are macs alrite?

[1v0ry_k1ng]

While I have never been a great fan of macs, I am noticing that increasing numbers of new games are now mac compatible. the question I submitt to you gentleman is how does a mac compare as a gaming machine to the pc? I these have two friends, one who has a top end mac and one who has a top end pc, and come the release of SCII (which is mac compatible) were going to benchmark. whoze gunna win?

[Jazcash]

I've tried Macs a few times, never really liked them though. They're expensive, not compatible with a lot of software, have silly navigation systems and are just generally over hyped. I would personally wait till Windows 7 is fully released, to see which OS gaming reviewers recommend.

[Erom]

I've used a mac as my primary machine for years. They're more expensive - not as ridiculous as people claim, most of the extra that you are paying is for high quality hardware, but a small amount of it is unavoidable "cool tax"

The hardware is rock solid - not to say I've never had a problem, but over the last 10 years I've had less than half as many problems with my macs as compared to my PCs.

On gaming speed: use bootcamp. Seriously, despite the fact that macs are slowly becoming more accepted and gaming compatible, I've found that for most games, you get better speed + performance out of the windows install.

On the OS: honestly I'm not totally excited by OSX. Basic navigation and file management is more difficult than XP. However, most "middle complexity" tasks like network administration are MUCH easier and more stable on OSX.

On the balance: While I love the hardware stability of my macs, for gaming, I would still go with a PC. The mac is better for getting real work done, though, and for software development the mac is the clear winner.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

I've used a mac as my primary machine for years. They're more expensive - not as ridiculous as people claim, most of the extra that you are paying is for high quality hardware, but a small amount of it is unavoidable "cool tax"

the cool tax works out as well over a 50% price increase according to the websites.


The 15 inch DELL http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... dhs&~ck=mn

NEW! Studio 15
High performance and high battery life. Make no compromise thanks to Intel® Centrino 2 technology.
Intel┬« CoreÔäó 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40Ghz, 3MB, 1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
512MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return

Total £629

this includes all the office stuff

VS

The 13-inch MacBook. http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC2 ... NjcxMTQ3Ng

13 inch screen
2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR2 Memory
160GB hard drive1
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Standard keyboard
White polycarbonate shell
SuperDrive 8x (DVD┬▒R DL/DVD┬▒RW/CD-RW)

Ships: Within 24hrs
Free Shipping

Price: $999.00

this does not include iwork, finalcut, logic etc

higher CPU, double the RAM, bigger screen and a more powerful graphics card on the that pc, for a lowe price; unless my eyes are malfunctioning, there is no argument for macs being economical in *any* possible sense- that shit is for rich/trendy peoples. the question is more, how does a mac compare to a pc of the same specs at running high end gaaaymes?

[smoth]

you DO pay the cool tax if you buy a mac. It used to be true that macs have superior hardware but frankly the money you save could be used to get some pretty swank upgrades. My thoughts have always been unless you really have a need for a high end machine(looks and all) is that you should go pc.

I have yet to find a reason to get a mac for what you pay unless you have money to burn and want to be trendy.

[MidKnight]

On the OS: If you're willing to switch to a new operating system, a linux distribution is probably a better OS to switch to. Nowadays, distros like Ubuntu have a featureset comparable OSX without some of the annoying navigation quirks. The fact that installation is both easy and free is another encouragement.

[aegis]

The 15 inch DELL
Total: £629
VS
The 13-inch MacBook.
Price: $999.00
...
unless my eyes are malfunctioning

£629 = $1026

[Muzic]

The 15 inch DELL
Total: £629
VS
The 13-inch MacBook.
Price: $999.00
...
unless my eyes are malfunctioning

£629 = $1026

The point he attempted to make was that even though the dell is a little more expensive, it has twice the bang for the buck. So relatively the mac is 'twice' as expensive.

[KaiserJ]

i'd say a good option would be to build a "frankentosh" (use mac-compatible PC hardware, install osX or whatever it is)

IIRC in the past macs were fairly reliable and were actually packing the punch that you paid for in terms of hardware, but (unless im totally off the mark here) most of the chips and components in macs are the same as those from pcs....

from my own experience, they arent more stable than a pc... they run a bit smoother (from college, editing videos / doing flash stuff in a mac lab and a pc lab and was able to compare) but when they DID freeze, they fully shit the bed and often required a cold boot, wheras with windows you could open task manager... i dunno, they wasted about 8 hours of my life.

