Power Mac

[Qmark78]

why should i buy one

or why shouldnt i buy one?

[fo3nix]

You should buy one if you need raw processing power for photoshop or similar right now.

You should not buy one if you don't require this. The newer Intel Mac Pros are a more capable and future-proof machine, and in many tests now out-perform the powermacs for general usage. Note though that they'll be receiving processor upgrades in the next month or so.

[Qmark78]

64k question

Macs better than pc?

i think already know the answer

[fo3nix]

PC users will say probably not. Mac users tend to say definitely yes.

I think of them as being like a Ford Fiesta and a BMW 3 series. Both get you places, both do a similar job. BMW is just more enjoyable and tends to be less hassle, but also if anything goes wrong is much more expensive to repair since they use more expensive parts.

If you want a Mac and don't do heavy video editing or stuff with 3D graphics, then take a look at the iMac. It may just be a consumer range (the Mac Pro is aimed at the professional), but it's still a powerhouse, and may well do exactly what you want. It's also far cheaper.

[Qmark78]

Nice analogy

ive been a pc user all my days but fed up of windows and there constant problems

The mac is stunning looking and i love the ipod and itunes

i fancy that little mini desktop one

watch this space

[matt_london]

I've got the Mac Mini which your talking about. Its very good and perfect for web surfing, music, photos, watching DVDs etc. I don't do any 'work' on it just fun stuff and I highly recommend it. If you do go for one I would suggest that you buy the highest spec possible as apparently its quite a job to upgrade the Ram on them.

[The Mack]

Vhs Betamax? I think the Mac has switched to intel as pc's have been giving them a performance beating for some time! i cant help but think that the photoshop reputation is built from years and years ago and corporate companys have kept using them to avoid makin old hardware redundant. pc's for the power user, Mac's for furniture

[fo3nix]

Macs are still better for design work, pure and simple. They have a better typography system built in, better colour systems, and their screens are usually higher quality than most sold with windows machines.

The Mack is right in that for the past few years Intel chips were doing better than the PowerPC processors that had been in Macs, hence why Apple changed. But they'd been planning that for years anyway (Mac OS X had always been compiled secretly for Intel processors since 2001 or a bit before that).

It's definitely not a VHS/betamax thing though. They are very compatible with each other, since Mac OS X. Anything on Windows can work with Macs, and vice versa (file formats, I mean here).

[The Mack]

Ahh yes the monitors they can be very sexy on a Mac some very large very expensive monitors. Dell make a nice 30" inch monitor though.
The bad boy graphic cards have always released first for windows based systems and i think mac's some years ago were competing for some time with the rage 128 supplied with a mac vs geforce 2/3 range and the later ati 7/8 series i guess thats why 3d gaming has never really taken off with Mac's apart from the odd pc hand me down.
i also belive that the OS X operating system which had die hard fans cueing down the street on day of release. offers nothing more than XP can with a few freeware goodies (that have been availible years prior to OS X)
The stability issue with windows is still brought up by Apple fans however this is no longer an issue i can rember the last blue screen i had, under normal processor clock speeds.
Like for like your money goes further with a pc.
Dosnt the Mac mini only have two usb ports meaning once your wireless keyboard/ mouse is plugged in you need a hub/ no dvd rewriter meaning you need an external one a small amount of ram which has to be pre uprgaded/ no monitor included/ speakers or said mouse and keyboard by the time you have bought all this the compact nature of the mac mini has gone, desk clutter is back and you may as well have bought a high end laptop that is faster, less cluttered and portable?

Maybe they should be compared to Bang Olufsen (mac) vs hi fi seperates (the pc). Having said that Bang Olufsen gear always seduces me but im not a hi fi purist
.

[fo3nix]

The reason games don't appear that much on macs is that games are written in low-level languages for speed considerations that take advantage of low-level system hooks for graphics etc., and so the game code can be pretty device- or system-specific. As such, it's quite hard often to port it to another different system. Hence, game companies create for the majority user base, which is very easily Windows (it has like a 92% majority right now).

Mac OS X has features on it than you cannot learn from simply using it the odd time in a shop or at a friend's house, or from reading over the internet. Macs have always had superior interfaces to Windows, no-one can challenge that (no-one with any knowledge of interface design, anyway). This still exists. I agree that Windows is now far more stable (thanks to NT), but you still have annoying things that are a relic of Windows a few years ago, with such things as having to restart after installing or installing many programs, and things like that.

[The Mack]

Reboots do still exist however are fewer and present a challenge with reinstalling as to how many times you can ignore the reboot message when loading on all your software :)
In fairness the Mac has less diversity in parts than the pc. So I guess that would make life easier in some areas allowing for time to be spent elsewhere. I have not spent a huge amount of time using it but am quite prepared to give it a go. It does have a large fan club. I wonder how much effort or if it would be possible to get it working on my amd64 rig?
Your right sales of games would be key to volume of games produced so that would be why only the quakes, unreals make it over. Although 70% of the 8% market share might still bring in some cash relatively unchallenged?
I have no problem with Macs just the myth that they are x amount faster because they look pretty.
My betamax comment was referring to the fewer software is available and the open nature of the pc's parts which cant of hindered progress or the widespread adoption of the pc's format. I'm sure if Mac's were king we would have the 5 year cycle the consoles have.. pheughh so you will be happy that pc's keep the Mac's spec's ticking along.
Its worth remembering that MS has shares in Apple so who knows what will happen in the future? I hope the Mac doesn't merge into a pc. The two options can only help each other?
fo3nix, glad your have chosen your machine for the right reasons and hope you continue to enjoy your worthy piece of hardware now and whatever you may have in the future...