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Upgrading vs New Mac vs PC for games

W

WannabeSQ

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2002
361
0
Well, i seem to be in a predicament, I like macs, dislike pcs, play games, use mac for audio editing, and want to upgrade.

[begin rant]

At first I was considering a simple processor upgrade on my Gr 500 to either dual 800 or single ghz. But seeing as I also play games, I priced out a decent PC for that, and it comes to around $500-$600. And I also considered buying a Dual 1ghz (either quicksilver or MDD)

Too many choices!

1. Processor Upgrade
2. New Mac
3. Second PC for games
4. ???

What are your opinions? I dont really play games too much, but that is partly because the performance is just OK, and could be better. Also, its nice to play the games when they first come out, instead of waiting for a mac port. But on the other hand, Id rather not clutter up my room with another box (got 2 monitors on the mac, and a laptop, not much room for more) not to mention id rather not deal with any microsoft software whatsoever.

to add more fuel to my fire, I will be going to film school soon, and having a dual ghz with superdrive is appealing.

[/end rant]

Any thoughts on my predicament? I can afford the dual ghz mac, but it is the most expensive option, so money is not necessarily a factor, but id rather save if possible. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.
 
I'm going with medea on this one. A GHZ TiBook would fill most of your needs:
1) It's reasonable for games, not amazing but good
2) No extra box
3) Has a superdrive for film school
4) It's portable which tends to be a plus when it comes to school
 
Normally, I would agree with you, but I already have a laptop (a PC though) and the TiBook is a bit spendy for me (you know, poor starving college student type) If I could do it all over id have an iBook cause id rather have battery life than anything else, and a desktop G4. Thanks for the suggestions, and keep em coming.
 
Well, I dont care for the games on consoles, not to mention that when a new console comes out, then the new games only come out for that, and i gotta buy a new one all over again, last console i bought was an n64, and now i like computer games better. I mostly just play warcraft 3, and am willing to wait for the mac ports. Also, this is not just an upgrade for games, that is just a fringe benefit. I want overall speed, I usually have between 5 and 10 apps open, and that really taxes my poor 500mhz.
 
Originally posted by WannabeSQ
Well, I dont care for the games on consoles, not to mention that when a new console comes out, then the new games only come out for that, and i gotta buy a new one all over again, last console i bought was an n64, and now i like computer games better. I mostly just play warcraft 3, and am willing to wait for the mac ports. Also, this is not just an upgrade for games, that is just a fringe benefit. I want overall speed, I usually have between 5 and 10 apps open, and that really taxes my poor 500mhz.
Click to expand...

Well if you aren't just using it for games I understand. Though I don't think $300 every 4 years or so is that bad for a console as compared to the price of upgrading a computer every few years.

Your going to be way better off buying a new computer over upgrading. Faster drives, faster bus, faster everything.
 
What do you want to do in film school (write, edit, direct, etc.)? If it's edit than buying a new G4 tower should be a no brainer. What's more important, games or film?

My suggestion is buy a new tower then save up $400 dollars or so and build a gaming PC. Buy a good (but inexpensive) KVM switch from Dr. Bott and the only extra "clutter" will be the PC tower.

Gaming performance wise Macs are catching up to PCs, but there is still a limited selection of Mac titles (compared to all the PC titles).


Lethal
 
Re: Upgrading vs New Mac vs PC for games

Originally posted by WannabeSQ
Well, i seem to be in a predicament, I like macs, dislike pcs, play games, use mac for audio editing, and want to upgrade.

[begin rant]

At first I was considering a simple processor upgrade on my Gr 500 to either dual 800 or single ghz. But seeing as I also play games, I priced out a decent PC for that, and it comes to around $500-$600. And I also considered buying a Dual 1ghz (either quicksilver or MDD)

Too many choices!

1. Processor Upgrade
2. New Mac
3. Second PC for games
4. ???

What are your opinions? I dont really play games too much, but that is partly because the performance is just OK, and could be better. Also, its nice to play the games when they first come out, instead of waiting for a mac port. But on the other hand, Id rather not clutter up my room with another box (got 2 monitors on the mac, and a laptop, not much room for more) not to mention id rather not deal with any microsoft software whatsoever.

to add more fuel to my fire, I will be going to film school soon, and having a dual ghz with superdrive is appealing.

