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Is hooking up with Intel worth the risk for Apple?

An article today by Peter Burrows on BusinessWeek looks at the implications of Apple’s move from IBM to Intel for its computer chip needs. One significant change, Burrows feels, is that Jobs will have less flexibility with Apple’s product rollout schedule, now that they are working with Intel. “Still, hooking up with Intel is worth the risk. So long as Apple is growing, software developers are likely to adapt their programs to run on the ‘MacIntels.’ And in the long term, Macs with Intel inside could spark growth,” writes Burrows. “For starters, it could help close a speed gap in the fast-growing laptop market. Currently, Apple’s top-of-the-line PowerBook runs at just 1.67 GHz… compared with 2.21 GHz Wintel models. That’s critical, given Apple’s reliance on laptop sales — it gets 43% of revenues from such models, vs. 29% for the industry as a whole.”

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