Apple Planning Intel iBook Debut for January? 577
axonis writes "Apple is planning to release its first entry-level iBook laptops with Intel processors next January at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret." From the article: "Apple will almost certainly tap Intel's forthcoming Yonah processor for the iBooks, a successor to the company's Pentium M. It is unknown whether Apple will go with a dual-core version of the processor, slated for release in January, or a single-core version, which Intel announced in August would be delivered shortly after the dual-core version. The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks."
How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How many? (Score:5, Informative)
I think Apple just gave mid summer as an estimate to give the developers of 3rd party applications more time, as well as themselves if they needed it. Now they've figured out that the developers were quick to transition, everyone's bitting at the chops, and delaying it any longer seems to be a bad idea. Can't wait to get my hands on one.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How many? (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes me wonder: is this jump in the schedule because developers were quick to transition, or because customers were holding off their purchases until they saw the new Intel models?
Re:How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd think the iBook market would be one of the least affected by this phenomenon, since the lion's share of potential iBook buyers - people who get their product announcements from TV commercials - aren't even aware that there's a switch in the pipeline. And if Apple's suffering from "purchase delay" now, imagine how bad it'll
Re:How many? (Score:5, Funny)
Sure they will. I'll take a 15 incher right here.
Re:How many? (Score:5, Funny)
Will he get a binary lap dance?
Re:How many? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How many? (Score:5, Funny)
I'd pay two bits for that.
Re:How many? (Score:4, Interesting)
I thought the Adobe CEO was at the Intel annoucement and said something like "We wanted you to switch to Intel years ago!"
Personally, I think Adobe will be ready, but they will be ready according to the pre-determined CS3 product schedule, meaning late 2006. (Because they have apps built around the old environments, it is not just a recompile for them.)
Re:How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
I doubt very much that is true. They may not like it, but to say they couldn't care less is just stupid.
Re:How many? (Score:5, Informative)
Adobe was prominently on stage for the announcement of Apple moving to Intel and promised their eventual support. They did say that there was going to be a bit of work because they were still a PowerPlant house, but they were going to make the transition.
And that does not take into account the recent announcement from Metroworks that they were going to make a PowerPlant Mac/Intel version of their compiler after all. That could make the transition much easier. I would still rather that they moved over to an XCode project, but that might not be convenient with the requirement that this build quickly on both MacOS X and Windows from the same codebase (it is of course possible... I am talking about convenient).
Now Apple has released a few great products recently, and in the video space they are directly competing with Adobe... although most people would say that they are more accurately competing against Avid... But in the image space: I can't think of any product that Adobe makes that compares with Aperture... unless you talk about the image browser in Photoshop, and that is really stretching things. Aperture is going to sell more copies of Photoshop.
Re:How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
Metrowerks is, IIRC, releasing PowerPlant as open-source. However, I haven't seen any announcement from them about an OSX Intel compiler/linker. Do you have a reference for the latter?
Re:How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
There has been no such announcement. I don't know where you got this; I can only think that perhaps you are confusing it with MW's work on open-sourcing the PowerPlant framework so the community can move it forward with GCC and Intel compatibility. But MW is out of the x86 compiler business, period.
Re:How many? (Score:5, Insightful)
This guy's talking out of his ass. First of all, Metrowerks has not made any announcements that they will make a Mac/Intel version of CodeWarrior (CodeWarrior is the compiler, PowerPlant is the framework). In fact, Metrowerks announced that CodeWarrior 10 would be the last release of CodeWarrior for the Mac platform. Period. End of story. That's why the latest release is so cheap ($99, download only). Also, Metrowerks no longer even exists as a company inside of Motorola. All Metrowerks/Motorola is doing for PowerPlant (the C++ GUI framework) is releasing it as open source so that someone else will be able to port it to MacIntel, they aren't going to be doing any of the Intel work.
The main reason CodeWarrior had to come to an end on the Mac is because Metrowerks/Motorola sold all of it's x86 compiler technology to a third party, Nokia I believe. They no longer have the rights to develop an x86 version of CodeWarrior. No x86 version means no future on the Mac. Though many of us have seen the writing on the wall for a long time and have expected CodeWarrior to come to an end sooner rather than later.
