[Kersen]

Well Just to let you all know I have switched to mac. My old laptop croaked so rather than battle with vista I have bought a macbook Pro. Man I am Impressed much much different than the last time I tried to switch. with a g4 apple book. everthing on this works flawlessly and there are so many add on programs out there. Talk about ease of use (amazing) I will never buy another windows based Pc. I have had my macbookpro for alittle over a month now and I have never had to reboot it. even with upgrades and everthing never had to reboot ( amazing). Just the way everything works together and the little luxurys make all the difference. I am even able to sync my mp3 player ( which is not a Ipod) and it works flawlessly and alot faster. ( before it would take over 20 minutes to sync with windows media player with I tunes takes around 5 min. it also marks to songs as played which it would never do in windows media player.. and handbrake does a phenominal job at importing my dvd's. I am to the Point of tears Like a proud Papa.. its got a 2.33 core2duo with 2 gigs of ram and a 256 meg video card.. I splurged a little but well worth it..

[mphenterprises]

Hi Kersen,I have to admit, I have never even given Mac (Apple) a second thought. More and more I hear people say nothing but good things about them. I have a question for you. Are Macs as easy to upgrade and customize as PCs? For example, custom cases, etc.

[Kersen]

[quote name='mphenterprises']Hi Kersen,> > > > I have to admit, I have never even given Mac (Apple) a second thought. More and more I hear people say nothing but good things about them. I have a question for you. Are Macs as easy to upgrade and customize as PCs? For example, custom cases, etc.That I am not sure of cause for one thing I use a laptop and there is not alot you can upgrade (ram , harddrive and add different peripherals). But as for there tower the macPro wow I have never seen anything with the specs they offer.. dual quad core xeon processors with 16 megs of L2 cash all together. amazing. As far as software goes everything runs so smoothly no issues with stability.. but even there laptops offer alot better processors than most Pc Desktops.. They are just amazing everything just works perfectly ( I can not say it enuf).. Good luck with what ever you go with.....

[Skunky]

Congrats on joining the side of the PC world that enjoys their machines for serious creative work and serious creative play. As for customizing the technical side of the machine, yes you can easily customize the Mac portable as much as you can the PC one. Though portables weren't made to be opened up and taken apart like desktops. As for the Mac desktop... nope. Mac Fanboy here... kinda upset... but I got over it once I got into that software and OS. As for the exterior of the machine. Yes you still can customize it, but just like the machine it will be kinda expensive. And once you actually pay the $1000 - $2000 for the machine you kinda don't want to mess with the smooth spotless exterior casing.

[mphenterprises]

Thanks for that skunky. I have built more custom PCs than I can remember. I love the feeling of building something from scratch. My biggest goal with a Mac would be the same. If I can customize a Mac from the ground up, that would be perfect. If I am limited in what I can do, I may just stick with PCs for a bit longer. :-)

[Skunky]

Yeah... ground up on a Mac is a big no go. Basic interior upgrades and expensive exterior upgrades only.

[smax013]

[quote name='mphenterprises']Hi Kersen,> > > > I have to admit, I have never even given Mac (Apple) a second thought. More and more I hear people say nothing but good things about them. I have a question for you. Are Macs as easy to upgrade and customize as PCs? For example, custom cases, etc.As others have pointed out, typical upgrades (i.e. hard drive, memory, etc) can be done. The difficultly will vary. Upgrading the RAM on a MacBook and MacBook Pro is very easy (I bought my MacBook Pro with minimum memory and upgraded it to 2 gig myself). Upgrading the hard drive on a MacBook is easy (they designed it to be user replaceable), but is more complex with the MacBook Pro, but can be done (I have not done that yet as it voids the warranty...once the warranty is toast in a couple of months, I might upgrade the HD).Upgrading the MacPro is rather easy for things like memory, cards, hard drives, etc. The iMac and Mac Mini are much, much tougher.Doing more "severe" things like custom cases can in reality be done, but are VERY complex and definitely no where near as easy as doing it for a Windoze PC. Building a Mac from scratch is kind not really feasible...at least not without buying a new Mac that you then take apart for parts (i.e. you cannot get some of the key components needed without buying a Mac). In theory, it could be done, but it is no where near like for a Windoze PC. There are some companys that "modify" Macs. I believe one has modified a MacBook or MacBook Pro into a tablet like version (i.e. has handwriting recognitions and a screen on the "outside").If you really enjoy "playing" with the hardware and "tinkering", then you should stick with either a Windoze or Linux box.

