The old question, PC or Mac?

tsinc80697

tsinc80697

tsinc80697

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Right, once i get round to selling my current PC and mac i was going to buy a new mac, an Intel jobby!
But to get a decent Intel mac i would be going for the mac pro which will cost me around £1100 with higher education discount.
But for £1100 I could get a really decent PC and probably have money left over for whatever else.

At the moment i use the PC for pretty much everything, i play games on it, not a lot but when im bored, mostly things like Steam games or maybe the odd game that needs a bit more graphical power. As well as games I use it for my uni course, a multimedia one, so I have to use all different types of software such as office, 3ds max, flash, photoshop, illustrator, director etc.
For the past year ive had the PC, just got a G4 to play around with as my housemate got a G5 a few weeks ago and i loved it, windows is just annoying me so much and things never seem to run perfectly, for long!

So i thought if i went to the mac route all this would be solved. So far on the G4 i have come across no problems, seems a lot nicer to me to use for everything i need, except i need an Intel based one as i would have to dual boot, as 3DS Max only runs on windows, so i have to have a dual boot.

So its either get rid of G4 + PC and buy super expensive mac pro which can dual boot, or get a real nice quick PC, which can do everything i need as all the software i use runs mac or windows, except 3DS Max which is windows only. But is it worth spending less money on a PC which would have the same spec as a more expensive mac, to save money, or would i benefit more from using mac's as a lot of people i talk to seem to use macs in the industry i am looking to get into.

I just cant decide whether its worth spending a lot of money on a mac or a pc, or keep what i have which runs everything i need, just slightly slower than i would like, and that windows irritates me quite a lot. The main thing pushing me towards the mac is that i spent £900 on a pc in Sep2005, i then spent £500 in Oct2006 as everything went **** up with no reason at all, but do macs still have the same problems hardware wise or once you get it thats it, no messing around when you turn it on and the OS decides something has changed/turned itself off.

Wow i wrote a lot, probably mostly useless but hey I'm waiting for something to cook :D
 
Hi

Personally I dont like macs because your too limited software wise, if anything I would go for the route of a PC with dual boot between a modern Linux Distro and the latest updated windows.

A nice C2D with a 8800gtx behind it with 2gb mem would easily fit within your budget, provide an amazing system that would simply blow any mac away and should present any problems if set up correctly.

However thats just my opinion, im slightly biased as I really do not like the limitations behind macs!

Mike
 
yeah,with that amount of money i could always go for the 8800 , 2gb ram and even a quadcore cpu if i went for PC.
Whereas the mac would have 2gb ram, 2xdualcore cpus and a graphics card less powerful than an 8800.
Im just dire at decisions, especially with this amount of money as i have bought things in the past , enjoyed them for abit then they have ****** me off so much i have wanted to change, just like my current/last pc has!
 
Hi

The only reason Im leaning towards the PC is because your obviously using windows dependant software such as Max which would lead me to believe that a dual boot pc would be your best option, I often dual boot between a linux distro (currently fedora) and windows xp sp2. I use fedora because im a web developer and hence it simulates the servers which Im developing for but again its down to what suits your needs.

Dont get me wrong macs are nice, cant say ive experienced a problem with them except finding software etc physically hardware wise they are nice but any same priced PC can easily outbeat them in raw horsepower.

Tricky one this, but again my opinion is to go the PC route simply because you know your software runs in that operating system.

Mike
 
TheNuju said:
Hi

Personally I dont like macs because your too limited software wise, if anything I would go for the route of a PC with dual boot between a modern Linux Distro and the latest updated windows.

A nice C2D with a 8800gtx behind it with 2gb mem would easily fit within your budget, provide an amazing system that would simply blow any mac away and should present any problems if set up correctly.

However thats just my opinion, im slightly biased as I really do not like the limitations behind macs!

Mike
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I agree with all the above. Having the fexibiliy of Linux while still being able to game on windows far outweighs the benefits of a Mac.
 
shine said:
I agree with all the above. Having the fexibiliy of Linux while still being able to game on windows far outweighs the benefits of a Mac.
Click to expand...
Having a Mac lets you run Linux, Windows, AND OS X. I don't think it gets more flexible than that. I don't see the connection with what you're saying. :confused: :confused:

The Mac Pro is a very powerful computer. Dual dual core offer quite a bit of power. Are you sure you need all that power? Methinks an iMac would probably be more suited to your needs. I'd be all over the 24" iMac if I had the dough.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Having a Mac lets you run Linux, Windows, AND OS X. I don't think it gets more flexible than that. I don't see the connection with what you're saying. :confused: :confused:

The Mac Pro is a very powerful computer. Dual dual core offer quite a bit of power. Are you sure you need all that power? Methinks an iMac would probably be more suited to your needs. I'd be all over the 24" iMac if I had the dough.
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Hi

In my experience when running windows on any mac there is a major performance loss and it just doesnt feel the same, also from previous experiences at work the windows running on a mac is even more unstable and insecure than running it on a pc system hence the reason at work we now run dual boot PC's and only have 2 dedicated macs.

Just my experience though.

Mike
 
How could it be more insecure? It's the same hardware and software that any other Windows machine would run. From whence do the extra attack vectors come?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
How could it be more insecure? It's the same hardware and software that any other Windows machine would run. From whence do the extra attack vectors come?
Click to expand...
Hi

Im being perfectly honest with you but it just did not feel the same as the other systems we have running the C2D's and the AMD X2's it just didnt have the same speed and guts behind it even though on paper it was very similar in raw power. For example rendering in Photoshop CS2 on windows on a mac was a good 2 to 3 seconds slower than the C2D machine which cost £200 less to make!

