Normal to be 'unhappy' with my iMac?

Sharpsilver

Sharpsilver

Sharpsilver

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Hello OcUK!

About two years ago I bought a 24" Intel iMac with a 2.4ghz Core 2 dual processor, 1 gig of ram, the stock GFX ATI Radeon HD2600 Pro and a 320gb HD. Since then I've added another two gigs of DDR2 Ram into this and I've been content till as of late.

When I first bought my iMac, I was gleefully unaware that 2 years down the line I would feel almost, 'withdrawal' symptoms from a lack of PC rig. I hate to say, as I've always firmly backed OS X 5.4 and beyond since I've bought it and it's nothing to do with the OS, it's more or so a lack of customization that I'm thinking about. The lack of being able to do anything beyond fiddle with the RAM, along with the feeling of, Boredom? I feel I've made a huge mistake in buying this sealed box with no way of changing any hardware.

Boredom as in a lack of being able to do anything, games, installing the majority of executable programs and generally having more control over my system, hell, maybe even the lack of a risk to my system of any sort, such as the many forms of Viral, Trojan and Keyloggers to watch out for. I hate to say it.. I almost miss having to actually pull my finger out and do something, and with no horizon in sight for any form of Mac support for more modern games It's making the decision easier and easier every day I think about this. Don't take it the wrong way, I perfectly understood the complete lack of compatibility between Macs and PC Software well before I forked out the grand or so I handed over to John Lewis when I bought this.

Now to summarize. Has anybody else ever found themselves... Going back to a PC from a Macintosh? It's something I've never really come across discussion wise and I feel it would make a great topic. I wasn't sure where to put this but If it's in the wrong forum area then wave the Move wand.

Cheers.
 
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Is maintaining a computer and fiddling with software tweaks really that fun?

Surely creating things is more fun. Be it programming, digital music, digital art, or whatever.

I use both Windows and Mac computers every day, so it's not an either or decision for me.
 
I think it's like classic/kit/boi-racer cars.

Some people have the time and money to spend tinkering with their vehicle and for them, that tinkering process is part of the enjoyment of owning such a car. For them, they get a better driving experience because they know the ins-and-outs of the car, what's gone into it and how it ticks.

Then there's the other kind of person who would rather spend more up-front for a 'luxury' car like an Audi or BMW which *should* be high-performance without needing constant attention. These people would rather invest a bit more cash so that they can spend all of their time driving.

I used to be the former, when I was the OPs age, I overclocked and watercooled my PC beyond the point where it was healthy.

Now that I've got a job which relies on a stable platform, I can't afford the time or money a fine-tuned PC would (and has) cost me. I had two catastrophic incidents at uni which left me without a doubt in my mind that I had to leave the PC modding scene behind a buy a mac.

Panzer
 
Panzerbjorn said:
I think it's like classic/kit/boi-racer cars.

Some people have the time and money to spend tinkering with their vehicle and for them, that tinkering process is part of the enjoyment of owning such a car. For them, they get a better driving experience because they know the ins-and-outs of the car, what's gone into it and how it ticks.

Then there's the other kind of person who would rather spend more up-front for a 'luxury' car like an Audi or BMW which *should* be high-performance without needing constant attention. These people would rather invest a bit more cash so that they can spend all of their time driving.

I used to be the former, when I was the OPs age, I overclocked and watercooled my PC
beyond the point where it was healthy.

Now that I've got a job which relies on a stable platform, I can't afford the time or money a fine-tuned PC would (and has) cost me. I had to catastrophic incidents at uni which left me without a doubt in my mind that I had to leave the PC modding scene behind a buy a mac.

Panzer
Click to expand...

To be fair you could have just bought a normal PC which would do the job just the same if not better.
 
Perfectly normal. Didn't like my iMac much. Not exactly blown away with my MBP either! Then again, I don't find OSX to be the be all and end all of operating systems, so once the aestheical novelty has worn off i'm not left with a whole lot else.

I use both, and more than likely always will. I certainly couldn't use OSX and my one and only platform, there would just to be too many things missing.

(Like 64bit Photoshop :D :p)
 
Ross1234 said:
Please explain.
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I got censored.

Mac OS and it's integration with the hardware makes the platform.

I was trying to suggest that hardcore tweaky PC users love Vista (the current windows version when the OP got his Mac) as much as they hate it because they have to fiddle and tweak to make it run somewhere approaching properly.
 
MagicBoy said:
I got censored.

Mac OS and it's integration with the hardware makes the platform.

I was trying to suggest that hardcore tweaky PC users love Vista (the current windows version when the OP got his Mac) as much as they hate it because they have to fiddle and tweak to make it run somewhere approaching properly.
Click to expand...

Theres nothing wrong with vista, nearly all the problems were caused by lazy hardware maufacturers rubbish drivers. The mac did have an advantage their but not for similarly priced machines which don't have cheap hardware with rubbish support.
 
Ross1234 said:
Theres nothing wrong with vista, nearly all the problems were caused by lazy hardware maufacturers rubbish drivers. The mac did have an advantage their but not for similarly priced machines which don't have cheap hardware with rubbish support.
Click to expand...

Rot. WDDM in Vista was the problem, and that's down to Microsoft.

Microsoft were trying to emulate the eye candy and effects that OS X had years before and got it badly wrong. WDDM was completely re-written for Windows 7 and has fixed the issues.
 
MagicBoy said:
Rot. WDDM in Vista was the problem, and that's down to Microsoft.

Microsoft were trying to emulate the eye candy and effects that OS X had years before and got it badly wrong. WDDM was completely re-written for Windows 7 and has fixed the issues.
Click to expand...
As in the display thing? Most peoples problems I have heard of have nothing to do with display. Anyway i'm not going to argue anymore. Its suicide to not bash microsoft in the mac forum.
 
Sharpsilver said:
Cheers for the responses so far guys, It's good to see/hear that others have had a similar experience to their Macs as I did.
Click to expand...

I've had my MBP for well over 3.5 years, and it's the machine I use the most. It just works and does everything I need it to without any fuss or bother. It's had RAM and HDD upgrades, but that's nothing unusual for a machine of this age.

My PC did get used for games and nothing else, although I have been dabbling with Windows 7 since it launched. It's usually third in line behind the MBP and Mac mini even though the spec annihilates them.

Maybe it's because I work in IT support. The last thing I want to be doing when I get home is messing around getting something to work as it should.
 
why not get Windows 7 on Bootcamp? Then you can play games, tweak it to your heart's content (and it is oh so tweakable) and get the best of both worlds?

I'm about to get myself a mac mini to go with my MBP, I've recently come to love Macs, but will still hang onto a PC, at least for now, so I can get my thrills from Anti Viruses, Firewalls and the like :)
 
When I went Mac then I kept my Windows PC, precisely as I wanted a games rig still.

My mini I use as a media machine, with iTunes and ElgatoTV, and Internet Access that I can leave alone and just work.

For those times when I have to play then I still keep the Windows PC going along with a hackintosh.

Mac's are great at what they do but they aren't the be all and end all of computing.
 
I don't really understand why people buy Macs, only to run Windows on boot camp. Why pay a premium to own a Mac only to run Windows on it?

Genuine question. What's the point?
 
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