status having been discontinued seven years prior, ending all of Apple's service and parts support for PowerPC hardware.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Initial models featured a 32-bit x86 CPU, and were subsequently replaced with an x86-64 CPU.

References edit

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External links edit

  • Can Developers Give Mactel an Enterprise Boost?
  • Boot Camp, Apple's solution to running Windows operating systems via a dual-boot method

transition, intel, processors, this, article, about, apple, transition, computers, from, powerpc, architecture, intel, processors, details, architecture, intel, based, apple, computers, apple, intel, architecture, process, switching, central, processing, units. This article is about Apple s transition of its Mac computers from the PowerPC architecture to Intel processors For details on the architecture of Intel based Apple computers see Apple Intel architecture The Mac transition to Intel processors was the process of switching the central processing units CPUs of Apple Inc s line of Mac and Xserve computers from PowerPC processors over to Intel s x86 64 processors a The change was announced at the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC by then Apple CEO Steve Jobs who said Apple would gradually stop using PowerPC microprocessors supplied by Freescale formerly Motorola and IBM 1 The transition was the second time Apple had switched the processor instruction set architecture of its personal computers The first was in 1994 when Apple discarded the Mac s original Motorola 68000 series architecture in favor of the then new PowerPC platform 2 Apple s initial press release originally outlined that the move would begin by June 2006 with completion slated by early 2008 the transition had proceeded faster than anticipated The first generation Intel based Macintoshes were released in January 2006 with Mac OS X 10 4 4 Tiger In August Jobs announced the last models to switch with the Mac Pro available immediately and the Intel Xserve available by October 3 although shipments for the latter computer line did not start until December 4 The final version of Mac OS X that ran on PowerPC processors was Leopard released in October 2007 with PowerPC binary translation support using Rosetta persisting up through the following version 5 Support was later dropped in Lion In 2020 Apple announced that it would shift its Mac line to Apple silicon which are ARM based processors developed in house 2 Contents 1 Background 2 History 2 1 1980s 2 2 1990s 2 3 Early 2000s 2 4 2005 3 Reaction to the change 3 1 AMD 3 2 32 bit regression 3 3 Concerns over Rosetta performance 3 4 Intel 3 5 Osborne Effect 3 6 Product compatibility 3 7 Technical issues 4 Transition process 4 1 2005 4 2 2006 4 3 Ongoing support for PowerPC following transition 5 Legacy 6 Timeline 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External linksBackground edit nbsp A PowerPC 970FX processor which was used in a number of Apple computers featuring PowerPC G5 processorsApple had been using PowerPC processors in its products for 11 years when the move to Intel processors was announced At 2003 s WWDC keynote address Jobs unveiled a Power Mac with a processor from IBM s PowerPC G5 product line 6 the first personal computer to feature a 64 bit processor 6 He promised a 3 GHz Power Mac G5 within 12 months but never released such a product 6 In 2004 s WWDC keynote address Jobs addressed the broken promise saying IBM had trouble moving to a fabrication process lower than the 90 nm process 6 Apple officials also said in 2003 they planned to release a PowerBook with a G5 processor 7 but such a product never materialized Tim Cook then Apple s Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations said during an earnings call that putting a G5 in a PowerBook was the mother of all thermal challenges 8 In addition there were reports that IBM officials had concerns over the profitability of a low volume business which caused tensions with Apple and its desires for a wide variety of PowerPC processors 9 History edit1980s edit Apple s efforts to move to Intel hardware began in 1985 A proposal was floated after Jobs departed but was quickly disapproved by management 10 1990s edit The first known attempt by Apple to move to Intel s platform was the Star Trek project a code name given to a secret project to run a port of Classic Mac OS System 7 and its applications on an Intel compatible personal computer 10 The effort began on February 14 1992 with the blessing of Intel s then CEO Andy Grove 10 Apple leaders set an October 31 deadline to create a working prototype The team met that