Adobe will be moving to Xcode because everyone has to move to Xcode. There is no other option.
Also, to put the Adobe comments into context, Adobe's CEO Bruce Chizen had an interview with CNet [com.com] where he discussed the difficulties in the transition as well as Adobe's possible timeframe:
Contrary to what a lot of mindless posters think, the transition is a lot of work and will be very difficult for many companies.
Re:How many? (Score:5, Informative)
I run Photoshop all the time on the current iBook.
Some filters take a few extra seconds to apply, but it works great.
No need to be all bold-type incredulous, sport.
Re:How many? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How many? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How many? (Score:3, Informative)
http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/X86_s
Emulation viability depends on CPU or Apps (Score:3, Insightful)
I believe that purchasers of consumer machines, like the iBook, are more heavily dependent on the bundled software that Apple provides. Keep in mind that the consumer machines come with AppleWorks, a basic suite with word processing, spreadsheet, etc. Coming from Apple all of the bundled software will be native Intel code.
As far as other software, with the exception of games and computationally intensive programs - the latter being odd to fi
oh, and one more thing... (Score:5, Funny)
All right (Score:3, Insightful)
But it will be nice to again have a PowerBook that is actually somewhat fast.
Re:All right (Score:2, Interesting)
Now that you know that, my previous post will make more sense.
Re:All right (Score:3, Informative)
"Harrison Bergeron" was a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, not Heinlein.
Re:All right (Score:2, Interesting)
After hurricane Katrina hit us, my work decided we needed portability.
Along comes the 12" powerbooks.
Its cool and all, and it seems to be fast enough to run quark, photoshop, illustrator, flash, and dreamweaver on my machine. But I know other machines run it all faster.
One of the photogs neandered in here with a 17" behemoth PC with a 3.2ghz proc. I dont care about the diff in architectures...a 3.2ghz p4 is still faster than a 1.5ghz g4 all day long.
Even if i have 1.25gig ram vs his 768.
But there have
Re:All right (Score:3, Interesting)
In my opinion, you'd be better focusing on hard drive and memory speed boosts.
Re:All right (Score:5, Funny)
Well, Dr. Moore did work for Intel, after all. In January the mountain comes to Mohammed.
Re:All right (Score:3, Interesting)
Intel- "Ready"? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Intel- "Ready"? (Score:3, Informative)
This means the software is "Intel-Ready", just as your computer might come "Internet-ready"; it has all the software installed and configured for any number of different internet connections, but it is up to you to choose which one to use.
The only issue I see is dust-busting the system to remove all the cruft you don't need; Fat binaries are a waste of space if you're
Leaked Picture link here! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Leaked Picture link here! (Score:2, Insightful)
(More) Leaked Picture link here! (Score:3, Funny)
iBook = Mac Mini, no? (Score:5, Interesting)
Surely if Apple announces an Intel based iBook, an Intel based Mac Mini will be there too? Or will follow very shortly.
Sam
Re:iBook = Mac Mini, no? (Score:5, Interesting)
Surely if Apple announces an Intel based iBook, an Intel based Mac Mini will be there too? Or will follow very shortly.
Minis are closer to Powerbooks, but either way, it raises a question for me. The Mac mini, PowerBooks, and iBooks all use similar components. If the switch to Intel is going to allow Apple to make their laptops thinner, lighter, more power-efficient, and more powerful, wouldn't it be a mistake to upgrade iBooks without upgrading PowerBooks? Otherwise, you'd probably end up with iBooks (the budget model) that were better than PowerBooks (the high-end).
Also, if the Intel iBooks are really that great, and the price drops a couple hundred dollars (which has been reported), then wouldn't it start to cut into the Mini's market? I mean, is it worth getting the Mini for $700 when you can get a much better computer, in laptop form, for $800?
So, if I were Apple, I don't think I'd let there be much of a delay between the release of Intel iBooks and the Intel PowerBooks/Minis. If I didn't do it all at the same time, I wouldn't be planning to sell many PowerPC models during the lag.
