The binaries for the new Intel based OS X come as a package with machine level code for both platforms. The stuff that doesn't exist in the x86 world such as Altivec will run in an emulator called Rosetta.
So some software will just have to be recompiled from the source code for x86 and it will run. Other software will require a significant rework of the source code to run on the Intel chips.
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I might have oversimplified, but you are unnecessaraly complicating the issue. From an end user's perspective, the difference between an Apple PC using an Intel CPU rather than a Motorola CPU will be no different than a Windows user running on an Intel CPU rather than AMD.
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This is not true. While the operating system does exist between the application and the hardware (runs in "Ring 0"), that does not mean the hardware is totally abstracted out from the software.
The reason the difference between Intel and AMD is transparent is because they both have the exact same instruction set (extensions like MMX, SSE and 3DNow! notwithstanding). And most application developers have different code to deal with different extensions, though that's less of an issue now with AMD supporting SSE instructions. Incidentally the "64 bitedness" of current 64 bit processors also are extensions to the instruction set, which is why we can run normal 32 bit Windows on the PC and it runs full speed and then if we go with 64 bit Windows we get the benefit.
Anyway as I mentioned in the case of your example of OSX running on Intel or Motorola CPUs (current Macs use IBM CPUs BTW) isn't accurate; software will need to be recompiled and have a totally different binary because the machine code is totally different.
Where you example
is true is in the case of an application developed in a language that uses a virtual machine such as Java, .NET, Python, etc... Then the hardware is 100% abstracted out of the application. Mind you the virtual machine still needs to be created in the environment of the target processor's instruction set...
EDIT: Oops and yes, this is 100% the programmers problem. Each software vendor will be responsible for releasing updated binaries for their application on the new OSX/Intel platform.
As to the laptop:
I've had friends who really liked their Dells:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...ghlight=laptop
Thinkpads are very nice as well.