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General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Alpha81 on October 01, 2011, 11:09:39 AM

Title: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Alpha81 on October 01, 2011, 11:09:39 AM
My computer is toast...looking for a new one. Please don't flame me for this, but I'm looking at a new MAC, will the game play on a MAC? If it won't I'll be forced to buy another PC for the game and a MAC for the wife. Any recommendations would be appreciated, especially in the video card department....thanks
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 01, 2011, 11:16:24 AM
if you use a mac you will have to use either boot camp or parallels to provide an environment for windows to run, and there will be some issues that you will have to work out.

personally, macs are great for a lot of things but not for real gaming.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: titanic3 on October 01, 2011, 11:44:25 AM
Macs aren't really made for gaming. Even the most advanced ones probably won't even be able to run AH on max settings. Any chance you can change your wife's mind and get a real good PC instead?

You could also buy her a cheap MAC for ~$200-300 and buy a decent gaming PC for ~$700-800.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Tigger29 on October 01, 2011, 05:06:15 PM
Now now lets be fair now. Modern macs will let you dual boot to windows (if you buy windows 7) and should work just fine for ah
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: WWhiskey on October 01, 2011, 06:58:12 PM
Bummer!   We could look at what you have and fix what's broken maybe?
Even if you dual boot the Mac  it isn't going to be all that great
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Pigslilspaz on October 02, 2011, 12:26:59 AM
food for thought.

Also, I didn't know mac's could cost only 200-300 dollars. Don't think it'd be able to do much.

http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/tech-fun/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/whynottobuyamac.png (http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/tech-fun/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/whynottobuyamac.png)
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 02, 2011, 01:55:27 AM
Even if you dual boot the Mac  it isn't going to be all that great

Why would you think so? New Macs are based on same PC hardware like your computer. All you need to do is make sure your Mac has a graphics card that's suitable for gaming - the cheapest models certainly won't.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 02, 2011, 08:56:00 AM
Now now lets be fair now. Modern macs will let you dual boot to windows (if you buy windows 7) and should work just fine for ah
i've seen people dual boot a pc with windows 7 sp1 64bit and mac os 10.6 or 10.7, but no dual boots on an intel based mac.



Why would you think so? New Macs are based on same PC hardware like your computer. All you need to do is make sure your Mac has a graphics card that's suitable for gaming - the cheapest models certainly won't.
check again, mobo is apple proprietary based on intel standards, they are not off the shelf intel.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 02, 2011, 02:02:03 PM
check again, mobo is apple proprietary based on intel standards, they are not off the shelf intel.

Just like Acer HP or Dell uses Acer HP or Dell proprietary based on Intel standards, nothing new there. Apple hardware will run win7 better than any off the shelf 'pc' hardware in most cases.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 02, 2011, 03:54:51 PM
Just like Acer HP or Dell uses Acer HP or Dell proprietary based on Intel standards, nothing new there. Apple hardware will run win7 better than any off the shelf 'pc' hardware in most cases.
ah once again the voice of some knowledge...almost a clue.

unlike apple/mac...acer, hp, dell, ibm, lenovo, toshiba, sony, etc...use the same chipsets that you can find on a retail mobo, the only thing that is proprietary is the bios and the basic architecture (i.e. placement of slots and connectors). i happen to know that without the specific mac hardware drivers included with bootcamp 2.0 or 2.1, windows 7 will not fully function on the mac hardware platform.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: guncrasher on October 02, 2011, 08:19:45 PM
you both gotta stop fighting on every thread you post.  you both are pretty knowledgeable and your help is appreciated but you guys sound stupid when you start trying to outdo each other. :salute both of ya.

semp
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 03, 2011, 04:22:01 AM
ah once again the voice of some knowledge...almost a clue.

unlike apple/mac...acer, hp, dell, ibm, lenovo, toshiba, sony, etc...use the same chipsets that you can find on a retail mobo, the only thing that is proprietary is the bios and the basic architecture (i.e. placement of slots and connectors). i happen to know that without the specific mac hardware drivers included with bootcamp 2.0 or 2.1, windows 7 will not fully function on the mac hardware platform.


First of all windows 7 _will_ function i.e. boot up fine without these drivers.