[Xenocide21]

Congradulations!! Macintosh is an amazing system, I mix up my computing experience, currently do not run a mac system that is any good but in due time I will. I am quite familiar with all windows and mac operating systems, and for general use mac is definately the best system I have ever operated on. I mainly use windows computers as gaming tools, seeing as macintosh hardware and game compatability is expencive and minimal. All macs in my eyes are amazing machines, if you dont abuse them they will be your best friends. I have never had a problem with any of the previous macs I have owned, and I have owned macs dating back to 1984, I love my powermac G3, its a great system, I loved my Powerbook G3, and hell i even loved my old powerbook 3400. Great system! Enjoy your happier life with the good side of the force.... I mean computing world! haha :P

[smax013]

[quote name='Xenocide21']Congradulations!! Macintosh is an amazing system, I mix up my computing experience, currently do not run a mac system that is any good but in due time I will. I am quite familiar with all windows and mac operating systems, and for general use mac is definately the best system I have ever operated on. I mainly use windows computers as gaming tools, seeing as macintosh hardware and game compatability is expencive and minimal. All macs in my eyes are amazing machines, if you dont abuse them they will be your best friends. I have never had a problem with any of the previous macs I have owned, and I have owned macs dating back to 1984, I love my powermac G3, its a great system, I loved my Powerbook G3, and hell i even loved my old powerbook 3400. Great system! Enjoy your happier life with the good side of the force.... I mean computing world! haha :PFYI, Parallels 3.0 will fully support the full graphics card in Intel Macs. As such, in theory, Windoze games should run fine when run in Windoze XP (or Vista) in a virtual machine in Parallels on an Intel Mac. I cannot confirm this yet as Parallels 3.0 is not yet out, but when it is, I will certainly try it out for myself.In the mean time, you can also Bootcamp an Intel Mac in order to play Windoze games.And the reality is that Macs are not all that much more expensive than comparable Windoze systems. If you match up hardware between the two, then Macs will either compare rather well or be slightly more expensive. The real problem is that you cannot select your hardware for a Mac as "widely" as a Windoze box. In other words, you have much better selection of hardware choices on the Windoze side, and with the broader selection comes a more options to reduce cost by selecting less expensive hardware. As an example, if you want a Mac tower, you have to do a Mac Pro and you can ONLY get it with multiple dual core processors at the minimum configuration. Thus, the minimum cost Mac Pro is still like $2000+. On the other hand, you can easily get tower Windoze PCs with just a single dual core processor and dramatically reduce cost due to that alone. But, if you price out a Windoze system with comparable memory, comparable graphics card and the same multiple dual core processers, then the Mac Pro compared rather well with such a Windoze box.

[Xenocide21]

[quote name='smax013']> {quote:title=Xenocide21 wrote:}{quote}Congradulations!! Macintosh is an amazing system, I mix up my computing experience, currently do not run a mac system that is any good but in due time I will. I am quite familiar with all windows and mac operating systems, and for general use mac is definately the best system I have ever operated on. I mainly use windows computers as gaming tools, seeing as macintosh hardware and game compatability is expencive and minimal. All macs in my eyes are amazing machines, if you dont abuse them they will be your best friends. I have never had a problem with any of the previous macs I have owned, and I have owned macs dating back to 1984, I love my powermac G3, its a great system, I loved my Powerbook G3, and hell i even loved my old powerbook 3400. Great system! Enjoy your happier life with the good side of the force.... I mean computing world! haha :P> > > > FYI, Parallels 3.0 will fully support the full graphics card in Intel Macs. As such, in theory, Windoze games should run fine when run in Windoze XP (or Vista) in a virtual machine in Parallels on an Intel Mac. I cannot confirm this yet as Parallels 3.0 is not yet out, but when it is, I will certainly try it out for myself.> > > > In the mean time, you can also Bootcamp an Intel Mac in order to play Windoze games.> > > > And the reality is that Macs are not all that much more expensive than comparable Windoze systems. If you match up hardware between the two, then Macs will either compare rather well or be slightly more expensive. The real problem is that you cannot select your hardware for a Mac as "widely" as a Windoze box. In other words, you have much better selection of hardware choices on the Windoze side, and with the broader selection comes a more options to reduce cost by selecting less expensive hardware. As an example, if you want a Mac tower, you have to do a Mac Pro and you can ONLY get it with multiple dual core processors at the minimum configuration. Thus, the minimum cost Mac Pro is still like $2000. On the other hand, you can easily get tower Windoze PCs with just a single dual core processor and dramatically reduce cost due to that alone. But, if you price out a Windoze system with comparable memory, comparable graphics card and the same multiple dual core processers, then the Mac Pro compared rather well with such a Windoze box.I would much rather talk to someone about this who knows what they are talking about because a 2.6 GHz Dual core Athalon 64 X2 5000 system (full complete with a 250 GB hard drive, 1 gig ram and include the price of a well off ATI Radeon X1800 or 1900) is rougly around 1000 USD, a mac system to be up to speed with that would cost some 400 to 700 more, and intelmac does NOT have the same compatability with windows games as a real windows system. I have also found that it is mainly people who are too stupid to know how to run windows that make fun of the system. Do not get me wrong windows is a great system as well, for those of whom have the knowledge and skills to use them for the best of their abilities. Macs just are not cut out for gaming mainly due to compatability issues with the operating system.