[MidKnight]

i'd say a good option would be to build a "frankentosh" (use mac-compatible PC hardware, install osX or whatever it is)

IIRC in the past macs were fairly reliable and were actually packing the punch that you paid for in terms of hardware, but (unless im totally off the mark here) most of the chips and components in macs are the same as those from pcs....

from my own experience, they arent more stable than a pc... they run a bit smoother (from college, editing videos / doing flash stuff in a mac lab and a pc lab and was able to compare) but when they DID freeze, they fully shit the bed and often required a cold boot, wheras with windows you could open task manager... i dunno, they wasted about 8 hours of my life.

The correct term is 'Hackintosh,' and the project that pioneers this practice is called OSX86.

I tried it once. I wouldn't recommend it. See my previous post about linux vs. OSX.

[aegis]

I tried it once. I wouldn't recommend it. See my previous post about linux vs. OSX.

have you tried any non-ubuntu distros? or actually fully immersed yourself in the pool of osx instead of just dipping your feet?

[MidKnight]

I tried it once. I wouldn't recommend it. See my previous post about linux vs. OSX.

have you tried any non-ubuntu distros? or actually fully immersed yourself in the pool of osx instead of just dipping your feet?

I've used sabayon, mint (though that doesn't really count), suse, and knoppix, and tried many others. I've never really used OSX for long periods, though. I only go by what my friends who have macs say, and my own short lived forays into running OSX.

[Neddie]

I would never buy a Dell laptop. Unreliable equipment. I don't do Apple these days either, I've been unhappy with the OS since 7 but I still have some of their glory hardware sitting around - my Macintosh Plus still gets some use.

If you're willing to go for a new operating system, I agree, go Linux. I'd slap that on more powerful hardware for less, and if you really want OSX you can install that on another partition as well.

[Forboding Angel]

Wait for windows 7, It really is that jawsome. If you don't like it, I would go to ubuntu. OSX in comparison to ubuntu fails epicly imo.

[BigSteve]

my favourite from mac users is,

"Yeah well, I dont need to worry about viruses, I have a Mac"

Macs are complete and utter shat by the way, overpiced stupid looking and have shit games.

[aegis]

my favourite from mac users is,

"Yeah well, I dont need to worry about viruses, I have a Mac"

statistically speaking, osx users need to worry less about viruses than windows users.

Macs are complete and utter shat by the way, overpiced stupid looking and have shit games.

helicopters suck because they have a tail and bad gas mileage vs a car?

[smoth]

statistically speaking, osx users need to worry less about viruses than windows users.

mac was telling people that they didn't have to worry about viri at all. it was pretty gay.

[Forboding Angel]

Hacked in 30 minutes or less: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/s ... 748,00.htm

Hacked in 2 minutes, in march of this year: http://www.macworld.com/article/132733/ ... /hack.html

Even more disturbing, the bug had been reported a year prior: http://www.macworld.com/article/133098/ ... /hack.html

Terminal Vulnerability: http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/200 ... your-apple

Still think macs are safe and secure?

All three forked on the first day: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/19/the- ... ed-on-day/

Look the moral of the story is, no system is unhackable, and to believe that a system is truly unhackable is an approach to idiocy.

[AF]

If you buy a mac, observe the following points:

• Do not buy the white plastic macbook, buy the one with the aluminum body
• I would not recommend buying an iMac, if you want an apple computer, buy a macbook
• Always get someone whose a student to buy your macbook for you and cash in on the HUGE student discount. I got apple care reduced from ┬ú250 to ┬ú50 because Im a student, and a hefty discount on the macbook itself

Macbook hardware is rock solid. Well built, high quality, its not just fast components, but good components that work properly. PC laptops normally get thrown together as part of a batch of 10 or so models and the same amount of effort isn't put into them as that would take time and money they'd rather spend elsewhere, whereas Apple dont have hundreds of thousands of laptop model.

With a macbook there's a lot that you dont realiz at first that theyve done. Things like the hidden light that pulsates when you put ti in standby, or the auto-brightness that uses the webcam, or the magnetic power cord that wont bugger up if you yank it out by accident

The track pad also means you wont be able to use other laptops as the old style track pad is just too small and clunky compared to the multitouch pad.

For a desktop machine, GO PC. I do not believe an iMac is worth the money.

If you go for a mobile computer, dont get a laptop, get a macbook pro, and boot camp it. I have windows 7 RC dual booting on here.

As for crashing, when a program crashes on my mac it stops responding but the whole OS doesn't go down, just that application. Which to be fair is what happens under windows.

[HeavyLancer]

Macs actually have a huge security vulnerability: The fleshbag in the driver's seat:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22 ... an_attack/

Mind you, windows users can be just as stupid. It's just that the Mac attracts a lot of people who are new to computers. You know, the same ones who get ripped off paying the 'cool tax'.

Oh, and +1 to AF's macbook suggestion. Desktop macs are pretty crap for what they are.