Sentiments vary substantially. First, there are those hardcore Apple fans who feel standardisation on Intel hardware will make Apple solutions no different to the Intel-based computers being used extensively with the Windows operating system. Then there are those Apple users who see the business benefits of Apple going Intel, namely no problems with chip availability and quite possibly, lower component costs which will ultimately contribute to cheaper end-user prices on Apple computers.

Then there`s the question of support and whether it is better for users looking at upgrading their Apple computers to wait until the new Intel-based computers make their appearance.

Apple has come out with a strong response on this point, committing to maintaining support for PowerPC for as long as it deems necessary. That will most likely mean that the next iteration of its Mac OS X operating system, 10.5 Leopard, will contain support for both the PowerPC and Intel architectures.