[smax013]

[quote name='Xenocide21']> > I would much rather talk to someone about this who knows what they are talking about because a 2.6 GHz Dual core Athalon 64 X2 5000+ system (full complete with a 250 GB hard drive, 1 gig ram and include the price of a well off ATI Radeon X1800 or 1900) is rougly around 1000 USD, a mac system to be up to speed with that would cost some 400 to 700 more, and intelmac does NOT have the same compatability with windows games as a real windows system. I have also found that it is mainly people who are too stupid to know how to run windows that make fun of the system. Do not get me wrong windows is a great system as well, for those of whom have the knowledge and skills to use them for the best of their abilities. Macs just are not cut out for gaming mainly due to compatability issues with the operating system.I make fun of Windoze because in using it ALL the time I have encoutered many stupid things in it that make it a real pain in the rear. FYI, ever single one of these messages that I have posted on this board were typed on my Dell Windoze desktop, with dual monitors, a partitioned drive and other non-standard items. My previous Dell desktop had a second graphics card added to get a second monitor, memory upgraded, a second interal drive added, the optical drives replaced, drives partitioned, etc. My point is that I am VERY familiar with Windoze boxes, so your comment about "too stupid" shows that you made an assumption and look what it made you!As to the cost of a Mac, do you get a flat screen monitor with that system that you quoted? How about keyboard and mouse? One can buy an 17" iMac with a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo with 1 gig of RAM, a 250 gig HD, a Radeon X1600, with keyboard, mouse and monitor included not to mention bluetooth and 802.11n Wifi included for about $1275. Now, the Athlon processor will likely be faster but not that much faster (we are talking single digit or so speed increase) and the graphics card is definitely better. But, in my world, a $275 dollar difference is not that much especially if the $1000 did not include a monitor (or keyboard or mouse). And if it is a built machine rather than a Dell or HP or some other brand, then did you include the cost of a Windoze license?As to Windoze games on a Mac, for someone who claims to be so knowledgeable, you seem to be a little clueless. You can run Bootcamp on a Mac, which will allow you to run Windoze XP (I don't believe Vista is officially supported yet, but frankly don't recall) on a seperate partition of your hard drive. This allows you to boot directly into Windoze on your Mac just as if it were some Windoze box such as a Dell or HP, etc. And for all intents and purposes, you are running a fully functioning and basically 100% compatible Windoze Mac (albeit the iSight camera was not/is not support and some other "fringe" features due to lack of drivers). And in theory, now that Parallels 3.0 will fully support the use of the graphics hardware in a virtual machine running Windoze from within your Mac OS, you will supposedly be able to run Windoze games in that mode with only a slight performance hit. As I said before, since it is not released yet, I don't know how well this works yet, so that is why I say "in theory".Having said all that, I will be the first to admit that Macs are not for everyone. While the price difference is not as great as some Windoze bigots would have you believe, there still can be a difference. While I like Macs better myself and I am to some degree a slight Mac zealot (I do make fun of Windoze after all), I do use Windoze and don't have any problem with someone who chooses a Windoze PeeCee over a Mac. To me, they are both tools to get a job done. Sometime a Windoze PeeCee gets the job done better (in my case, I HAVE to run Windoze in some form since my structural engineering applications will ONLY run in Windoze), some times a Mac does it better. Each person needs to decide which one better suits them. My only hope is that people get as objective information as possible to make the choice.