It's the Apple Way. (Score:4, Funny)
There's also a good chunk of mac fanboi out there that are all OMG!!!!! GLEEEEE!!!!!!!! when Apple releases new kit. We're talking the kind of people that bought an iMac, then turned right around and bought a blue-and-white G3 when those were released.
Also... the big advantage of the mini is you're not bound to a specific keyboard and monitor. Much as I love my iBook, the keyboard blows compared to my old powerbook and a 12" display makes my face hurt (it's nice but it's too damned small for my eyes) - the mini lets me use my existing pile of mid-90s Apple CRTs (DVI -> VGA adapter with a VGA -> 25-pin Mac adapter plugged into that, FOR THE WIN!) and my existing keyboards and input devices. It's certainly true that if you're starting fresh (say, just out of high school), a notebook is a much better bang for the buck... but if your house is the Macintosh equivalent of an elephant graveyard, the mini fits into that magic slot of "slightly more expensive than a processor upgrade."
Re:It's the Apple Way. (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, like when they introduced the 68030, 68040, PPC601, PPC603, PPC604, PPC603e, PPC604e, G3, G4 and G5 chips in their professional hardware first, then let it trickle down to the consumer line. Or SATA. Or Firewire. Or Firewire 800. Or USB 2. Or DDR RAM. Or the switch from NuBUS to PCI. Or the switch from PCI to PCI-X. Or the switch from SCSI to IDE. Or introduci
Re:It's the Apple Way. (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, that said, you're basically right about IDE, (they went back to SCSI next time they released pro hardware with the jump to PPC and the 6100, etc.) but the whole IDE thing is a bad example for me to
Re:Intel CPU better? Yes Price drops? No (Score:3, Interesting)
The rumor of a ~$800 iBook came from the same source that indicated a Intel iBook in January. Apparently, the same source that also predicted the Mini and photo iPod. The Mini is a "loss leader" of sorts, Apple is really betting on the second and hopefully "bigger" Mac that Mini owners eventually buy.
No doubt that the Mini was produced in the hopes of luring Windows customers, but it isn't a "loss leader". I bet we see a $400 Mini within the next year, and even that wi
WTD does *next* January mean? (Score:4, Funny)
God I hate this particular phrase. It confuses me almost every time. I wish we had some clearer system where we would just say a number before the month/day to indicate how many away it was for small numbers. So instead of next january meaning the first january after this we could say 'the first january' and the next one would be 'the second january'.
So could someone please reply and tell me which it is. Also wouldn't hurt to add it in the story.
Re:WTD does *next* January mean? (Score:2)
Re:WTD does *next* January mean? (Score:4, Interesting)
ibook vs. powerbook (Score:2)
(personally, I don't see the point of the 12" powerbook at all. imo the ibook looks a lot better at 12" - the metal look suits the larger laptops better since they are wider and seem thinner. the 12" powerbook looks like a fat, heavy piece of metal. ymmv)
Re:ibook vs. powerbook (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple will play dual-core laptops for all the margin they're worth, which means there's no way they will be introduced at the bottom or even the middle of the line-up.
One problem with them going mainstream (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One problem with them going mainstream (Score:4, Funny)
DVD Jon (Score:3, Insightful)
Found out via a few 'poison apples' at the Duke... (Score:5, Insightful)
"I don't see a need for Apple to go much below $1,000 unless they are going to offer a really low-end iBook with really low-end features," he said. "Cheap (Windows-based) notebooks are just that. Cheap. They have low-resolution, small hard drives, little memory. Apple doesn't need to compete their. They could keep the price the same and offer more. If you're going to lower prices (on iBooks), then lower them on the high end, and add a third, higher-end model that comes at $1,299."
Spelling nazis rejoice!
Re:Found out via a few 'poison apples' at the Duke (Score:2)
Re:Found out via a few 'poison apples' at the Duke (Score:3, Interesting)
Once Apple has enough developers transitioned to the new imaging model (Quartz 2D) rather than QuickDraw, I imagine they will initiate this move in the hardware.
The main constraint here is software at the moment...
