what's the difference between intel-based mac and Power-PC based macs?
Thanks a lot.
2007-05-22 03:30:53 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
the processor: the PowerPC uses a CPU made by Motorola while the Intel is made by Intel.
This is the short answer; to dig further the first one use an instruction set called "RISC" = Reduced Instruction Set Computing,the second a CISC = Complex Instruction Set Computer.
A PowerPC Mac can run system 9 and X,the MacIntel just X (without emulation),the Intel Mac can also use an internal "translator" named Rosetta in order to use older applications that where made to use the older Motorola CPU but doing so it loses speed.
The rilevant thing is that despite all what has been said by Apple in the past an iMac Intel is a lot faster than the PowerPC one.
The applications made for the Intel needs to be a "universal binary" to run natively without to use Rosetta.
More about all this in the following links:
2007-05-22 04:01:25 · answer #1 · answered by theonlyreallazisback 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Without going into specifics about the actual hardware differences. The only real difference you will notice is that intel-based macs can run windows where the power-pc based macs cannot.
2007-05-22 10:38:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
intel-based mac has a Intell processor
Power mac can have several different makes of processors like AMD, IBM, and other makes
2007-05-22 10:38:22 · answer #3 · answered by Carling 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