When you do a normal windows installation, you always need either OEM or hardware manufacturers drivers to be installed. In this case the drivers come with the Mac setup disks instead of motherboard supplier. The only part where the installation does differ is the need to install a hotfix to windows after the first boot.

Why are you so scared of Macs? :)
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Hap on October 03, 2011, 08:45:20 AM
alpha, in 2006 i bought a sweet iMac with the good vid card and fast processor.  ran AH just fine.  i don't know if the same would be true now.  boy i loved that box; used it to watch movies; could easily tote it from office desk to coffee table.  loved the OS.  the bad thing was it did cave 6 months out of the 3 year warranty.  i suspect that was bad luck rather than Apple building wonky boxes.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 03, 2011, 09:52:32 PM
First of all windows 7 _will_ function i.e. boot up fine without these drivers.

When you do a normal windows installation, you always need either OEM or hardware manufacturers drivers to be installed. In this case the drivers come with the Mac setup disks instead of motherboard supplier. The only part where the installation does differ is the need to install a hotfix to windows after the first boot.
without the bios emulation software, which is the equivalent to pc chipset drivers, windows 7 will not "boot fine". and that sir is because of the apple proprietary architecture.


Why are you so scared of Macs? :)
it's disdain, not fear. i was dealing with macs as an end user and support tech for many years before you put on the rosey red apple glasses. the intel hardware platform is nice and all but it's nothing more than an expensive dressed up pc. if



i suspect that was bad luck rather than Apple building wonky boxes.
actually, apple has a history of building "wonky boxes". last gen of powermac g5 and imac had units ship out with defective logic board components and power supplies. second gen macbook air had a random capacitor issue that required a full replacement of logic board, memory and cpu. first gen intel imac numerous random issues from bad memory to bad capacitors. apple is just very good at covering it up, even after repeated warranty replacements.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 05, 2011, 04:03:55 AM
without the bios emulation software, which is the equivalent to pc chipset drivers, windows 7 will not "boot fine". and that sir is because of the apple proprietary architecture.

Once you start the setup from bootcamp assitant everything works normally. It makes no difference if it's 'proprietary' or not - it works, period.

Quote
it's disdain, not fear. i was dealing with macs as an end user and support tech for many years before you put on the rosey red apple glasses. the intel hardware platform is nice and all but it's nothing more than an expensive dressed up pc.

So you had to deal with support of the old power-pc based macs and now have an unbased hatred against the platform. Every car repairman hates the cars they repair, they seem to be broken every day at work :D

Quote
actually, apple has a history of building "wonky boxes". last gen of powermac g5 and imac had units ship out with defective logic board components and power supplies. second gen macbook air had a random capacitor issue that required a full replacement of logic board, memory and cpu. first gen intel imac numerous random issues from bad memory to bad capacitors. apple is just very good at covering it up, even after repeated warranty replacements.

Yeah and surely Apple is the only company in history to get faulty hardware components from its suppliers  :rolleyes:

A dualboot mac is an excellent and versatile machine like it or not. Would I buy a Mac for gaming? No. PC has much better price/performance ratio. But if I had to buy just 1 laptop for all use, a high-end MBP would be my choice - and most others who ever had the chance to try one.

If I wouldn't have OSX I would have to dualboot to linux then due to my work, windows boxes are just cumbersome and clumsy when dealing with linux servers for example.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Vulcan on October 05, 2011, 05:25:32 AM
ah once again the voice of some knowledge...almost a clue.

unlike apple/mac...acer, hp, dell, ibm, lenovo, toshiba, sony, etc...use the same chipsets that you can find on a retail mobo, the only thing that is proprietary is the bios and the basic architecture (i.e. placement of slots and connectors). i happen to know that without the specific mac hardware drivers included with bootcamp 2.0 or 2.1, windows 7 will not fully function on the mac hardware platform.


you are a avacado.

I dislike mac's. But in my training lab I had 8 21" Imac's I dual booted into Windows 7 for a security course I teach. I never had an issue. The only criticism I'd level at them is apple don't provide power management drivers, so everything runs at full tit all the time. But apart from that Win7 runs flawlessly on them.