Humor & irony (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, as of right now Intel is behind the curve in performance compared to AMD. Presumably if MS can get custom PPC chips, Apple will be getting the hottest and latest Intel chips--maybe even custom.
Re:Humor & irony (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Humor & irony (Score:3, Informative)
The MS guys have been working with IBM engineers for 2 years to build the XBOX360 chip (based on the IBM PPE design, which is also PS3's Cell root and more than likely the base of Revolution's CPU as well. A completely different beast than the Power4 which was the base for Apple's Power970 chips)
Re:Humor & irony (Score:3, Interesting)
As to whether the new Macs could come out as early as January, it certainly is possible, but I am not going
dual-core ? (Score:3, Interesting)
It figures... (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's hopin' for a smaller widescreen powerbook (Score:2)
I'm sure apple won't dissapoint though.. been waiting to upgrade like many powerbook owners currently.
What will be interesting to see is what happens to VirtualPC.. no CAD tools for OSX, so that's the only alternative out there.
Re:Here's hopin' for a smaller widescreen powerboo (Score:3, Insightful)
The folks at Arcitosh [architosh.com] will be interested to hear that...
If you're just referring to AutoCAD, emphatically not knowing anything specific, my educated guess is they'll soon be reconsidering leaving the Mac market.
This is why I love Apple (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple says they'll deliver something by a particular date, and instead deliver it six months earlier. That's very cool. Microsoft should learn from them and stop promising and then failing to deliver products on time.
Re:This is why I love Apple (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: This is why I love Apple (Score:3, Insightful)
Greater performance than current G4? (Score:5, Interesting)
Could? More like "had better". (Score:4, Insightful)
"The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks."
Could? The dual-core Yonah's had better deliver performance better than any of Apple's current laptop lineup. One of the main reasons for the switch to Intel is the sad state of Motorola and IBM's low-power chips.
Other places [appleinsider.com] are indicating that Apple will release the Powerbooks first because the higher performance CPUs are what Intel has available now, with the lower performance ones coming in the Spring.
Not news. Merely rumor.
- Jasen.
I want to see... (Score:5, Interesting)
And it it can be easily implemented on Intel arch, why hasn't it been done?
Re:I want to see... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I want to see... (Score:3, Informative)
Have you seen how fast a Mac goes into and wakes up from sleep? Hint: it's much faster than suspend.
Taft
Re:I want to see... (Score:3, Informative)
My notebook can wake as fast as the hard drive can spin up. I have raced it against a friend's PowerBook - and won.
Re:I want to see... (Score:4, Informative)
It's fully enabled on the newest PowerBooks but you need to fiddle around a bit to get it enabled on previous models.
Here's a guide on how to do it: http://www.andrewescobar.com/archive/2005/11/11/h
Re:I want to see... (Score:3, Informative)
My old ThinkPad 600X takes many seconds to start up from suspend. OTOH my new ThinkPad X40 wakes in about a second. I open it, count to one, and start working. Done and done. Hibernation is optional (and very nice on this machine, about 20 seconds cold start, I basically use it instead of power off).
Re:I want to see... (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know if the difference in power usage represents something fundamental, or just different designers being more or less careful with power management. I don't really doubt that Apple will be just as careful with their Intel designs as they have been with their PowePC ones.
Right Timing (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple, usually makes new product announcements on January:
* 2005 - iPod Shuffle
* 2004 - iPod Mini / XServe G5
* 2003 - 20" Cinema Display + New Powermacs + New iBooks + iLife + Safari + Final Cut Express
* 2002 - New iMacs + 12" iBook + iPhoto + OSX installed by default on new machines...
* 2001 - Titanium iBook.
Is the G4 really that good? (Score:5, Interesting)
So a dual core new offering might be as good as a 2+ year old G4??
Is the Pentium M really that bad? Is the G4 really THAT good?
Re:Is the G4 really that good? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure they've run out of ways to squeeze more out of it, though.
Re:Is the G4 really that good? (Score:5, Informative)
'Course... that's a wild ass guess.
But, it "fits" the facts a lot better.