deadline and had a functional demo ready by December John Sculley s departure during the Star Trek project was a factor in the project s termination Michael Spindler who took over as Apple s CEO devoted most of Apple s resources to moving to PowerPC instead 10 thus initiating Apple s first processor transition After Apple s 1997 acquisition of NeXT Apple began to rework their NeXTSTEP operating system into a successor to the classic Mac OS codenamed Rhapsody Jobs who rejoined Apple upon the purchase demonstrated an Intel compatible build of Rhapsody to Dell founder and namesake Michael Dell Jobs offered to license the new OS to Dell for its PCs so that users could choose between it and Windows However Dell declined when Jobs insisted that the company license the operating system for every PC it ships regardless of whether or not the user wanted to use Mac OS 11 Early 2000s edit nbsp Then CEO Steve Jobs announces the Intel transition at WWDC 2005 In the years since the end of the Star Trek project there were reports of Apple working to port its operating system to Intel s x86 processors with one engineer managing to get Apple s OS to run on a number of Intel powered computers 12 In 2001 Jobs and then Sony president Kunitake Andō reportedly had a meeting to discuss the possibility of running Apple s operating system on its Vaio computers Jobs even presented a Vaio running Mac OS Such negotiations ultimately came to nothing 13 In 2002 it was reported that Apple had more than a dozen software engineers tasked to a project code named Marklar with a mission to steadily work on maintaining X86 compatible builds of Mac OS X 14 It was noted in 2003 by IBM in an article published to its intranet that Apple felt a transition to Intel would present massive software changes that it wanted to avoid 15 Nevertheless rumors of an impending announcement of a transition to Intel cropped up in 2000 and 2003 16 2005 edit News reports of an impending announcement by Apple to transition to Intel processors surfaced in early June 2005 9 close to that year s WWDC The announcement was made during that year s WWDC Keynote Address 1 At the time Apple announced the transition Jobs attributed the switch to a superior product roadmap that Intel offered 17 as well as an inability to build products envisioned by Apple based on the PowerPC product roadmap 7 Meanwhile pricing disputes with IBM in addition to a desire by Apple to give its computer the ability to run Microsoft Windows were reportedly factors for the switch as well 2 17 Reaction to the change editAt the time a research director for Ovum Ltd called the move risky and foolish noting that Intel s innovation in processor design is overshadowed by both AMD and IBM 18 Another analyst said the move risks diluting Apple s value proposition since it will now have less control over its product road map in addition to the risk of alienating its loyal users 18 AMD edit Some observers expressed surprise that Apple made a deal with Intel instead of with AMD 19 By 2005 AMD had become popular with gamers and the budget conscious 19 but some analysts believed AMD s lack of low power designs at the time was behind Apple s decision to go with Intel 19 In 2011 Apple investigated using AMD s low power Llano APU for the MacBook Air but eventually opted for Intel due to AMD s potential inability to supply enough Llano processors to meet demand 20 32 bit regression edit Apple had created the world s first consumer 64 bit desktop computer with its G5 based line up however the first Intel based Macs included only Intel Core Duo processors which were 32 bit Apple refreshed its line of computers six months later adding Intel s new Intel Core 2 Duo 64 bit processors Concerns over Rosetta performance edit When Rosetta was announced it was noted that the translation software is designed to translate applications that run on a PowerPC with a G3 processor and that are built for Mac OS X 21 It was noted at the time that translated software performs at a level between 50 and 80 of native software 21 22 The announcement caused concerns over performance Intel edit At the time the transition was announced it was noted that a degree of enmity towards Intel exists amongst some fans of Apple products due to Intel s close identification with Microsoft 23 In addition It was noted by Intel s then CEO Paul Otellini that Apple and Intel s relationship was strained at times especially due to Apple s commission of an ad that shows Intel processors being outperformed by PowerPC processors 23 While there were questions over whether Apple would put the Intel Inside stickers on its products Jobs dispelled such a possibility saying it is redundant