Snow Leopard Is Intel Bound

Sources are reporting that the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard documentation says Intel is the only processor type supported by Apple's latest OS X iteration, with at least 512MB of RAM being required as well.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the next major overhaul, so to speak, of Mac OS X, is due out in "about a year," according to our favorite computer manufacturer in Cupertino. AppleInsider is reporting that Snow Leopard is indeed aimed at Intel Macs only. Documentation revealed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference this week proves it. An excerpt of that documentation states that, in order to install Snow Leopard, developers must first be sure they have a Mac computer with "an Intel processor" and "at least 512MB of RAM, though additional memory is recommended for development purposes," the publication reveals.

According to Apple, Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named "Grand Central." The company claims this is its answer to the multiple-core problem developers have always stumbled upon. Grand Central is supposed to make it easier for devs to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs.

Furthermore, Apple has also confirmed in a press release, just after Steve Jobs' keynote presentation on June 9, that Snow Leopard extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL). This enables any application to "tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications," Apple revealed.

OpenCL is based on C (programming language) and has been proposed as an open standard, according to the Cupertino-based Mac maker. Apple has made it clear that Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM, emphasizing OS X's focus on 64-bit technology as well.

Apple also noted earlier this week that Snow Leopard would change "focus" for both OS X users and developers, rather than add new features.