Granted this is probably due to the machines running ATI X1950XT-X cards at the time, but its still a large difference when your rendering thousands of images, to do this in a quicker time and still be saving money on each machine was a nice businss choice.

And also I cannot find any reason where anybody can really benifit from having a Mac OS, anything a Mac OS can do is easily covered by a Dual boot Linux and Windows PC, plus the dual boot can do a lot lot more. Secondly its far easier to upgrade a PC than it is a Mac.

But there again it is also possible to argue over the PC -> Mac debate all night and I dont really feel like doing this because as I said before I have nothing against macs, its just that for my needs they offered nothing new, nothing extra and came in at a higher price tag!

At the end of the day its down to getting what suits you best.

Mike
 
Havent looked that much into windows on mac but i thought it would be a decent speed and stable, might have to look into it!
I looked at the iMacs but i dont particularly like the screens, they dont seem that good unless my eyesights bad :p
Prefer using my dual Samsung 930BFs or get something 24" instead of these two.
I ruled out the mac mini's as upgradeable/power wise they didnt seem that good, and iMacs were ruled out as i have no need for an apple screen as i prefer what i have/can get better for a good price probably, but i am open to any advice people can give me!


and all this talk about Linux, never looked at it before and i doubt i would have time while i'm at uni unless it would greatly benefit me, was really choosing between OSX and Windows, both of which i like, just Windows OS and hardware has caused a lot of problems for me and hassle/money. But can all the money be justified on a mac and OSX instead, decisions suck!
 
I understand all that, Mr. Nuju. Though the graphics card should make absolutely no difference in Photoshop processing times since I wasn't there I cannot attest to the veracity of your claims. However, that doesn't answer the question regarding the purported insecurity of Macintosh hardware running Windows.

EDIT: OP, have you considered a Mac Mini if there is not to be gaming involved? You could use whatever screen you like over DVI.
 
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does 3DS Max depend on the graphics card ability atall for rendering/pre-rendering?
And do things like Premier/After effects depend on it aswell?
I ruled the mac mini out for now as they aren't C2D, may change in January though at mac world, however i wouldn't rule gaming out as it may change in the future, and i know that i do play games over holidays when i have nothing better to do, so i wouldn't want to rule it out completely as then it means i only have console gaming
 
3DS Max depends on the GPU for the initial rendering then sends it to the CPU for the final product. I don't think Premier/AF depends on it.

What it comes down to is whether or not you are enamored enough with Apple's hardware, software, warranty, etc. to pay for it. You could build a pretty killer spec'd machine for yourself with the money it would cost to buy. If you don't want to run OS X bad enough to pay for it, then a home built machine would more than suit your needs.
 
what would be more beneficial overall for the type of software i have stated, and games, or more like what would be more efficient for bang/buck type.

As with a PC it would be between things like 6400 or quadcore, 2GB ram, 8800
With Mac it would be 2xdual core xeons 2 or 2.66ghz, 1gb or 2gb ram, 7300GT or x1900XT.

Obviously quadcore 2gb ram 8800gtx would be the best, but would it just be wasted, similarly would 2x2.66ghz xeons, 2gb ram x1900xt be wasted?

or is it just future proof in the possibility it all stays working, which in the past has not been my thing with pc hardware as it always likes to go **** up, but mac i wouldnt know about as im new to it really!
 
In most cases you'll struggle to keep four cores busy, whether they're in the Mac or in the Windows machine. However, if you're rendering a lot I could see the benefit.

If you mostly want to run 3DS Max (if you can afford it) I'd go with the home built PC. If you're mostly doing video editing I'd go with the Mac as Final Cut Pro is purely spectacular (if you can afford it).

If your Mac went "**** up" you could always just send it in for warranty work.
 
bah you lot are useless :p

thats one thing i like about the mac, the warranty as its prebuilt machine.
Might go for mac desktop and windows laptop, but then again i could always go the other way around! gah going nowhere here lol

what would be more future proof , mac or pc, as i know macs dont lose their value that much compared to pcs, but for future software developments are the current dual core pc's safe for quite a while ? ie 2years or would they be less useful than a mac pro in 2years time? 2years just being rough, probably want it for a good 3years for spending this amount of money!

oh one other thing, whats the 2nd hand market like for laptops at the moment? Is it worth getting a new windows laptop or just 2nd hand one?
 
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The Mac will certainly hold its value better and I think it will still be a viable machine in 3 years time. I frequently use a dual G4 1GHz powermac at work and I find that with every OS X version it just gets quicker and quicker.

The PC would be more upgradable in that you could change out the mobo. The MP is able to recieve new CPUs, hard disks, graphics cards, and memory (which, sadly, costs a fortune as it's high-spec server kit). It is expandable through its 4 PCI-e 16x slots.
 
ah can the MP not accept ddr667 hynix or is it super expensive ?
Would have bought 1GB and put another 1GB in myself sometime later at cheapest price
 
It doesn't use the same unbuffered DDR2 that most systems use, It uses registered FB-DIMMs with a serial interface to the chipset. This is how Intel's latest-gen high-end workstation and server kit works.
 
I have numerous PC's and a mac G5 too. Although I do prefer the mac for certain applications (video editing, graphics software etc) I still find it fiddley coming from a PC background.

Although this has been answered with the intel/windows interface, I still find the mac lagging behind in terms of technology & applications.

I actually mainly use my mac G5 for a tv now :o :o :o but more so because I ended up working for the county council after finishing uni and not in graphics.

I have to say that although I love and respect macs, I personally, will still be a PC man at heart, due to the ease of upgrading, understanding the PC OS much better, the costs in general and the sheer quantity of companies that offer their products on the PC rather than the mac
 
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