Switching back to PC

[Melrose]

Use What Works.™ Vote With Your Wallet™

Guys who love tinkering with the individual components seem to prefer Windows (gee, I wonder why? 😛) because you can assemble your own. Technically, I s'pose it's the same with Mac, but they're not made for that to happen... ripping a motherboard out of a MBP, for example, probably wouldn't be the best idear.

 

[pollaxe]

With right components, it should be relatively easy.

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

^This. Tonymac's methods are really some of the most painless ways to get a Hackintosh up and running (there are others) and it's what I've used.

Snow Leopard and Lion run very happily on PC hardware - there's an extensive DSDT database over at Tony's as well, Gigabyte boards tend to be the best supported platforms but where there's a will there's a way and all that jazz.

Back on topic a little more, I think I would miss my other operating systems if I went exclusively to one or the other. I like that I have a number of approaches/options. I'd have bought an iMac or a Mac Pro before now if I didn't feel it was overkill when I have a powerful PC system which happily runs OS X as well. Also, as I mentioned in my other post, I like having eSATA and USB 3 available and that's not an out of the box option with Macs presently. I'm sure the situation will change but I've never really come close to buying a desktop Mac yet. I wonder if I'll be able to avoid my tinkering urges when it comes to my MacBook Air? (SATA 3 ssd? Probably not but it may niggle at the back of my mind and this time next year, maybe I'll have taken that pentalobe screwdriver and dived in?)

I'm very tempted by the new Thunderbolt display (a natural marriage with my MBA) but plugging in an SLI Windows system over DVI would, I imagine, be more trouble/expense than it's worth. I may change my mind on this but that's my thinking at the moment.

 

[Abyssgh0st]

With right components, it should be relatively easy.

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

I did something similar to you recently- although it was for different reasons. I had a 2010 iMac with a 24" ACD, and a 2010 11" MBA (also had an iPad 2 and iPhone 4, but I digress). I ended up selling the iMac and building a Hackintosh (hex core AMD, 8GB RAM, 2TB, 5770) as I was tired of choppy OS X performance (iMac had C2D) and wanted to do a decent amount of gaming. I also used Tonymacx86 and the forums and builds there are very helpful.

I was happy with it for a few months, but I eventually sold it and bought a closeout 27" iMac and upgraded to a 2011 11" MBA. My reasons for 'switching back' were because I was frustrated with issues the Hackintosh was having, but almost all of that was due to the fact that it was a AMD build which required a different kernel (caused a ton of errors), and I was on only 10.6.3 so I was missing some functionality- especially when Lion rolled around.

I think you're making the right decision and probably won't turn back (doubt you'll have any problems with an Intel processor, either), as a Hackintosh and a MBA or something similar is a great combination. You'll love the dual 23"s too.

 

[bizzle]

All I have to say is, I don't blame you. Windows has it's faults but you don't need to upgrade your operating system every two years to get updates. You don't have to upgrade all your other software every two years because it is no longer supported.

OSX has it's basket (a large basket) of problems as well, so it's not like OSX is great and Windows sucks. Everything has problems. The only progress in OSX in the last four years has been adding a bunch of multitouch nonsense, which I like to refer to as "trackpad twister".

The only reason I am on a Mac is because I work on them for a living, and that itself is getting old. There is no money in Mac service, there is no career.

Macs are great if you like dicking around on the internet, organizing your photos and listening to music. But for real work, and real gaming, it's pathetic. I'll still recommend Macs to my friends and family, because they all can barely handle using a computer in the first place, but for myself.. I think it's back to Windows as well.

I can't wait for the day to come where I get out of this industry.

 

[Mr. McMac]

With right components, it should be relatively easy.

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

Hey thanks for the info! Greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Lets see some pics! I recently went back to the evil empire too, and want to see how you've customized your machine!

 

[Hellhammer]

Lets see some pics! I recently went back to the evil empire too, and want to see how you've customized your machine!

I haven't bought the parts yet 🙁 I'll probably be ordering them next week and if everything goes as it should (parts are still in stock, mail doesn't screw up as they usually do etc..), the build should be ready early next month (I'm leaving to Dubai for a week on Oct 9th and want to get this done before that).

I'll update this thread once I have made some progress, with pics of course 🙂

 

[iJohnHenry]

Lets see some pics! I recently went back to the evil empire too, and want to see how you've customized your machine!

I refuse to listen, I have partaken of the evil Kool-Aid.

 

[ThemacNub]

The new 23" ips dells are out, u2312hm, you might want to check that out before getting the U2311h

 

[Hellhammer]

The new 23" ips dells are out, u2312hm, you might want to check that out before getting the U2311h

Thanks. The only problem is that U2312HM is roughly 100€ more each and I can't see any big improvements in it (the only one being LED backlight, though it has its cons too). I would rather get two HP ZR24Ws if I had the €.

 

[maflynn]

It's not just because of the job. I would most likely get the PC regardless of my job.

Same here though I think I'm embracing more of the apple ecosystems lately then the PC. While I'm enjoying win8 and playing with that. I'm toying with the idea of re-joining apple's developer program and start re-learning programming for OSX. Its been a while since I programmed on any platform and I miss that.

I use windows for work and volunteer work (I'm a treasurer at my church) and so I'll never fully given windows up but OSX has been fitting my needs more and more lately. 🙂

 

[ThemacNub]

Thanks. The only problem is that U2312HM is roughly 100€ more each and I can't see any big improvements in it (the only one being LED backlight, though it has its cons too). I would rather get two HP ZR24Ws if I had the €.