BTW Asus make a lot of Mac's, they also make a lot of HPs and Sony's.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 05, 2011, 08:06:45 AM
you are a avacado.

I dislike mac's. But in my training lab I had 8 21" Imac's I dual booted into Windows 7 for a security course I teach. I never had an issue. The only criticism I'd level at them is apple don't provide power management drivers, so everything runs at full tit all the time. But apart from that Win7 runs flawlessly on them.

BTW Asus make a lot of Mac's, they also make a lot of HPs and Sony's.
i would have been the one who setup those dual boot macs for you, and i would have been cussing the entire time. i would rather dual boot windows/linux, it can be troublesome but easier. try a pc that dual boots with apple osx.

fyi, companies like asus don't make the systems, they make components for the systems. you may find an asus, acer, samsung, hitachi etc...branded parts made to the oem specifications but they don't make the systems.




Once you start the setup from bootcamp assitant everything works normally. It makes no difference if it's 'proprietary' or not - it works, period.

So you had to deal with support of the old power-pc based macs and now have an unbased hatred against the platform. Every car repairman hates the cars they repair, they seem to be broken every day at work :D

Yeah and surely Apple is the only company in history to get faulty hardware components from its suppliers  :rolleyes:

A dualboot mac is an excellent and versatile machine like it or not. Would I buy a Mac for gaming? No. PC has much better price/performance ratio. But if I had to buy just 1 laptop for all use, a high-end MBP would be my choice - and most others who ever had the chance to try one.

If I wouldn't have OSX I would have to dualboot to linux then due to my work, windows boxes are just cumbersome and clumsy when dealing with linux servers for example.
i can tell you have never attempted to do a dual boot. i have, since os 10.2. want a real headache to tackle? try creating a deployable dual boot image. i don't hate apple systems, i just don't hold them in the high regard that people who just discovered them like yourself do. since the switch to intel hardware architecture and linux based os core they are much more versatile than they used to be. when osx first came out it was a dream compared to the previous operating systems. and it was as buggy as windows 2000 was before sp2, not to mention that a large number of apple applications were rendered obsolete and would not work with osx. some companies that offered multi platform applications didn't even bother reprogramming for osx, at first.

you really should work on the concept of "within context" when reading something. i was addressing haps "wonky boxes" statement, nothing more. on a 1 to 1 basis, macs do have a much lower incidence of hardware failure than pcs.

as a unix systems administrator i work on rhel and hp-ux servers all day long with my windows laptop, i don't find it cumbersome or clumsy in any manner. it's actually quite easy if you have the right applications, not as easy as a linux or mac system can be but easier than it used to be with windows 2000 or apple os 9.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Tigger29 on October 05, 2011, 10:18:29 AM
i would have been the one who setup those dual boot macs for you, and i would have been cussing the entire time. i would rather dual boot windows/linux, it can be troublesome but easier. try a pc that dual boots with apple osx.

fyi, companies like asus don't make the systems, they make components for the systems. you may find an asus, acer, samsung, hitachi etc...branded parts made to the oem specifications but they don't make the systems.



i can tell you have never attempted to do a dual boot. i have, since os 10.2. want a real headache to tackle? try creating a deployable dual boot image. i don't hate apple systems, i just don't hold them in the high regard that people who just discovered them like yourself do. since the switch to intel hardware architecture and linux based os core they are much more versatile than they used to be. when osx first came out it was a dream compared to the previous operating systems. and it was as buggy as windows 2000 was before sp2, not to mention that a large number of apple applications were rendered obsolete and would not work with osx. some companies that offered multi platform applications didn't even bother reprogramming for osx, at first.

you really should work on the concept of "within context" when reading something. i was addressing haps "wonky boxes" statement, nothing more. on a 1 to 1 basis, macs do have a much lower incidence of hardware failure than pcs.

as a unix systems administrator i work on rhel and hp-ux servers all day long with my windows laptop, i don't find it cumbersome or clumsy in any manner. it's actually quite easy if you have the right applications, not as easy as a linux or mac system can be but easier than it used to be with windows 2000 or apple os 9.

WOW SHUT UP ALREADY WE GET IT!  YOU DON'T LIKE MACS!