[gazelleintense]

welcome to the land of stable OS, no viruses, no adware, no spyware, no porn popups, no tons of other issues that pc users struggle with daily.

[thebigguyconnor]

[quote name='smax013']
>

Xenocide21 said:

Congradulations!! Macintosh is an amazing system, I mix up my computing experience, currently do not run a mac system that is any good but in due time I will. I am quite familiar with all windows and mac operating systems, and for general use mac is definately the best system I have ever operated on. I mainly use windows computers as gaming tools, seeing as macintosh hardware and game compatability is expencive and minimal. All macs in my eyes are amazing machines, if you dont abuse them they will be your best friends. I have never had a problem with any of the previous macs I have owned, and I have owned macs dating back to 1984, I love my powermac G3, its a great system, I loved my Powerbook G3, and hell i even loved my old powerbook 3400. Great system! Enjoy your happier life with the good side of the force.... I mean computing world! haha :PFYI, Parallels 3.0 will fully support the full graphics card in Intel Macs. As such, in theory, Windoze games should run fine when run in Windoze XP (or Vista) in a virtual machine in Parallels on an Intel Mac. I cannot confirm this yet as Parallels 3.0 is not yet out, but when it is, I will certainly try it out for myself.In the mean time, you can also Bootcamp an Intel Mac in order to play Windoze games.

And the reality is that Macs are not all that much more expensive than comparable Windoze systems. If you match up hardware between the two, then Macs will either compare rather well or be slightly more expensive. The real problem is that you cannot select your hardware for a Mac as "widely" as a Windoze box. In other words, you have much better selection of hardware choices on the Windoze side, and with the broader selection comes a more options to reduce cost by selecting less expensive hardware. As an example, if you want a Mac tower, you have to do a Mac Pro and you can ONLY get it with multiple dual core processors at the minimum configuration. Thus, the minimum cost Mac Pro is still like $2000+. On the other hand, you can easily get tower Windoze PCs with just a single dual core processor and dramatically reduce cost due to that alone. But, if you price out a Windoze system with comparable memory, comparable graphics card and the same multiple dual core processers, then the Mac Pro compared rather well with such a Windoze box.

Really! I have a `windoze`as you say, PC with Vista, and I want to run a game that won`t run in vista in xp, but in VPC2007, it won`t work because it doesn`t have enough horsepower, simply because it`s a VM. My laptop`s definitely powerful enough, but sadly the VM limits my abilities. Supposedly VirtualBox doesn`t limit that, so maybe I should try that. I may actually have to switch for that kind of VM sweetness of Parallels as you describe it :)

[smax013]

thebigguyconnor said:

Really! I have a `windoze`as you say, PC with Vista, and I want to run a game that won`t run in vista in xp, but in VPC2007, it won`t work because it doesn`t have enough horsepower, simply because it`s a VM. My laptop`s definitely powerful enough, but sadly the VM limits my abilities. Supposedly VirtualBox doesn`t limit that, so maybe I should try that. I may actually have to switch for that kind of VM sweetness of Parallels as you describe it :)

The issue is that virtual machine software generally does not yet have the ability to take full advantage of graphics hardware. To my knowledge, this is true for all virtual machine software that I am aware of. I know it is true for Parallels and Fusion on the Mac. With Parallels 3.0, they did add some support for some games, but it will NO WAY work with current top of the line (or even relatively recent) first person shooters. I believe Parallels does not yet support DirectX 9. I am pretty sure the same is true of Fusion.



In theory, virtual machines will eventual get there...but no yet. Generally, it is graphically intensive applications that need more advanced, more direct access to the hardware that don't run well or at all. And it does not help that many game makers try to access things directly rather than using "approved" Micro$oft hardware calls (i.e. bypassing the OS) in order to get better response/speed.

[thebigguyconnor]

Really! Not even DX9? Yes, I'm sure that VMs are quite useful for not-very-graphically-intensive programs like legacy programs and games and just for the thrill of using that old OS that you always used to use, but for tpday's games, no.

[snorg]

mphenterprises said:

I have to admit, I have never even given Mac (Apple) a second thought. More and more I hear people say nothing but good things about them.

There are lottsa good things to say about an Abacus & a scratch pad too, I rather have a PS2.
;)

[mphenterprises]

Hi Snorg. You would be one up on me. I don't have any gaming console.

[coastie65]

Hey snorg, I gotta PS2, but still game this thing too. :D coastie65