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Hardware-oriented

There are questions over the extent to which Apple will retain control over the non-processor components of the system design. Apple is traditionally a systems builder, and some fear that Apple's industrial design philosophy may be affected if the company switches to non-Apple parts. Others note that Apple has slowly been switching to standard parts since the introduction of the PCI Power Mac in 1995, and say that using a non-Apple chipset in itself would not harm the Mac's image.

The new Intel Macs employ a new Intel technology for firmware, Extensible Firmware Interface, not the Open Firmware Apple had been using. EFI removes the traditional PC reliance on the BIOS while providing more functionality.[7]

The use of the x86 architecture allows Windows to run natively on Apple hardware, and opens the possibility of using the Wine package to run Windows executables directly. Some fear that the change will make Mac OS X a less valuable target for software developers, since Mac OS X users can use a dual-boot setup, or, perhaps, Wine, to run Windows apps instead. Others say that it could be a boon to switchers, since they would not have to leave their Windows applications behind while trying out Mac OS X. The idea of Mac OS X being available on regular PCs has also been discussed, but Apple has said that they will not allow regular PCs to run Mac OS X. It was previously thought that since XP is incompatible with the Extensible Firmware Interface, it would not be run on Intel-based Macs.[8]. Prior to the Boot Camp announcement, a prize contest[9] resulted in a working solution for dual-booting Windows XP and Mac OS X on an Intel Mac. Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista will not be EFI-compatible on 32-bit platforms, but the latest version of Boot Camp allows Vista to be installed on any Intel Mac.

Intel was seen among the Mac community as a purveyor of hot-running chips (especially the Pentium 4). Apple themselves mocked the Pentium range in their "Toasted Bunnies" advertisements of the late 1990s. However, the Pentium M chips, which were designed for laptop use, run much cooler than the Pentium 4. Apple claims the new Intel Core chips,

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