Sheesh!

The question isn't about whether or not Macs are superior or easier to work with than PCs the question is "will the game play on a MAC?"  Put your e-noodlees away and either answer the question or stay out!

The fact remains that there are many people here that play Aces High JUST FINE on a Mac, even at nearly full settings!  Just like any other computer it's about whether or not the MAC can run a Windows environment and how good the hardware inside is.  Obviously no one is going to expect an old blueberry iMac G3 to do the job but if he were to buy a new Mac today then it shouldn't be a problem.

And before anyone plays the fanboi card on me I should add that I HATE Macs but not necessarily because of the hardware itself but because they incite conversations like this one!  Now grow up people!
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 05, 2011, 10:20:44 AM
i can tell you have never attempted to do a dual boot. i have, since os 10.2. want a real headache to tackle? try creating a deployable dual boot image.

My 10 year old son can do dualboot on Mac. It's that hard. Deployable? Not in the scope of this discussion.

Quote
i don't hate apple systems, i just don't hold them in the high regard that people who just discovered them like yourself do. since the switch to intel hardware architecture and linux based os core they are much more versatile than they used to be. when osx first came out it was a dream compared to the previous operating systems. and it was as buggy as windows 2000 was before sp2, not to mention that a large number of apple applications were rendered obsolete and would not work with osx. some companies that offered multi platform applications didn't even bother reprogramming for osx, at first.

Actually Apple was praised to have the balls to cut backwards compatibility in the way they did, to create a superior end result.

Quote
you really should work on the concept of "within context" when reading something. i was addressing haps "wonky boxes" statement, nothing more. on a 1 to 1 basis, macs do have a much lower incidence of hardware failure than pcs.

Fair enough.

Quote
as a unix systems administrator i work on rhel and hp-ux servers all day long with my windows laptop, i don't find it cumbersome or clumsy in any manner. it's actually quite easy if you have the right applications, not as easy as a linux or mac system can be but easier than it used to be with windows 2000 or apple os 9.

As a unix administrator I'm surprised you didn't know OSX is based on BSD, not linux.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 05, 2011, 11:15:46 AM
My 10 year old son can do dualboot on Mac. It's that hard. Deployable? Not in the scope of this discussion.
the point is you personally have never undertaken the task and as usual you're just parroting what you read somewhere as if you're the hands on expert.


Actually Apple was praised to have the balls to cut backwards compatibility in the way they did, to create a superior end result.
not by the companies who were heavily reliant on mac systems, rather than upgrading they had to continue on the older hardware/os past end of life. what is really amazing is microsoft considered doing the same thing when longhorn development got underway, but there would have been insurmountable repercussions. personally, i'm hoping microsoft does follow apple's example in the next operating system.


As a unix administrator I'm surprised you didn't know OSX is based on BSD, not linux.
took you a while to find that didn't it? ok, how about i just use the term "nix" to appease you? after all bsd is a unix system very old with a long history, highly stable and highly secure, but it's for the hard core nix users. i'm not that hard core.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Vulcan on October 05, 2011, 04:26:03 PM
i would have been the one who setup those dual boot macs for you, and i would have been cussing the entire time. i would rather dual boot windows/linux, it can be troublesome but easier. try a pc that dual boots with apple osx.

fyi, companies like asus don't make the systems, they make components for the systems. you may find an asus, acer, samsung, hitachi etc...branded parts made to the oem specifications but they don't make the systems.

I setup the dual boot systems myself. It was actually incredibly easy. I had them running Win 7, with VMWare player running a Win Server 2k3 host and Win XP host for our lab. I never cussed the mac's once. Before the imac's we used dualboot macbook pro's, same thing, easy as pie to dual boot. So it would appear to me the consistent issue in your problems is the operator. I used the mac to run a 3 day firewall training course. On average I'd run 12 courses per year. So their bootcamp functionality is something I'm quite familiar with.

Asus DO make the systems. They have done for many many years. I used to work quite closely with them (I worked at the NZ Distributor for Asus for 5 years). We had tours of their plant. I can assure you they were happily spitting out HP, Sony, and Apple laptops at the time (in quantities that were mind boggling 9 years ago).