Sorry about that, they are the same price as the u2311h when you coukd buy it off dell in australia aud$270

 

[wordoflife]

I love my Mac and OS X, but I wouldn't replace my PC desktop with it. The PC is my "powerhouse" so to speak, and I like being able to add remove parts with ease when I want. I have no problems using either OS, so that's why I don't necessarily need an all Mac (or all Windows) set up. My MacBook Pro and W7 desktop work fine together.

 

[Hellhammer]

Sorry about that, they are the same price as the u2311h when you coukd buy it off dell in australia aud$270

The problem is that Finnish resellers don't have the U2312HM yet. U2311H is 229€ from the reseller I'm planning to buy the whole system from. U2312HM is 318€ from Dell's site. Like I said, I don't really see anything special in the new one either, so I'm not gonna wait for it. The older ones are already stretching my budget.

 

[Hellhammer]

Ordered the parts yesterday. The final setup is as follows:

Motherboard: AsRock Z68 Pro3
Processor: Intel i5-2500K
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB
Memory: 2x4GB DDR3 1333MHz (G.Skill Ripjaws-X)
Hard drive: 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 7200rpm
SSD: 64GB Samsung 470 Series
Optical drive: LG DVD+/RW DL 22x SATA
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520W (Seasonic S12II from inside)
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl

Display: 2x Dell U2311H
Keyboard: Microsoft SideWinder X4

Should be here next Friday!

 

[vitzr]

Ordered the parts yesterday. The final setup is as follows:

Motherboard: AsRock Z68 Pro3
Processor: Intel i5-2500K
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB
Memory: 2x4GB DDR3 1333MHz (G.Skill Ripjaws-X)
Hard drive: 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 7200rpm
SSD: 64GB Samsung 470 Series
Optical drive: LG DVD+/RW DL 22x SATA
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520W (Seasonic S12II from inside)
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl

Display: 2x Dell U2311H
Keyboard: Microsoft SideWinder X4

Should be here next Friday!

Nice choice of components, this will make a very solid Windows machine. Working with Windows, Mac, and Linux for years has been a lot of fun since I have a nice variety and as someone mentioned earlier "balance". I get bored quickly and one platform is not enough to keep me enthused. Windows 7 has been a nice surprise as it's very stable fast and fun. I'm taking a bit of a wait and see approach with Windows 8.

Enjoy your new project 🙂

 

[KnightWRX]

How do you sync your iPhone with Linux?

I stopped running Linux as my desktop when I switched to Mac. I still drop down the to the command line and run a bunch of piped together commands though. Mac OS X is Unix after all. 😉

 

[DustinT]

I stopped running Linux as my desktop when I switched to Mac. I still drop down the to the command line and run a bunch of piped together commands though. Mac OS X is Unix after all. 😉

Ya, its nice to have that flexibility but my CLI skills aren't as strong as I'd like.. yet..

 

[Hellhammer]

So. after hours of building and setting things up, I'm finally ready. It has been a while since I built a PC and in fact, this is the first PC of this size (other have been mainly budget builds so no extra HDs etc). The building went pretty good, although I did have issues getting the backdoor of the case to fit (next time, I'll buy a modular PSU...). Otherwise there weren't any major issues.

So far I'm pretty pleased with Windows. The driver stuff etc were a bit annoying but overall I have no real concerns. Display control is way better than in OS X, I can easily enable and disable displays (I have 2x23" + 32" HDTV so the TV is disabled most of the time).

I only have two complaints. It's noisier than I thought. I had to change the PSU to XFX Core 650W because the Antec was out of stock. From what I've been listening, the PSU seems to be the main source of noise. I'll have to see if I get used to it. If not, I'll change it for the Antec. The second complaint is the keyboard. Been used to Apple low-profile KB, I keep hitting the wrong keys all the time! Well, I know this is just temporary so I'm not worried.

Here are a few pics since you asked. Sorry for the iPhone 3GS quality 😱

 

[roadbloc]

I went back to PC for exactly the same reasons the OP has done. And that I dislike OS X Lion.

 

[Huntn]

I think the solution is balance. Have the best of both worlds.

For someone who can't afford 2 computers or only wants to tote 1 computer, this places Mac in the winning position. Yes I still have a gaming PC, but it is quite aged now. When Mac's got dual boot capability, and decent performance, I no longer felt the need to have a dedicated gaming PC.

 

[ravenvii]

For someone who can't afford 2 computers or only wants to tote 1 computer, this places Mac in the winning position. Yes I still have a gaming PC, but it is quite aged now. When Mac's got dual boot capability, and decent performance, I no longer felt the need to have a dedicated gaming PC.

Same here. My 2008 iMac does all the gaming I need. Sure, it can't play the latest and greatest games very well, but it's due for an upgrade sometime next year. When I get *that*, I can catch up with the games I've missed - and at like, $10 a pop, too.

Good games are good games, no need to play "with the Joneses" so to speak.

 

[wordoflife]

When I built my PC, I was also discomforted by the noise it was making. I solved the issue by plugging the heatsink fan to one of the case fan ports on the MB (opposed to plugging it in the CPU fan port).

 

[TheSideshow]

How much did everything (Or just computer part) come out to be? Also are you just running the 64gb SSD or another HDD?

 

[Hellhammer]

I'm changing the PSU to the Antec one I originally ordered. The law gives me a 14-day return policy for no extra costs so it's a no-brainer. After reading a bit more, it appears that the XFX I have is fairly noisy (I just had to pick something quickly when they said the Antec is out of stock, hence didn't read much).

How much did everything (Or just computer part) come out to be? Also are you just running the 64gb SSD or another HDD?

1320€ for everything, including 460€ for the displays. I have 64GB SSD and 1TB+2TB HDs (ripped the 2TB out of my LaCie external).