[MamaWolf]

I know this can be a hot issue for some, but I need some advice. My dh and I each have a pc; in fact, I just bought him a real nice rig for his bday a few months ago:

P4 3.4 Prescott
P5AD2 Premium PCI Express Mobo
WD Raptor 74 gig 10000 rpm hd
WD 200 gig SATA hd
Corsair XMS Low Latency Memory 1 gig

I bought him the parts, and he got to put it all together. (Happy Birthday! LOL)

Anyhow, we were over his father's house yesterday, and his father is trying to convince him that his computer stinks, and he needs to get a dual G5 Mac. Now, my opinion on it is that since my husband and I like to play games, then a Mac would be worthless to us. And when my dh has time to think about it, he realizes that too. However, he is very easily swayed by his father, so I need some direction on this. For Christmas I was going to get him a faster chip and maybe even a different mobo that will utilize dual PCI Express slots, but should I even bother? We don't do any graphics editing (unless you count cropping the occasional digital photo). The rest is all gaming and surfing, with some spreadsheets and word processing thrown in. My dh is very good with pc's - he can build them, fix them, etc.

Is the Mac really that much better? Or is it just overpriced?

[Larred]

It sounds like he's already got a pretty decent machine. What kind of video card does it have? PCI Express is still "the new kid on the block" so to speak, and should be good for quite a while. Possibly you should look into a faster video card rather than a new MoBo? I have a friend that swears by his Mac, but everyone else I know is a PC user. I personally wouldn't change to Mac but I'm sure there are those here that will extoll it's virtues... :D

[MamaWolf]

He has a Gigabyte Radeon x800XT video card. He really would prefer the Nvidia Geforce 6800, but at the time (2 months ago) I don't think it was available in a PCI Express version. (I'm still not sure if it is). I do think he'd like the Geforce better - he's a big Nvidia fan. Plus, he has been running benchmarks in Unreal Tournament 2004 that are still not as fast as one of the guys we game with - and he only has a 3 Ghz. BUT our friend is also running 2 Raptor drives in a Raid 0, so maybe that's why? I don't understand Raid at all, but I'm going to have to learn.

[Clawdia]

We love our Macs. I'd rather have an older Mac than a brand new PC. Unless you're really into processor intensive stuff, a dual is probably overkill and a single processor would suffice. No virus worries. Macs hold their value well if you're into reselling and upgrading on a regular basis. More and more gaming being done on Macs, from what I hear. I use a G4 iBook to enable a couch potato lifestyle. DH uses a G4 tower (he's a musician). I don't think Macs are overpriced - I think they're a good example of you get what you pay for. Only problem with Macs is that they aren't sold with enough RAM - but at today's prices, more RAM is a cheap upgrade. The Apple Store and Small Dog both sell refurbished Macs - the G4 tower was an Apple refurb, no problems at all.

[MamaWolf]

How is the gaming situation with your Macs? I keep hearing that games are almost non-existent, and the ones that are made for Macs are buggy ported games. Is that true? Thanks for both of your responses - I really appreciate it! :yes:

[MrO]

How is the gaming situation with your Macs? I keep hearing that games are almost non-existent, and the ones that are made for Macs are buggy ported games. Is that true? Thanks for both of your responses - I really appreciate it! :yes:

Popular PC titles have Mac equivalents that appear, maybe 6 months down the road. That lag in time is the principal problem with Mac gaming. Quality of the games themselves though is equal to the PC - I've never run across a "buggy" version of a game on the Mac.

Despite the fact that I write Mac s/w for a living, I still suggest PC's for people who's principal interest is gaming. For people with a strong interest in gaming, but who're also looking for the highest quality, most productive, and generally most pleasant computing experience I'll alternatively recommend a Mac + a good game console like the PS2.

[Potemkin]

Mac v. PC.

Oh sh*t! NOW you have done it. CE's first flame war! HAHA!

Really, what ever you feel comfortable with.

But your specifications illustrate why I always have a problem with MacAddicts. There certainly nothing wrong with the machine you mentioned. Perfectly acceptable for what you use it for.

I would be just as oppossed if you had a single processor Mac and someone was trying to talk you into a dual cpu G5 or if you had a single processor PC trying to talk you into a dual processor PC.

Waste of money.

Why?

[Clawdia]

More and more software available for Macs all the time - it's a myth put out by the PC folks that you can't play games on a Mac. I don't find that the software I use is buggy (I stay away from stuff made by Mr. Softy), and I like not dealing with all the viruses and things that PCs tend to find troublesome.

[chipste®]

Every time I have convinced a PC friend to switch, they have been very happy with their Mac. Simplicity and software like iTunes, Iphoto, iDVD and others seem to really integrate well and work flawlessly. I'll admit I am not much into gaming but there are many titles available, although they do lag a little behind the PC release. Comparing the stated speeds on PC and Mac is like apples and oranges though. I do know that my 1 gHz G4 out performs my friend's 2 gHz though. All this being said, if you are happy with your machine and are satisfied, I see no reason to upgrade. We have 4 Macs and are well aware that computers are holes in which to throw money. We have always used Apple and always will. They have been extremely dependable and OSX is the most stable OS out in my opinion.

[DarkRose]

Here are some gaming links to help you decide:
http://www.insidemacgames.com/
Aspyr ports pc games over for the MAC like The Sims. I haven't had any trouble with any of the games I've purchased from them.
http://www.aspyr.com/games.php/mac/complete/
Ambrosia: Home of Ferazel (a game you can't get for the pc).
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/news/

[Larred]

He has a Gigabyte Radeon x800XT video card. He really would prefer the Nvidia Geforce 6800, but at the time (2 months ago) I don't think it was available in a PCI Express version. (I'm still not sure if it is). I do think he'd like the Geforce better - he's a big Nvidia fan. Plus, he has been running benchmarks in Unreal Tournament 2004 that are still not as fast as one of the guys we game with - and he only has a 3 Ghz. BUT our friend is also running 2 Raptor drives in a Raid 0, so maybe that's why? I don't understand Raid at all, but I'm going to have to learn.


MW, just out of curiosity, why are you wanting to upgrade? Your machine sounds more than adequate for all but the most bleeding edge stuff... (Like max graphics settings on Far Cry or Half Life 2)... I suppose if you had the funds you could buy a Mac, then sell whatever machine you didn't like on Ebay.

[hmm]

Macs are great, but if you like what you have, then it's pointless to switch.

[FrmlyZ]

Depends on what you are doing. I don't do games so I couldn't say. Between home and work I have Macs, Windows and some equipment that runs on Unix.

At home, we have three Macs. My wife and I do a lot of graphics and use a lot of custom software. I am posting using a Dual G4 running OS9.2. My most important graphics software runs well on 9.2 but will not run on 9.4 in the classic environment behind Panther. It is a shame cause I can't use my laptop for this stuff since it runs Panther. I have other software that will only run on Panther. None of this stuff is available for Windows. I mostly use Windows for accounting. It works well there.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z