Scoble on why Apple go x86
[quote]To understand why Steve Jobs fired IBM you need to look no further than the Lenovo Thinkpad T41 Tablet PC.[/quote]
[quote]But, it all comes down to performance. This new [Lenovo] machine is using a very fast Intel processor that uses very little power, and generates very little heat.
That’s something that IBM wasn’t able to give Steve Jobs and it made Jobs furious, according to my sources.[/quote]
That’s what Robert Scoble thinks. If that’s true, and I think it’s very feasible, there is a great irony there.
As Scoble points out, Lenovo bought IBM’s Thinkpad brand (the transition is still in process), so Apple are dumping IBM processers to enable them to use what is effectively an IBM laptop.
Now of course, it’s not JUST because of this new laptop, more the general idea that x86 processers (which might explain why Intel and not AMD, as much as I prefer AMD as a company, Intel do have the better mobile CPU’s) have the technology to run more efficiently when it comes to power/heat. Still ‘IBM’ laptops are one of the market leaders, and it won’t harm the Apple brand at all to be running on some of those…. Add in Toshiba, Sony and one or two others, and you’ve got a lot more corporate pulling power…. (If I was buying a laptop, I’d probably go for the Toshiba Tecra M4, that is a slick looking tablet and I’ve been impressed with Toshiba build quality in the past)