Apple's Intel Choice to Pay Off in New Chips

When Apple Computer announced that it was abandoning the PowerPC processors that it had been using for years in favor of processors from Intel, some analysts questioned why the Mac wouldnit house chips from AMD. The answer to that question seems to be unfolding now as benchmarks comparing Intelis soon-to-be released mid-range processors to AMDis higher end chips are available.

In an independent study conducted by HEXUS.net, Intelis E6600 2.4GHz chip, code named "Conroe," outperformed AMDis high-end Extreme Edition AM2-based FX-62 chip. The HEXUS.net report states "Itis abundantly clear that Conroe will be the fastest CPU in town when it hits in a few weeks time. It pulverizes all present CPUs in the majority of CPU-based benchmarks."

George Ou, writing for ZDNet, says "This effectively means that AMDis flagship desktop performance CPU will be obsolete by the end of next month when Intel released the CPUs codenamed Conroe."

Price is another factor to take into consideration with these chips, too. The Intel E6600 will cost about US$250, compared to AMDis FX-62 at about $1,000.

Intel has also stated that it plans to keep its chip designs fresh in an effort to avoid falling behind the competition. The Core architecture available in todayis Intel-based Macs will be replaced with something newer.

In the end, healthy competition between Intel and AMD will be a good thing for Mac users, even if an AMD chip never makes it inside an Apple product. As the two processor makers innovate to keep up with each other, new products will emerge that are sure to offer us even better performance.