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PC or Mac?

Evergreen

Evergreen

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2001
81
0
I'm thinking of making the switch to PC. With all the gaming I do it is painful not to have a decent video card. Even when the year-old Pros get modern hardware, I know I'll be paying the Apple tax for a high end card.

A great gaming rig comes in at under $2.5k if you build it yourself. I realize that the MP Pro would be faster for some tasks, but I don't find myself encoding video and rendering 3D on a day-to-day basis. With the money I'd save I could buy a 24" Dell widescreen and other goodies.

:confused:
 
if your really after gaming, higher quality gaming.. make the switch to PC then.

if you want to have a computer for the next 5 years, that still does everything at lightning speeds, get a mac

pretty big decision aye. :(
 
meh, get a 360 and a Wii...or if you're willing to spend $2,500 on a gaming machine, get a 360, a Wii, and a PS3...you'll still have more than a thousand dollars to spare.
 
DoFoT9 said:
if your really after gaming, higher quality gaming.. make the switch to PC then.

if you want to have a computer for the next 5 years, that still does everything at lightning speeds, get a mac

pretty big decision aye. :(
Click to expand...

I got 4 years out of this MDD, which was more than I wanted.
 
I've never been much of a console gamer. I prefer FPS, which doesn't feel right without a keyboard and mouse.
 
Evergreen said:
I've never been much of a console gamer. I prefer FPS, which doesn't feel right without a keyboard and mouse.
Click to expand...

Try it with a point and shoot style with the Wii Remote...Metroid Prime 3 is coming out soon which critics have been saying will finally rival a mouse and keyboard setup...who knows, maybe you'll like it. But I've never known a PC gamer to switch to consoles...
 
Buy yourself a mini for every day computing then build yourself a nice gaming rig. Might still come out under the price of the mac pro and you won't have to give up Mac OS
 
You can get a refurb MP for $1,899 (2.0) or $2,199 (2.66). Or get a PC and a refurb macbook. You can get C2D 1.83 ones for $849 now. This way, you'll both have portability, OSX and a Mac to take with you on the road or just post on MR in bed ;), and have an awesome gaming rig.
 
PCs are great for gaming, not that great for much else when you sit one next to a Mac.

Now does that make the PC seem all so attractive?
 
Why would you spend $2,500 on something so that you can buy games????

Get a mac, preferably a macbook or a MBP and get outside. Sit in a park and read mac rumors.
 
I say it depends on how much you enjoy/benefit from OSX.

Here's my logic and why I buy Mac Pro's even though I'm not a video editor or encoder. It might also clarify why us folks who actually have fun gaming (gasp! completely meaningless, but enjoyable pastimes when not working!) when we're not working buy mac pros. It's also why the Mac Pro's lagging sooooooo far behind the rest of the computing world rubs me the wrong way as well:

-) Bottom of the barrel mac: 900 dollars
-) A mac that you can actually run more then 2 applications on at the same without feeling like your walking through molasses: 1200-1500
-) Completely stripped down Gaming PC with focus on top end video card that can match or out do the Mac Pro (not hard these days), mid range CPU, top end motherboard: 1500-1600

Total to have a gaming rig that out does a Mac Pro and a bottom of the line Mac: 2700-3100

Brand new Mac Pro base model with medium quality video card (best you can get), 3rd party ram, etc: 2500

Add this to eliminating the inconvenience and savings of having to mess with KVM's and work flow spread across two machines and it's no contest.

Mac Pro all the way.

Of course if money was no issue, yeah. Build a PC and hell buy a mac pro too! The fact is though, it's just all around cheaper to buy a Mac Pro then a "cheap" mac and a pc gaming rig even if you consider the "mac tax" for card upgrades. Upgrades that should be coming in the next 10 to 15 years. Promise.
 
PC, but would prefer Mac

PC

For the price of a Mac Mini i can build a bloody powerful Quad Core Intel 4 * 2.4Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 750GB HD monster.

Of course i would have to cut costs by buying an old PCI E card from eBay, but i can always upgrade later - something which is either impossible or very expensive in Apple land.

Now if Apple were to bring out a "consumer" Mac Pro between now and late 2007......:)
 
combatcolin said:
PC

For the price of a Mac Mini i can build a bloody powerful Quad Core Intel 4 * 2.4Ghz monster.

Of course i would have to cut costs by buying an old PCI E card from eBay, but i can always upgrade later - something which is either impossible or very expensive in Apple land.

Now if Apple were to bring out a "consumer" Mac Pro between now and late 2007......:)
Click to expand...

The card is the key, to out do a Mac Pro you have to put an nvidia 8800 in there, probably a 640mb version. Those are costing about 400+ even at ebay.

soo:

Card: 400
2.4ghz quad: 300
decent mobo: 150
4gb ram, cheapo stuff: 220
Case w/ decent PSU: 200
750gb WD: 200

Tax: 10% approx
Total: 1756

So if that's the *only* thing you buy and you completely reject OSX and have no desire to ever see apple again. You save.