[/end rant]

Any thoughts on my predicament? I can afford the dual ghz mac, but it is the most expensive option, so money is not necessarily a factor, but id rather save if possible. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.
Click to expand...

If you are into gaming PC is the only way to go (if you are not buying a console) simply because of the number of games released for PC wich are not released for Mac. Plus its cheaper.
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe
What do you want to do in film school (write, edit, direct, etc.)? If it's edit than buying a new G4 tower should be a no brainer. What's more important, games or film?

My suggestion is buy a new tower then save up $400 dollars or so and build a gaming PC. Buy a good (but inexpensive) KVM switch from Dr. Bott and the only extra "clutter" will be the PC tower.

Gaming performance wise Macs are catching up to PCs, but there is still a limited selection of Mac titles (compared to all the PC titles).


Lethal
Click to expand...

I agree with this approach. I want to switch to the Mac side, but I want to be able to play the latest games. I am thinking of getting a Mac (Dual 867 or maybe iBook) and build a decent Athlon based machine for like $500.
 
If you plan to play alot of computer games, get a PC. PCs will give you a wider selection, run your games faster, and cost a lot less. But map out your options before you buy. You want to play more games, do you need to play the latest graphic-intensive games or will something simple like Civ III and SimCity? If it's the latter, you can probably get a 1.5 Ghz beige box for a few hundred. WarCraft III ran sluggishly on my 550 Mhz TiBook but perfectly on my cousin's 1 Ghz PIII Dell laptop.

However, if you do any video editing, Macs are the way to go.

I agree with a previous post: Just get your Mac since video editing will be more important. Save a few hundred dollars, get a switch that'll let you hook up two computers to a monitor, and get a PC strictly for gaming.

In fact, I'm considering this as an option too, since Virtual PC already costs several hundred dollars and PC-Mac networking has been made infintely more easier thanks to Jaguar.
 
i would say to get an ibook,
and a playstation 2

for the price of a tiBook you can have a good machine for your computer needs,

and a cheap alternative for gaming,

and look at all the games out,

or a gamecube,

that's what i did,

no offense to gamers but it's kind of a continual upgrade thing with new cards, and games,

and with a console you know it will play when you want it to.

just my $.02
 
Actually, a good gaming PC will be more like $1000.

If you're going to have it just for that, it's got to have 512MB RAM, at least 1.8GHz Athlon, or P4 with Intel chipset, Radeon 9000 or Geforce 4 graphics card, good size hard drive, etc. A $500 PC is not going to be a gaming machine, it is going to be a C3 or Celeron word processor.

I always wonder why people compare high-end Macs to low-end PCs? Let's try going the other way: The top-of-the-line Thinkpad costs about $3200. What a rip-off! I can get an iBook for just $999 and it's just as good! In fact, the Thinkpad is slow as death running Hypercard - it runs a lot faster on the iBook! When will IBM get their act in order? :p
 
Originally posted by ninjachild
i would say to get an ibook,
and a playstation 2

for the price of a tiBook you can have a good machine for your computer needs,

and a cheap alternative for gaming,

and look at all the games out,

or a gamecube,

that's what i did,

no offense to gamers but it's kind of a continual upgrade thing with new cards, and games,

and with a console you know it will play when you want it to.

just my $.02
Click to expand...

I'd agree for the most part if you're into GTA or Street Fighter, but you can't play games like WarCraft III on a console! :D
 
Originally posted by idkew


i second that thought. a pc/mac is for GETTING WORK DONE.

go buy a console system (gamecube) if you want to play games.
Click to expand...

A PC/Mac should be used however you want to use it. Whether it is to play games, listen to music, watch videos, etc. Some games simply play better on computers vs. consoles. Just as you can't organize an MP3 library on a basic stereo system, you can't play games like WarCraft III, Civ III, etc. on a console.