when Apple s use of Intel processors is well known 24 Intel Inside stickers have never been included on any Apple product 25 Osborne Effect edit There was concern that an early announcement of the change would cause an Osborne effect 26 27 but it was also noted that even if an Osborne effect appeared it would merely mean delayed purchases of Mac computers not permanent cancellations and that Apple had enough cash on hand to weather the potential sales decline 28 Analysis of financial data suggests that the Osborne Effect did not materialize with sales for Macs growing by 19 and 37 in the two quarters following March 2006 29 Product compatibility edit The Classic environment the Mac OS 9 virtualization measure for Mac OS X was not ported to the x86 architecture 30 leaving the new Intel powered Macs incompatible with classic Mac OS applications without a proper third party PowerPC emulator There were also concerns over third party software support with reaction to the change being mixed amongst the software developer community due to a need to recompile software for compatibility on Intel based Macs 23 In early 2006 it was reported that a number of software companies such as Adobe Aspyr and Microsoft were not ready to release universal binary versions of their software offerings 31 Technical issues edit In the years prior to Apple s announcement of the transition it was noted that there was a debate over the difference of endianness between Intel and non Intel processors as well as the merits of each CPU architecture 32 The difference in endianness meant that some software could not simply be recompiled it required changes to make it work on processors of either endianness 33 unreliable source Transition process edit nbsp Steve Jobs reveals Mac OS X running on Pentium 4 hardware 2005 edit During Apple s 2005 WWDC the company introduced a Developer Transition Kit consisting of a prototype Intel based Mac computer along with preliminary versions of Mac OS X Tiger and Xcode which allowed developers to prepare future versions of their software to run on both PowerPC and Intel based Macs 1 To allow apps built for PowerPC based Macs to run on Intel based Macs without recompilation a dynamic binary translation software called Rosetta was created 21 2006 edit On January 10 Apple unveiled an Intel based iMac 34 as well as a 15 inch MacBook Pro laptop which replaced the similarly sized PowerBook 35 On February 28 a Mac mini featuring an Intel Core Duo processor was unveiled 36 On April 5 the dual boot software Boot Camp was released as a trial version which allowed Intel based Mac owners to run Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows 37 On April 24 a MacBook Pro replacement for the 17 inch PowerBook was announced 38 On May 16 a replacement for the iBook called MacBook was announced thus completing the transition of Apple s laptop line to Intel processors 39 On July 5 a replacement for the eMac a special configuration of a 17 inch iMac for use in education was announced 40 On August 7 Apple unveiled a replacement for the PowerMac Mac Pro 41 and an Intel based version of Xserve 42 The unveiling of the Mac Pro was touted by Apple as a completion of its transition to Intel and said the entire process took 210 days 41 Ongoing support for PowerPC following transition edit Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10 6 released in August 2009 was the first version of Mac OS X later macOS to require a Mac with an Intel processor ending operating system support for Power PC Macs three years after the transition was complete 43 44 Support for Rosetta was removed from Mac OS X with the release of 10 7 Lion which was released in July 2011 five years after the transition was complete 45 46 The last Apple application to support PowerPC processors was iTunes 10 6 3 which was released on June 11 2012 47 Apple has a policy of placing products that have not been sold for more than five years but less than seven years as vintage meaning hardware services from Apple Stores and service providers are subject to availability of inventory or as required by law After a product has not been sold for more than seven years it is considered obsolete meaning it is not eligible for hardware support 48 All PowerPC based Macs were obsolete by 2013 In spite of the PowerPC machines being considered obsolete use of the systems remains popular in retrocomputing multiple community projects exist that aim to allow PowerPC Macs to carry out modern tasks such as the Classilla and TenFourFox web browsers Legacy editA Mashable article in 2016 noted that the decision to switch to Intel processors gave many people who wanted a Mac but couldn t commit