The Mac/PC Question!

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

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8 Jan 2011
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444
So I've pretty much got plans pre-figured out and what not, here's the low down:

I'm a University student, I'm studying Web development and computer programming.

My current rig is in my signature and here is the question, I'm second year now and will be here for 1-2 more years, depending if I go for my masters or not, do I upgrade my current rig or go for a Mac?

I was going to upgrade this computer to like:

Asrock Z68 Extreme
i5-2500k
AMD 6970
128GB Crucial SSD
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Edition (Stealth)
Logitech G9X or another Razer mouse perhaps?

----------------------

iMac 21.5"
2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
1920 x 1080 resolution
4GB (two 2GB) memory
1TB hard drive1
AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB

----------------------

Now, I know a lot of people prefer working on Mac's if they are Multimedia students. (Graphic Designers/Music/Film/Coders) etc, but it would be nice to have a powerful PC, the only problem is that since getting back to Uni and getting my xbox again, I've been playing that a lot more so putting about.. £800 into a computer 'may' be a waste of money as I don't really do PC gaming that much anymore since I have my xbox.

Thoughts/opinions?
 
Your rig looks perfectly adequate. Why do you feel the need to upgrade? Do you really need a mac or can just work with a PC?

Get a SSD if you must, they are great for development and just general productivity. I would get one with fast read, writes and IOPs, like the new Samsungs / Kingston HyperX, Force GT. Best look up reviews, but I'd avoid OCZs, or just get a M4.

And maybe a GPU, but as you say, gaming is not a priority.
 
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What monitor/monitors do you have? my friend doing a similar course uses a PC similar to yours wtih 2 x 24inch monitors but also has a MAC MINI which can run off one of them and uses Synergy to share the mouse and keyboard between them.
 
olivier renault said:
Your rig looks perfectly adequate. Why do you feel the need to upgrade? Do you really need a mac or can just work with a PC?

Get a SSD if you must, they are great for development and just general productivity. I would get one with fast read, writes and IOPs, like the new Samsungs / Kingston HyperX, Force GT. Best look up reviews, but I'd avoid OCZs, or just get a M4.

And maybe a GPU, but as you say, gaming is not a priority.
Click to expand...

this
 
mish4444 said:
What monitor/monitors do you have? my friend doing a similar course uses a PC similar to yours wtih 2 x 24inch monitors but also has a MAC MINI which can run off one of them and uses Synergy to share the mouse and keyboard between them.
Click to expand...

a two monitor setup is actually very useful for development.

Sorry if I sound pedantic, but a 5,400 HDD slow drive is a major bottleneck. A good SSD will make your computer feels much quicker. BTW you may not have SATA3 ports on your motherboard. Not sure if I would recommend a SATA2 drive, or just get a good SATA3 anyway, which will be bottlenecked by SATA2 transfer rates.

Or maybe you just want to go ahead with a SandyBridge upgrade, then a SATA3 SSD drive would be a priority, but imo, your i5 should be adequate, at least until IvyBridge comes out.
 
I feel the need to upgrade just so I can have the latest and greatest and what not, my PC it's been having problems which for the most part seem to be ironed out at the moment! (Been having HDD issues, hence why I bought the new 2TB drive.)

I only use one monitor at the moment which is a Dell IN2020 (19" 1600x900).
I suppose I could pick up another and use Dual-screens, that may be a more viable option for my computing purposes.

I got the 5400RPM drive because it was 2tb and the 1tb was £100 where the 2tb was £110 or something like that, >_<.

I use programs mainly in the Adobe suite:

CS5 (Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop).
 
The full rig that I would be purchasing would be this one, now even for me, this seems like a little bit like overkill, especially as my gaming needs on my computer are not that high anymore due to the fact that I mainly play on xbox now, although I do still play games on the pc "Occasionally", such as:

Magicka, Battefield 3, Dungeon Defenders, SWTOR, (Guild Wars 2 + Diablo 3 will be played also when they are released).

So here's the rig that I'd like to have (and be able to afford come April time).

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6970 IceQ Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £287.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £184.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £149.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £149.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K90 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £114.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXV2UK) £104.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 1300 Professional Gaming Headset £57.59
1 x Logitech G9x Laser Mouse (910-001153) £49.99
Total : £1,338.18 (includes shipping : £14.75).



Now, the mechanical keyboard chosen here is not the one that I am actually going for, I will be buying the Razer BlackWidow Stealth Ultimate, but this is not on OCUK at the present moment in time.

Thoughts? (if I do go through with this and what not).
 
Fragil1ty said:
The full rig that I would be purchasing would be this one, now even for me, this seems like a little bit like overkill, especially as my gaming needs on my computer are not that high anymore due to the fact that I mainly play on xbox now, although I do still play games on the pc "Occasionally", such as:

Magicka, Battefield 3, Dungeon Defenders, SWTOR, (Guild Wars 2 + Diablo 3 will be played also when they are released).

So here's the rig that I'd like to have (and be able to afford come April time).

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6970 IceQ Turbo 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £287.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £184.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £149.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £149.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K90 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £114.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXV2UK) £104.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 1300 Professional Gaming Headset £57.59
1 x Logitech G9x Laser Mouse (910-001153) £49.99
Total : £1,338.18 (includes shipping : £14.75).



Now, the mechanical keyboard chosen here is not the one that I am actually going for, I will be buying the Razer BlackWidow Stealth Ultimate, but this is not on OCUK at the present moment in time.

Thoughts? (if I do go through with this and what not).
Click to expand...

If you're not going to be building until April, I'd come back then to check! Ivybridge may be out then (may be completely wrong there...) but certainly a few more GPUs will be out :)
 
beejjacobs said:
If you're not going to be building until April, I'd come back then to check! Ivybridge may be out then (may be completely wrong there...) but certainly a few more GPUs will be out :)
Click to expand...

Well it's either going to be one or the other, I think I'd rather spend more and get an amazing PC than just get a "decent" mac.

I think it's the more viable option to be honest.
 
The only way I would recommend a Mac is that it would have some must-have Apple-only software, and that you don't like to get your hands dirty.

If none of the above applies, then a PC is the more sensible option.
 
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