Datasheet

Part I: Informed Switching Starts Here

“I need Windows for work”

So run Windows on your Mac. You have to buy a copy, which is an added

expense. But both operating systems run fine on a Mac, and you can still use

Mac OS X when you’re not working. Using third-party virtualization software,

you can run both operating systems at the same time, with Windows applica-

tions appearing on the Mac OS X desktop alongside native Mac applications. I

tell you more about how all this works in Chapter 16.

“Macs are a poor game platform”

True, more games exist for the PC, but plenty are available for Macs, including

top titles like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, StarCraft II, and Spore. Many more

are coming. Large game companies like Blizzard have committed to the Mac

platform, though many independents have not. The Apple iPad, iPhone, and

iPod touch have proved to be successful portable game platforms, attracting

new game developers to the Apple universe. All low-end Macs include inte-

grated graphics processors; the high-end Mac mini, all iMacs and the 15- and

17-inch MacBook Pro laptops add a second high-performance AMD Radeon HD

graphics chip; and the Mac Pro can be ordered with two top-of-the-line graph-

ics processors. Multicore main processors add more graphics performance,

and Lion’s OpenGL unlocks the power of these graphics devices for more com-

puting tasks. If you’re a serious gamer, you probably know all about the latest

graphics processors, but I tell you more about them in Chapter 2.

“Windows 8 will kill Apple”

Microsoft spent five years and billions of dollars developing the Vista operat-

ing system, in part to end the scourge of computer viruses and spyware that

have plagued the PC world for more than a decade. After Vista proved to be

Will Apple license OS X for other PCs?

A perennial question in the Apple-watching

community is whether Apple will license its OS

X operating system to run on other PCs. After

the Apple switch to Intel processors, there

remains no technical reason why this can’t be

done. Indeed, Apple has to go to some lengths

to discourage clever programmers from modify-

ing (hacking) OS X to run on personal computers

sold by other manufacturers. One scenario has

Apple mimicking the Microsoft strategy and

selling OS X to anyone to run on any computer

that meets minimal standards. Every indication

says that Apple will continue to try to keep OS

X to itself and follow its high-end branding strat-

egy, but Apple is known for creating surprises.

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