Analysis: x86 Vs PPC
Linked by Nicholas Blachford on Wed 9th Jul 2003 16:43 UTC
Talk, Rumors, X Versus Y This article started life when I was asked to write a comparison of x86 and PowerPC CPUs for work. We produce PowerPC based systems and are often asked why we use PowerPC CPUs instead of x86 so a comparison is rather useful. While I have had an interest in CPUs for quite some time but I have never explored this issue in any detail so writing the document proved an interesting exercise. I thought my conclusions would be of interest to OSNews readers so I've done more research and written this new, rather more detailed article. This article is concerned with the technical differences between the families not the market differences.
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Re: Robo
by drsmithy on Fri 11th Jul 2003 06:35 UTC

If there was some very rich company.. they could start churning out decent spec PPC systems for cheap.. eat a huge loss for a few years.. then have a decent userbase. Further systems would become cheaper, etc.
They wouldn't need to be rich. Generic PPCs could be "churned out" even in (relatively) low quantities for little more than x86s cost, as the only really different parts would be the CPU and motherboard chipset.
Macs aren't expensive because they cost (appreciably) more to make. They're expensive because it's a monopoly market.
The problem with selling "generic PPC" machines is not making them cheaply, it's finding someone to buy them.