the mac regular

hey guys & gals,

just writing about a recent thought i've had about a certain mythical mac that i know everyone wish exists. or at least, i do. a kind of "middle-of-the-road" mac. on the pc-side, this is sort of alleviated with the DIY-market. but, i will get back to that later. so, let's look at those macs, shall we?

first, is the mac mini. the mac mini is perfect in form and function and even intention. The mac mini is "affordable" and will sit right in the middle of one’s web browser in the $500-1000 category listing of computers online…. it is as if apple "listened" to its customer-base by bringing a headless "imac," as well as, a mouse-less and keyboard-less one. but, nevertheless, the mac mini gets the job done with its simplicity, affordability and minuscule form. fine. yet, the mini is just that--a mini. the most alluring of which contains a minuscule amount of vram circa 2005 for a 2011 gpu. Fine, again. The mini might be good for a year. Or two the most. That is $800 + tax down the pipe. Fortunately, macs have good resale value. So, one can possibly get lucky in the future and sell said mini for $500-600 and get the latest mini for a minimal price difference. perfect. everyone is happy. but that $800 mac mini is really closer to $1000 if one considers the buy-sell scenario above. and in the end, that new mini is still a mini and will probably still be underpowered. so that $1000 will surely rise again to $1500 down the road when it’s time to upgrade.

So, the mini is perfect. But, it’s not so perfect because the mini is really a $1500+ underpowered computer in the aforementioned 3-4 year timeframe.

the next mac is the imac. it's vram amount is reasonable. and the gpu is slightly better to a lot better on the highest model. but, it also suffers the same hidden upgrade cost especially when you consider that the imac comes with a screen. That’s all I have to say about the imac.

the next mac is the mac pro. it's the most expensive mac but it also has the most horsepower and the longest lifespan. It also doesn’t suffer the same limitations as the mini or the imac. one can upgrade (potentially) the cpu and the gpu and the ram and the hdd's. so, that $2500-3500 down is not bad if one considers that one will be using the mac pro a lot longer. So, in theory, the mac pro’s life is limitless. And this is really what I want to talk about because I am drawn to the mac pro’s superb upgrade ability and lifespan. But, the initial cost puts it well out of reach of some people’s budget. There is no $1000 mac regular.

I wish there was, though.

on the pc side, there is no "pro" or "i" or "mini." it's like a breath of fresh air sometimes. but then, again, pc's don't have that kind of optimization we are used to on the mac side.

just letting off some steam after looking at some pc's on the other side of the fence and seeing what i can build for under a $1000. mostly for gaming. but, i am not so sure of going through with it because i have invested so much on macs that if i get a pc that it would just be a really expensive gaming rig. lol. and pc's can't boot in os x like os x can boot in windows. isn't that weird?

 

you're right. i have also read plenty of posts about an "ideal" mac. and my feelings about them is that of reservation since there is really no such thing as a perfect "mac" or perfect "pc," if you think about it. technology is continually evolving. the perfect or ideal computer is what one can afford and use today and let tomorrow compute itself... more or less...

the problem and i think my point was that there is no affordable mac today that can be used for gaming. a hackintosh would solve my problem but a hackintosh would cause more problems that i can't even foresee because i really have no experience with that. i guess i could look into it, but, again, totally not ideal. ironically, a mac is already near ideal since it runs windows, right? but none of my current macs can run today's games well. i have a mid-2010 15" mbp, which is fine for games made before 2009 and a 12" powerbook. so, if i look into gaming today, i have to look at the highest end imac and that is not even ideal for many reasons. not to mention that it is just a couple hundred dollars less than an entry level mac pro.

i could go console but to do that i would be spending about $650 (i don't have an hdtv). for a few hundred more, i can get a hook up pc that can game today and a lot of tomorrows.

so, i am really sort of stuck. of course, money would solve the issue but trying to be more money conscious these days.

if i go pc, i am stuck with the pc ecosystem and i have already spent a considerable amount of mac software (fcp x, etc).

i guess i could just not do anything and wait until i have to upgrade my mac down the line and then, maybe, by that time, i can get a mac pro and play today's games tomorrow. lol.

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hahaha. i wanna use an f-16 today though because that f-16 will be a bicycle tomorrow.

just kidding.

i necessarily don't agree with future-proofing, either.

my qualm, if i had any, is that there is no mac regular. a mac that can play today's games for about $1000-1500 that i can also use for video editing and also upgrade later like a mac pro but maybe in midtower so it's not so pricey and not use the server components that mac pro uses.

so, in short, a mac medium? or mac regular?

dare i say, a mid-tower mac?

 

i was being sarcastic.

i think i should just wait, instead of getting a pc solely for a gaming rig. admittedly, lured into the pc gaming thing because i sort of want to build one from scratch. of course, it's not so cheap. so, i have to think hard about it.