to giving up Windows a way to have both via Boot Camp and a number of virtualization programs 49 and that Mac as a computer platform had a renaissance following the transition with more apps being developed 49 The article also said following the transition to Intel Mac while still outsold by Windows and other computer systems has had a remarkable comeback and also noted that Mac users tend to be loyal to the Apple ecosystem which leads to purchases of other Apple products such as iPad iPhone and Apple Watch 49 On June 22 2020 Apple announced plans to transition the Macintosh to ARM processors over a two year period following a roadmap similar to the Intel transition including universal binaries and a Rosetta 2 compatibility program Apple had been using ARM processors in the iPhone since 2007 and had been using them in the iPad iPod Touch Apple TV and Apple Watch as well and had been designing its own ARM processors since the Apple A6 in 2012 Timeline editJune 6 2005 Apple announced its plans to switch to Intel processors at the Worldwide Developer Conference and released a Developer Transition System a PC running an Intel build of Mac OS X 10 4 1 in a modified Power Mac G5 case to all Select and Premier members of the Apple Developer Connection at a price of 999 1 50 January 10 2006 Jobs announced the first two computers in this series the 15 MacBook Pro the first laptop to support SATA and iMac Core Duo line both using an Intel Core Duo chip and offered to trade in the Developer Transition Kits for iMacs February 28 2006 Jobs announced that the Mac mini now also comes with SATA connection and an Intel Core chip in either the Solo or Duo varieties April 5 2006 Apple announced the release of Boot Camp which allowed users of Intel based Macs to run Windows XP 51 later versions of Boot Camp allow later versions of Windows April 24 2006 Apple announced the 17 MacBook Pro replacing the 17 PowerBook April 27 2006 Intel announced that processors with the Core microarchitecture would be released months sooner than previously thought May 16 2006 Apple announced the 13 MacBook with SATA support replacing both the iBook line and the 12 PowerBook June 26 2006 Intel announced the Xeon 5100 series server workstation CPU 52 July 5 2006 Apple announced a special educational configuration of the iMac replacing the old G4 eMac August 7 2006 Transition Complete Apple announced the Intel based Mac Pro and Xserve replacing the Power Mac G5 and Xserve G5 at the Worldwide Developers Conference both use the Xeon 5100 series Woodcrest processors 41 42 4 October 26 2007 Apple shipped Mac OS X 10 5 Leopard the final release with PowerPC support Macs using a G3 processor cannot boot this operating system as the backwards compatibility with them have been removed only G4 and G5 processors with a minimum 867 MHz clock speed are supported Although it runs on PowerPC machines it omits the Classic environment ending Apple s support of software for the classic Mac OS August 28 2009 Apple shipped Mac OS X 10 6 Snow Leopard exclusively for Intel Macs PowerPC Macs cannot boot this OS as the backwards compatibility with them have been removed This is also the final release with Rosetta allowing PowerPC software to run on an Intel Mac March 1 2011 The beta version of the then upcoming Mac OS X Lion removed Rosetta and lost the ability to run PowerPC based software 53 June 23 2011 Support for Mac OS 10 5 Leopard came to a end formally ending Apple s support of PowerPC on Mac OS X 54 55 July 20 2011 The release of Mac OS X 10 7 Lion formally ended Apple s support of PowerPC based software August 7 2011 PowerPC hardware reached vintage status having been discontinued five years prior ending most of Apple s service and parts support for PowerPC hardware June 11 2012 Apple released iTunes 10 6 3 their last application with support for PowerPC processors 56 August 7 2013 PowerPC hardware reached obsolete status having been discontinued seven years prior ending all of Apple s service and parts support for PowerPC hardware See also editHackintosh Star Trek project Universal binary Mac transition to Apple siliconNotes edit Initial models featured a 32 bit x86 CPU and were subsequently replaced with an x86 64 CPU References edit a b c d Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006 Apple Inc June 6 2005 Archived from the original on January 30 2018 Retrieved June 23 2020 a b c Shankland Stephen June 22 2020 Apple gives Macs a brain transplant with new Arm chips starting this year CNet Archived from the original on December 17 2020 Retrieved June 23 2020 Cohen Peter August 6 2006 WWDC Live Keynote Update 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