You ever think now might be the time to zip it? That hole you're digging is getting mighty deep.

Oh look there's even a wiki article, a little out of date but you get the idea:

The vast majority of laptops on the market are manufactured by a small handful of Original Design Manufacturers (ODM).[2]
Major relationships include:
Clevo sells the same designs to dozens of "re-branders" including Sager, XoticPC, Eurocom, RJtech, RKC notebooks, Pro-Star, PowerNotebooks, Origin PC, AVAdirect, V3 Gaming PC, Falcon Northwest, CyberPower, iBuyPower, System 76, PC Torque, Puget systems, Vigor Gaming, M-Tech, XTreme Notebooks, Smooth-Creations, MALIBAL, Widow PC, Hypersonic PC systems, Micro Express Computers, Jinco Computers, DevilTech, ChiliGreen, and many many more.
MSI follow similar re-branding practices to Clevo, although on a lesser scale, and also preserve their own MSI brand. Lotus is one MSI re-brander.
Quanta sells to (among others) HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer, NEC, Gateway and Lenovo/IBM - note that Quanta is currently (as of August, 2007) the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world.
Compal sells to Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Acer, and Dell.
Positivo Informatica sells to Samsung, Sony, Siragon, Toshiba, HP
Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM, NEC, Acer, and Lenovo/IBM.
Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP/Compaq, NEC, and Dell.
Itautec sells to Siragon, LG, Samsung, Sony
ECS sells to IBM, Fujitsu, and Dell.
Asus sells to Apple (iBook), Sony, and Samsung.
Inventec sells to HP/Compaq, Toshiba, BenQ, and Acer.
Lanix sells to Sony, Compaq, Toshiba, Siragon, Itautec
Uniwill sells to Lenovo/IBM and Fujitsu & PC World UK own brand Advent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laptop_brands_and_manufacturers
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on October 05, 2011, 05:02:26 PM
the point is you personally have never undertaken the task and as usual you're just parroting what you read somewhere as if you're the hands on expert.

not by the companies who were heavily reliant on mac systems, rather than upgrading they had to continue on the older hardware/os past end of life. what is really amazing is microsoft considered doing the same thing when longhorn development got underway, but there would have been insurmountable repercussions. personally, i'm hoping microsoft does follow apple's example in the next operating system.

took you a while to find that didn't it? ok, how about i just use the term "nix" to appease you? after all bsd is a unix system very old with a long history, highly stable and highly secure, but it's for the hard core nix users. i'm not that hard core.

Regular mr know-it-all :D Your insulting (defensive) attitude makes further discussion pretty much unnecessary. Funny that you talk about clues when you're stating total brainfarts based purely on your own prejudice about my doings lol.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: gyrene81 on October 05, 2011, 07:30:50 PM
vulcan, since you enjoy tasting your own foot so much let me ask you, since when does
The vast majority of laptops on the market are manufactured by a small handful of Original Design Manufacturers (ODM).
Asus sells to Apple (iBook), Sony, and Samsung.

translate to
BTW Asus make a lot of Mac's, they also make a lot of HPs and Sony's.

and

Asus DO make the systems.

really? seriously? your own outdated reference in plain english states asus markets laptops, not a lot of macs or hp's or sony's. had you stated asus makes laptops then i would not have disagreed at all. asus does not manufacture the desktop systems for apple, hp or sony.

next time try a course in simple english.


I setup the dual boot systems myself. It was actually incredibly easy. I had them running Win 7, with VMWare player running a Win Server 2k3 host and Win XP host for our lab. I never cussed the mac's once. Before the imac's we used dualboot macbook pro's, same thing, easy as pie to dual boot. So it would appear to me the consistent issue in your problems is the operator. I used the mac to run a 3 day firewall training course. On average I'd run 12 courses per year. So their bootcamp functionality is something I'm quite familiar with.
ok...if you say so.
Title: Re: Computer FUBAR looking for a new one
Post by: Vulcan on October 06, 2011, 10:49:38 PM
gyrene, of course the article refers to laptops only. Hence it's title "list of laptop brands and manufacturers". I only used that as an example of the many things Asus do and have made outside of their plain components business.

You are delving into new realms of stupidity mate ;)