PC or Mac ?

[wetrat]

Originally posted by xrtoronto
I'm thinking of using my PC for online stuff and the Mac for multimedia stuff.

Any thoughts?

That's what I'm doing right now... I use my PC for dicking around on the internet, and my mac for just about everything else. I had windows running in parallels on my mac as well until I brought my PC out here.

[xrtoronto]

Originally posted by LePaul
I know they make cheaper macs now but I still think a $1500 PC offers a lot of "oomph"...that you'd have to pay $2500-$3000 for in a Mac.  And what kind of upgrades can you do to a Mac?  You get get a lot of life out of a PC via upgrading.

You touched on the one thing I had concerns about...upgrades.

Even when I asked at the store about how much flexibility there was in choosing vid card etc...your choice is nVidia 128m card or 256m card...wireless (or not) keyboard and mouse...and amount of ram 1g, 2g or 3g and that's about it. This may be the only stumbling block I encounter that will sway me away from going Mac.

This expensive system from Mac appeared to be almost outdated...I mean the PCIE vid cards are pretty much now being offerred with 512m of onboard ram up to 1g and Mac is offerring this system with a vid card with only 128m or an upgrade to 256m and I can not order an ATI card (which is what I wanted)

[Catalyst]

256 for vid-card is the norm, 512 is useless right now, unless u use Vista

If you don't like to upgrade or work inside a computer go for MAC, personnelly I will never touch MAC's

[MotorOil1]

Thing about the Mac's, they only offer 1 or 2 vid cards period.  Everyone makes their software to support those components, if you don't you don't make software for Apple.  That's the deal.   This does two things, one, you never have to worry about getting video drivers current or the right ones.  You don't have to worry about the latest version of ditX and if it's compatible with the software you're running or the hardware you're running.  Two, there are long cycles between upgrades because everything being produced must meet the hardware specifics.  

It sounds limiting but it's very advantageous to developers to have a system this way.  For what you described the purpose of the machine for, it will out perform or be side by side the best PC out there right now.  MACs will have a longevity just as long as a PC.  You'll by more memory maybe another vid card in a few years.  By the time you want to touch the processor, you PC equivalent MB wouldn't support the upgrade now anyway.

[Vulcan]

I just upgraded my PC recently. Moved onto an Athlon 64 3200+, new board, 7600GT silent video card. The upgrade was cheap, I retained my case, RAM, and hard drive (as well as monitor, keyboard, mouse, creative sound card etc).  Sold my old Athlon 2800XP, 6600, and mainboard for good $$$$ on a local auction site, such that the upgrade cost me very little.

I left my options open as well, so I can go to a socket 939 X2 anytime.

Try doing that on a mac. Oh wait... you can't

[NATEDOG]

I'd use a Mac..... as a paper weight.

[Airscrew]

xrtoronto,  you might go check out price comparsion on Mac parts vs PC parts that you might want to upgrade in the future.  Memory, vid cards, monitors, drives (HD and DVD)
Mac memory
1Gb DDR SDRAM for iMac G5   1Gb-3200-IG5  $ 169.00  
2GB DDR2 PC2 PC4200/533   $ 415.00

PC memory
Kingston KVR400/1GR DDR Memory Upgrade For Desktop Computers 1.0GB 400MHZ/PC3200  about $106 at newegg

Corsair Micro 2GB Pair PC4200 DDR2 533 MHz  $212 to $301 depending where you shop

Kingston Valueram Memory - DIMM2GB Kit 533MHz DDR2 PC2-4200 DIMM runs about $250
 
that above is just one reason I probably never own a mac

[Gh0stFT]

We work daily with different print companys, if your work is mainly
for profesional printing stuff, stick with a Mac.
We run both at work, Mac & PC, both run the same software like
Photoshop and Indesign, but if it comes to real Color-Management,
or Color-Calibration, Mac still beats the PC in Lightyears.

If you need the Puter just for Web Graphics and surfing or
Games, go with a PC.

Just my 2cent

Gh0stFT

[MotorOil1]

Originally posted by Vulcan
Try doing that on a mac. Oh wait... you can't

We had a huge market for used macs @ top dollar at my old shop.  Typically sold for more money than equivalent used PC equipment.  It works out the same when you take into account the expensiveness of a mac.

[MotorOil1]

Originally posted by NATEDOG
I'd use a Mac..... as a paper weight.

That's cause you're a gamer.  I own a PC for that reason as well.   It's all what you want if for.

[Shuffler]

Macs used to be better for graphics and 3D rendering... that is no longer true. Macs are now being setup to run MS so more folks will buy them. Now if they were not so overpriced.

I'll never go back to Mac

[jigsaw]

Originally posted by Vulcan
There is nothing a Mac can do that a PC cannot (usually the PC has 10 x as many choices in software).

Actually, there are quite a few things a Mac can do that a PC can't.  My next camera upgrade may force me to buy a Mac because you have to attach the camera to one, and they don't make the software that drives it for PC.

[x0847Marine]

Originally posted by xrtoronto
They have opened up a Mac superstore here and I have been in twice this past week. I am very tempted to buy a new Mac. (see link)

iMac 24"

With the upgrades I want it comes to $2619. plus tax.

Is there any caveat I should know about? Do you think it's smarter to stick with MS? What about software? How much s/w is available for Mac these days? I'm thinking of using my PC for online stuff and the Mac for multimedia stuff.

Any thoughts?

FYI an Apple Mac computer is manufactured by Asus using parts from: Intel, ATI, Western Digital, Asus motherboard... etc. The days of G4 PPC velocity engine optimized for graphics are over, for years now... theres no clear advantage to either platform, check out some of the "professional" video websites... benchmarks go either way, and now that Apple is using Intel parts, its all about optimizations & drivers, not hardware. The 90s are over.

So whats the difference?, there is none really except the operating system.. and for all its hoopla OSX doesn't accomplish anything special relative to windows other than it looks nicer and does thing differently. If you like Photoshop in Windows, great, buy a new copy to run on OSX.. its a several hundred dollar "which one is faster" experiment. Also be ready to maybe re-purchase OSX specific versions of apps.

That said, the ability to boot Win / OSX / Linux cant be beaten by anything on the PC market, the high end Apple notebooks are the best buy on the market, imo, for versatility... if you can afford one.

The towers, IMO, are far from worth it $$ wise.. you can piece together a better machine with more years of upgrade options, many many more options (like an AMD CPU / chipset) and dont have to relay on "Apple care".. which btw is almost mandatory, if only to protect your investment and isn't cheap.

[Vulcan]

Originally posted by x0847Marine
That said, the ability to boot Win / OSX / Linux cant be beaten by anything on the PC market, the high end Apple notebooks are the best buy on the market, imo, for versatility... if you can afford one.

Actually all is not sweet and rosy with dual boot. Dual boot is having issues with games, first on the restricted types of video cards, and secondly the sound chipset is causing some issues with some games and applications.

[Debonair]

OSX IS NOT LUNIX
I H8 LUNIX