Quote:
Originally Posted by usurp
i think everyone is in denial
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That would include you.
It's really simple. Although the "Power" in "PowerBook" did not originally stand for "PowerPC", it was clearly associated with that once Apple introduced the "PowerMacintosh", which did in fact stand for "PowerPC". This became even more obvious when Apple switched (somewhat temporarily) to their 2x2 matrix.
Secondarily, "Power" was also, of course, supposed to represent being for prosumers and/or professionals. However, Apple more typically uses the suffix "Pro" rather than the prefix "Power" for this (e.g. Final Cut Pro) and, in fact, has for a long time (e.g. FileMaker Pro or System 7 Pro, dating all the way back until the early 90s).
Finally, "Power" also, of course, has a connotation of high performance. To Apple's embarrassment, recent G4 CPUs didn't exactly deliver that. While being very good in terms of low power consumption, they also didn't scale enough at the same time, and especially nowhere near as greatly as Freescale kept on promising (although it looks like the 7448 will be available in speeds close to 2 GHz after all).
Then there's the fact that, being Intel-based, little differentiates the machine hardware-wise from a different-branded laptop. Apple laptops have been produced by ODMs for a long time anyway (Quanta, Asustek, etc.). Putting "Mac" in the name helps a lot to distinguish the machine from another vendor's offerings.
It has very little to do with whether it runs other operating systems or not. Apple likes simple names and products that just make sense. Whether they sound catchy is only the second priority, not the first.
"Mac Book Pro" answers, within the name itself, three questions: it's a Mac, it's a notebook and it's for professionals.