Mac transition to Intel processors: Difference between revisions

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In 2005 and 2006, [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] switched the [[Central processing unit|CPUs]] of [[Mac (computer)|Mac]] and [[Xserve]] computers from [[PowerPC]] to the [[x86]]{{efn|The early models included a [[IA-32|32-bit x86]] CPU, later models had [[x86-64]].}} architecture from [[Intel]].

The '''Mac transition to Intel processors''' was the process of changing the [[central processing unit]]s (CPUs) of [[Apple Inc.]]'s line of [[Mac (computer)|Mac]] and [[Xserve]] computers from [[PowerPC]] processors to [[Intel]]'s [[x86-64]] processors.{{efn|Initial models featured a [[IA-32|32-bit x86]] CPU, and were subsequently replaced with an [[x86-64]] CPU.}} The change was announced at the 2005 [[Apple Worldwide Developers Conference|Worldwide Developers Conference]] (WWDC) by then-Apple CEO [[Steve Jobs]], who said Apple would gradually stop using PowerPC [[microprocessor]]s supplied by [[Freescale]] (formerly [[Motorola]]) and [[IBM]].<ref name="apple-pr-2005">{{cite web |title=Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006 |url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/06/06Apple-to-Use-Intel-Microprocessors-Beginning-in-2006/ |website=[[Apple Inc.]] |access-date=23 June 2020 |date=6 June 2005 |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130185804/https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/06/06Apple-to-Use-Intel-Microprocessors-Beginning-in-2006/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

ThisThe transition was the second time Apple changedhad 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.<ref name="CNET1">{{cite news |last1=Shankland |first1=Stephen |title=Apple gives Macs a brain transplant with new Arm chips starting this year |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-gives-macs-a-brain-transplant-with-new-arm-chips/ |access-date=23 June 2020 |work=[[CNet]] |date=22 June 2020 |archive-date=December 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217001241/https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-gives-macs-a-brain-transplant-with-new-arm-chips/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Apple's initial press release saidoriginally outlined that the move would begin by June 2006, andwith completion finishslated by early 2008, but- the ittransition actuallyhad proceeded muchfaster morethan quicklyanticipated. The first-generation Intel-based Macintoshes were released in January 2006 with [[Mac OS X Tiger|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,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macworld.com/article/1052233/liveupdate.html|website=[[Macworld]]|title=WWDC Live Keynote Update|first=Peter|last=Cohen|date=August 6, 2006|access-date=November 20, 2019|archive-date=June 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606021417/https://www.macworld.com/article/1052233/liveupdate.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (italthough actuallyshipments shippedfor inthe latter computer line did not start until December).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/Xserve_TechnologyOverview12202006.pdf |title=Xserve Technology Overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223000409/https://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/Xserve_TechnologyOverview12202006.pdf|archive-date=December 23, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The final version of Apple's [[Mac OS X]] that ran on PowerPC chipsprocessors was 2007's [[Mac OS X Leopard|Leopard (version 10.5)]], released in October 2007., Thewith finalPowerPC versionbinary totranslation run applications written for PowerPC chips,support (using the [[Rosetta (software)|Rosetta]]) binarypersisting translator,up was 2009'sthrough [[Mac OS X Snow Leopard|Snowthe Leopardfollowing version]] (version 10.6).<ref>{{cite press release | url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2008/06/09Apple-Previews-Mac-OS-X-Snow-Leopard-to-Developers/ | title=Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers | publisher=[[Apple Inc.]] | date=June 9, 2008 | access-date=2017-12-04 }}</ref> PowerPC support was dropped in [[Mac OS X Lion|Lion]] (version 10.7) dropped support altogether.

In 2020, Apple announced that it would [[Mac transition to Apple silicon|shift its Mac line to Apple silicon]], which are [[ARM architecture|ARM]]-based processors developed in-house.<ref name="CNET1"/>