Especially when you consider that right off the bat there will still be a lot of non-native software. People really will expect to install a lot of their *current* software.
Highly variable predictions from ThinkSecret (Score:4, Informative)
The highly reliable sources ThinkSecret often cites, most of the time produces so, so predictions.
Statments like "The dual-core Yonah chip could very likely deliver performance greater than Apple's current G4-based PowerBooks." does not sound too reliable. Why on earth would Apple intro systems with less performance than current models -- and I am not just thinking in terms of real processsor performance, but perceived system performance? They'd be the laughing stock of the industry. Unless they can put a system into the market that gives a noticeable better performance than what is possible with the G4, they will wait. Apple does not want the Intel experience to be mediocre. They want it to be top notch.
I find the predictions AppleInsider made last Friday to be more sensible, but I am still not sure if Apple would put the 32-bit Yonah into the iMac, as it may be seen as a step back from the 64-bit G5. I've commented on Apple's 64-bit roadmap and how to get there [andwest.com], mentioning av 64-bit Yonah, which is really the Merom. Perhaps Intel may have been able to bring this chip forward in time from fall 2006 to this spring, enabling Apple to go straight to 64-bit from day one.
A great opportunity for Apple to go tablet... (Score:4, Interesting)
Pro vs. Consumer (Score:4, Informative)
Could very likely?!? (Score:5, Informative)
Could very likely? That's quite a bit of uncertainty.
The Pentium M is roughly performance-equivalent to an Athlon64 of the same clockspeed (The PM is still a bit weak in the multimedia department, but Yonah is expected to fix that. The statement holds true for gaming, at least). Assuming that the dual core Yonah ships at the same max speed as current Dothan processors, that means 2.26GHz. That's roughly an Athlon64 X2 4400+. The PowerBook ships with a single 1.67GHz G4. I think it is safe to say that the processor "definately destroys performance-wise" rather than "could very likely deliver performance greater than".
A prediction (Score:5, Interesting)
I can easily justify the purchase of an iBook as a desktop replacement for my boss if the cost stays at around $1000. For this price, he'd be "buying" my current system as a replacement/"new" PC for others in the company as well as a portable system for me to use at home. However, this is only feasible in my environment if the machine can dual-boot Windows. I am a current Mac user and will be able to use OS X for its UNIX-y goodness but will have to fight Redmond's best minds from time to time as I use several tools that are only available in Microsoft-land. suspect that I'm not alone and that there is a sizeable market for users like me with bosses like mine.
I can't help but think that since Apple is a hardware company - and not a software company - that they don't care what we do with the hardware once we have it in our grubby little mitts.
Re:A prediction (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it's even better than that - I think there'll be affordable solutions allowing Windows apps to run at basically full speed under OSX, in a sandbox where they can't harm the rest of the OSX system. Should be sweet, no dual booting!
Re:A prediction (Score:3, Interesting)
Ahh, so Apple doesn't make software? Have you heard about OS X? What about iTunes or Mail or iChat or iPhoto or Final Cut or Logic or Aperture?
I don't understand that statement "Apple is a hardware company - and not a software company..." It is simply untrue. They are both a hardware and a software company.
Please give me resolutions that don't suck... (Score:5, Interesting)
I just bought an Access Virus TI Desktop [access-music.de] and the fact that you can use it as an audio and MIDI interface as well as a knob box with direct access with a VST plugin is making me seriously consider moving away from Linux after five years... I can't stand MacOS, but I can't stand dualbooting even more.
Re:Please give me resolutions that don't suck... (Score:3, Informative)
Don't forget about an external monitor through DVI. I recently went laptop shopping (I needed an XP machine), and I couldn't find a laptop with
Re:Please give me resolutions that don't suck... (Score:3, Informative)
PPC updates? (Score:3, Interesting)
Does this make sense? (Score:3, Insightful)
Does this make sense? Unless the iBooks are so crippled as to be totally uninteresting (slow graphics, very limited memory, bad bus speeds) why would anyone buy an old technology PowerBook?
Now I can see Apple doing the Mac Mini first but not the iBook if its performance really outstrips the G4 PowerBook.