If you really enjoy the OS and what it brings to the table (why are any of us paying for this expensive dongle they call a mac if not for the os), then you need to buy a low end mac.

So you add to that:

2.0ghz mini with 2gb ram: 1,100
KVM that supports high resolution DVI so you aren't buying 2x externals or switching wires around constantly: 150

Total for both: $3006


Got these prices from newegg,ebay, and apple store. So with a single mac pro purchase, you get (let's be realistic) a *slighty* slower machine with the option to upgrade (sometime this century lol), a lot less hassle, and you save money overall.

Only go PC if your completely forsaking the osx platform.
 
Woooh, hit a nerve eh?

Firstly, reusing

Windows XP
Case
Power Supply
Floppy
DVD Re writer
Monitor (big boy 24" Dell)
Keyboard (age circa 1823 - would really like a new one)
Mouse

Right then, in £ because some people in the world don't live in the states (;))

Intel Quad Core 4 * 2.4 170
MB 60
2GB RAM (1066 heatsink) 118
250GB Samsung HD 43

TOTAL £391 - ish, sort of give or take a bit.
All prices include the dreaded V.A.T

£391 then, p+p will take another £15 or so. so not bad.

Another £100 will buy me a 500GB Samsung hd (near silent) and a entry level Radeon HD card (Silent).

Good eh?

:p

Now i would really like to re-enter the Mac fold, but after the elation and frustration of owning an iMac (no upgrade route), im not buying Apple again until they release a consumer Tower.

Or a Mac Mini if i find one at sell off prices!! :cool:
 
combatcolin said:
Woooh, hit a nerve eh?

Firstly, reusing

Windows XP
Case
Power Supply
Floppy
DVD Re writer
Monitor (big boy 24" Dell)
Keyboard (age circa 1823 - would really like a new one)
Mouse
Click to expand...

I'll give you that if you already have all the extra parts to reuse laying around the pc route is cheaper. I was approaching it from the "hm, should I build a new pc and a low end mac or a mac pro" route with all things being equal.

I also "skimmed" quite a bit on the PC building side not counting dvd player/writer, floppies, keyboards, mice, or windows costs ($500!). I did include the power supply, case, and such due to most older (read just a couple of years old) pc components in that category aren't sufficient for todays top end cards et al. If your actually a law abiding (LOL) pc user the cost of a pc that can compete with a mac pro in gaming is closer to $2500 after it's all said and done.

I've always found it humorous when people ignore the costs of software when building a pc due to warez. I always want to say "Oh yeah! I can throw a brick through an apple store window and run off with a mac pro for FREE!".

(not implying your saying or doing that in the slightest. Just that no one calculates the cost of windows into custom built systems lol)
 
Years ago my friends and i used to call pirated games and software naughtysoft.

Of course, that sort of means something else now!

:eek:

Ironically, the only software i would be prepared to pay for would be iLife, and there's bugger all chance of that coming out of PC.

Still buy games new though - just object to paying stupid amounts for software that is given away free in under 2 years on the front of a magazine.

Going back to the Mac, while I'll continue my embargo of Apple desktop hardware until they release something decent, quite tempted one day by an Apple laptop.
 
Evergreen said:
I'm thinking of making the switch to PC. With all the gaming I do it is painful not to have a decent video card. Even when the year-old Pros get modern hardware, I know I'll be paying the Apple tax for a high end card.

A great gaming rig comes in at under $2.5k if you build it yourself. I realize that the MP Pro would be faster for some tasks, but I don't find myself encoding video and rendering 3D on a day-to-day basis. With the money I'd save I could buy a 24" Dell widescreen and other goodies.

:confused:
Click to expand...
I'm puzzled by this post. If the OP knows he wants gaming on his computer, why is he even making this post? Just get the PC and don't try to argue about using a Mac or PC.
 
maccompaq said:
I'm puzzled by this post. If the OP knows he wants gaming on his computer, why is he even making this post? Just get the PC and don't try to argue about using a Mac or PC.
Click to expand...

Very true, like everyone is saying: The reason you buy a mac is for osx. If you have no preference for osx over windows, then you'd be silly (or extremely trendy) to spend the premium for a mac.
 
maccompaq said:
I'm puzzled by this post. If the OP knows he wants gaming on his computer, why is he even making this post? Just get the PC and don't try to argue about using a Mac or PC.
Click to expand...

Dude, stop being so rational, mature and sensible.

Without pointless arguments like Mac Vs PC, Spectrum Vs Commodore and Atari Vs Colecovision the world be be a much duller place.

And where would be we be then eh?

:eek: ;)
 
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