The fast track to poor sales


The new Intel-powered Macs are faster when running native software. Though not quite up to Apple's 400-percent hyperbole, they're snappy nonetheless.

However, running non-native apps the iMacs and MacBooks are up to 50-percent slower than legacy PPC Macs. Further, aside from a handful of tasks--CD ripping, QuickTime conversions among them--there are damned few things that have actually been tweaked to run faster on Intel's faster chips.

Underscoring these points today is a report from ThinkSecret that states that not only are Mactel sales sluggish and below Apple's expectations, but that PPC Mac sales have dried up, as well.

Given that PPC Mac prices are the same as Mactel prices--machines that are 400-percent faster (ie the ones that come sans apps)--it's not really surprising sales have hit a trough.

What is a bit shocking, however, is that Apple though we'd actually buy...

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