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:5, Funny)
Funny, I can imagine much more evil technology than an Intel Powerbook,
Starting off with something along the lines of a gigantic painful death ray that dissolves your skin first
then fries your nerve endings before it finally boils your blood and liquifies your bones, thereby killing you
until you die to death. Now THATS evil.
Even a laptop that shocks you when you make spelling errors seems more evil to me, Or a Gateway 2000,
Or that little wiggly controller on IBM thinkpads, the mousenipple or whatever it is called... Folks, me and my
imagination have all day to out evil the Intel Powerbook. Apparently you, Sir, have underestimated me in your
hyperbolic haste.
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't see that this is not in fact evil but actually one of the best inventions ever, you need to spend more time on IRC and web forums.
Re:Don't buy this. (Score:3, Informative)
When I take notes in my music history class my spell checker borks on almost all of the names and most of the terms. The problem is that a lot of the time I'm switching into german or italian. A spell checker with any warning more severe than a red underline needs to be a lot smarter than anything we have now.
Get A Grip (Score:3, Insightful)
Have fun not having fun.
Not civil rights, but commercial/property rights (Score:4, Interesting)
No, it's a commercial right or property rights movement. Civil rights is about the rights a person has as a citizen of a country. Note the word "civil".
xbox 360 (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, it marketize and is confusing, but xbox 180 clearly would send the wrong me
Apple told truth in a way easily misinterpreted (Score:4, Interesting)
The truth is that Apple told the truth but that it was cleverly phrased by marketing people so that consumers, and/or more importantly zealots, would misinterpret it. The truth is that:
1. Historically and in general a PowerPC CPU is 25-35% faster than an Intel CPU of the *same* clockrate. Apple used phrases like "up to twice as fast" and this was true, you could find a specialized app that greatly benefitted from the RISC architecture of the PowerPC and get to 2X. However clockrates were not the same, clockrate is not the perfect measurement but it does matter.
2. Apple was disingenuous in some of it's comparisons, the comparisons were "rigged" to a certain degree. The ByteMarks comparison where they used an old 486 version on a Pentium CPU. Fudged SPEC comparisons. Gcc "leveling the playing field" when gcc x86 is known to be weaker than gcc ppc and better x86 compilers are used for commercial x86 apps. Apple didn't lie, they did fully disclose all this in the "small print" but few had the technical sophistication to understand. While unacceptable in a paper presented to a scientific journal it was all pretty standard stuff for maketing literature and advertisements.
Re:And the point is? (Score:4, Informative)
Err... because it's a Mac, is faster than a G4 Mac, but still runs OS X? I *like* OS X, but that's not what "zealot" means. Nor does "zealot" mean "someone who disagrees with Nagora." "Zealot" means "A person who is fanatical and uncompromising in their religious, political, or other ideals." Interestingly, you and I can be on opposite sides of the "Is OS X better than Windows?" question and still both be right. Those are "opinions", you see. To each cat his own rat, and all that.
Oh, and here's another definition for you: "Troll: 2) Informal computing. A message or posting on the internet designed to provoke an indignant response in the reader." My opinion is that you got downmodded, not by zealots, but for posting a troll. HAND.
Re:And the point is? (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree. The difference is that I will get modded into oblivion and you won't. It is impossible to discuss any negative opinions of Apple on /. It is taken as gospel by many Mac users that there is nothing to be learnt from Windows and that Linux is in some prehistoric age. But, using a window manager where the windows can be moved without skimming right up to the top, or resized from a
Re:And the point is? (Score:5, Funny)
To give you professional advice, it appears your mastery of moving the mouse cursor across the screen and clicking leaves something to be desired. May I suggest buying a lubricated mouse pad for easier motion til your arm gets strong enough to drag items into the dock on a regular basis.
Re:And the point is? (Score:3, Interesting)
Not sure how a "too far away" menubar could possibly be a benefit. It was done that way to make it easier to get to. His point that the screen has outgrown the UI is spot-on. The menubar is no longer easy to use.
Of course, the answer to the question is to run OSX. That's obvious in any case. The real question is "why?"