Hole in Apple's Lineup?

mediamatt

mediamatt

mediamatt

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Hi,

Is there a hole in Apples mac lineup?

Im wanting to do flightsim , with multi monitors. I cant use an imac as i want the same screens and also want a really powerful graphics card. I cant use a mac mini as no graphics card. I cant use a Mac Pro as the processors arent that great and they are hideously expensive anyway. I wont be able to use the new Mac Pro as the price is going to be steep i think and also the graphics cards ive heard it will have arent that great either.

Dont want to go hackintosh if i can help it

Any ideas?
 
Don't think so – just seems like Apple unfortunately don't sell the exact type of spec you're looking for at the price you want.

Out of interest, last time I flight simmed, CPU was a lot more important than GFX. Has this changed?
 
From what ive read , X Plane is more about GPU now and FSX wonbt work on mac anyway unless i bootcamp which id prefer not to do.

The mac pros arent exactly powerhouses compared to 4770k's etc

Matt
 
Keep in mind that the average Joe is not a big PC gamer that is interested in having a comparatively "clunky" or "messy" machine. Apple's line-up is simple: budget desktop to be used with existing keyboard/mouse/display; high-end desktop that serves as a single package; and a workstation that allows for expandability. What is essentially a gaming machine wouldn't have a huge amount of mass-appeal in comparison, therefore isn't worth Apple's while. Besides, the PC market is leaps and bounds ahead of the Mac market for gaming, and will be for quite some time.

Best solution would be a high-spec iMac with external displays (massively pricey), or a custom built Windows machine (messier but by far the better solution).
 
I could just build a decent PC but would have preferred to combine the flightsim computer with my day to day computer. Saying that i could build it and hide it under the desk and just have one of them switches that swaps the display from one computer to another?
 
Theres a lot of holes in Apples line up, but its their business models. Aim to build a few device that can capture decent market share and can retain very good margins.

I would look at building your own tower that will run properly on a Hackintosh build that way you can get the best of both worlds.
 
mediamatt said:
I could just build a decent PC but would have preferred to combine the flightsim computer with my day to day computer. Saying that i could build it and hide it under the desk and just have one of them switches that swaps the display from one computer to another?
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Yep, a KVM switch. Could also be used for your keyboard, mouse, and other USB devices. It's really the best solution (and quite possibly the only solution unless you want to give up the Mac - presuming you are already a Mac user).
 
I prefer OSX to Windows , especially 8 as i prefer the way it works but i might look into the switch. Im not heavily involved in Apple as i only have a mac mini, iphone 5 and apple tv

Matt
 
Macbook pro or an imac with thunderbolt and an eGPU (external GPU).

Currently have to use a TB to Expresscard adapter though and not simple to get working. It's also a little bandwidth limited. But it's another option to look into. eGPU currently only works under Windows I think so building a Windows box is probably simpler.
 
mediamatt said:
From what ive read , X Plane is more about GPU now and FSX wonbt work on mac anyway unless i bootcamp which id prefer not to do.

The mac pros arent exactly powerhouses compared to 4770k's etc

Matt
Click to expand...

I can safely say that my W3680 Mac Pro holds it's own against a 4770 (stock to slightly overclocked) in multi-threaded apps.

Get's completely owned in single threaded apps however.

Your only choice is a hackintosh, which is sadly now what I am considering!!
 
Looks like it's either hackintosh or ditch apple then. Read about the new Mac Pro and the graphics cards that are going to be in there aren't designed for gaming apparently. Also x plane is supposed to run a lot better in windows than osx due to the drivers.

It's a shame apple have designed the new Mac Pro to be really high end but using only Xeon chips as if they had put 4770k's in for example and allowed you space to fit proper gaming cards they would have made a hit.
 
mediamatt said:
Looks like it's either hackintosh or ditch apple then. Read about the new Mac Pro and the graphics cards that are going to be in there aren't designed for gaming apparently. Also x plane is supposed to run a lot better in windows than osx due to the drivers.

It's a shame apple have designed the new Mac Pro to be really high end but using only Xeon chips as if they had put 4770k's in for example and allowed you space to fit proper gaming cards they would have made a hit.
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They are not designed for gamers, they never have been. The Xeon CPUs and the FirePro GPUs are catered towards professional workstation use, not to get more FPS in the latest PC shooters.

Games performance on OS X is still questionable at best. With the exception of a few games (Blizzard's catalogue springs to mind), most games still run better on Windows.
 
I've just been reading up and apparently if I bought a single socket Mac Pro with the 1366 socket I could put in an i7 920/30 and so on.

That could be an answer. Buy one replace the processor and put in 2 decent graphics cards in. I could overclock the processor as I've heard you can on a mac with software.

An i7 extreme with say 16gb non ecc ram and 2 760's or similar should give me a pretty powerful Mac Pro more than capable of playing x plane 10 with quite high settings I'd have thought.

Matt
 
mediamatt said:
I've just been reading up and apparently if I bought a single socket Mac Pro with the 1366 socket I could put in an i7 920/30 and so on.

That could be an answer. Buy one replace the processor and put in 2 decent graphics cards in. I could overclock the processor as I've heard you can on a mac with software.

An i7 extreme with say 16gb non ecc ram and 2 760's or similar should give me a pretty powerful Mac Pro more than capable of playing x plane 10 with quite high settings I'd have thought.

Matt
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But why go to the effort of buying an old Mac and buying an old CPU (typically associated with a custom PC build), and swapping that into the old Mac in order to run it as a Windows machine? Why not just keep the Mac mini and build yourself a Windows machine? Even a Hackintosh would work out cheaper and probably just as much hassle (we can't discuss that here, however).
 
Just thought with it being a Mac Pro it would be a good buy as all i would be changing is the processor (could resell the original to offset some of the cost of the i7 extreme), and the graphics cards (could resell the 5870 it would come with to offset the cost of the 2 new ones). I still get OSX that way , still get a very powerful computer and i dont think the i7 extreme would be much if any slower than the new i7 4770k would it?

Matt
 
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Main hole in their lineup is the dead ceo and driving force. They have not patented or sued anywhere near enough people since his dead to remain in their position for another ten years.
Innovation seems to be stalled.
Be interesting to see if they manage a fresh idea in the next two to three years. Time will tell.
 
Yeah suppose so. They do seem to have taken their eye off the ball. IOS 7 is good but not revolutionary and the macs seem to be getting even more a closed system. I know they like to control what hardware so they can make it bug free but the new mac pro and the iMacs even are so hard to upgrade something as simple as a hard disk that it isnt worth the effort.

Matt
 
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