As for Virtual PC: Don't even think about playing games on it! It's bad enough running a standard application like Access. Imagine how slow it'll be to play something processor-intensive like Unreal Tournament! Save the $400 or so you'll be spending on VPC and buy a console or put it towards a gaming PC.
 
i would say you should get a PowerMac with SuperDrive. your first priority should be thinking about what you need for film school. and the PowerMacs are alright for games, but if you're really into gaming a seperate gaming PC would be worth it.
 
Originally posted by macktheknife


As for Virtual PC: Don't even think about playing games on it! It's bad enough running a standard application like Access. Imagine how slow it'll be to play something processor-intensive like Unreal Tournament! Save the $400 or so you'll be spending on VPC and buy a console or put it towards a gaming PC.
Click to expand...

Well not sure about Macs. Just recently purchased the new Powerbook (1Ghz), although hasnt arrived yet :( Waiting time is like 6 weeks!!!! Is the new Powerbook with the ATI radeon 9000, 64mb DDR ram insufficient to run games on VPC? Additionally, can you run any Windows program on VPC?
Thanks,
Apple noobieee....
 
Originally posted by hui__lim


Well not sure about Macs. Just recently purchased the new Powerbook (1Ghz), although hasnt arrived yet :( Waiting time is like 6 weeks!!!! Is the new Powerbook with the ATI radeon 9000, 64mb DDR ram insufficient to run games on VPC? Additionally, can you run any Windows program on VPC?
Thanks,
Apple noobieee....
Click to expand...

Honestly, I wouldn't know how much hardware you need to run games on VPC. Your setup might be enough to get by, but don't expect UT or WC III to be running blazing fast through VPC. Remember, VPC is just an emulator and consequently will always be slower than a the real deal.

I've been running a simple test-taking program through VPC on my 550 TiBook, and it was very slow. If a simple program could consume such much resources on my TiBook, I shudder to think how slow games would be on VPC.
 
so guessing you are able to use any windows program on VPC right?
Apple Noobiieee....
 
Originally posted by hui__lim
so guessing you are able to use any windows program on VPC right?
Apple Noobiieee....
Click to expand...

Yes, I've ran some programs like IE and Access through VPC with Windows XP. They will not run very fast, but maybe with your hardware it might be a different issue. VPC should be used to run PC-only software like specialized business applications and such. Don't run programs you'll be using on a regular basis like Office on it unless you want to grow old waiting for the program to respond.
 
Originally posted by idkew


i second that thought. a pc/mac is for GETTING WORK DONE.

go buy a console system (gamecube) if you want to play games.
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily what I meant. I was meaning that it would be cheaper to buy a game console rather then upgrading or buying a new mac. A computer is to use however you want. If you want to go buy a 100 dells and drop them off off parking garages have fun. Hell please invite me and take some photos.:D
 
Thanks for all the interesting discussion. I have been down the console road, and just dont like having a box on the floor, with all the cords that always get tangled, to me, consoles are better for party type games, with a lot of friends over. I know they are cheaper, but I mostlly play games that wont work on consoles (like StarCraft 64, bleh!)

What I think I will do is get the dual ghz tower with a superdrive for now, that should play warcraft3 well right? With no slowdowns during large battles? What could be really cool is get one of those ultra small PCs and somehow fit it inside the G4 case. I really dont need the best performance or the best games, and would rather not have yet another box in my already cramped room, and I already have a PC 1ghz laptop, with XP and dont really care for the interface. Its harder on my eyes. I could stare at OSX for hours.....

In film school, I plan on working mostly with audio, but the school I will be attending gives a very broad range, so while i will specialize in one thing, I will still learn everything else. As I said before, if I can get away with never running a Microsoft program ever again, I will be happy. I truely dislike microsoft, and their business practices. All the serial key code and acvitation really pisses me off, and really does nothing from preventing everyone from downloading windows from kazaa or usenet or whatever, getting a keygen and all that. And im not even going to get into the windows reliability issues, but my mac hardly crashes, and ive had to reinstall windows 3 times. YMMV, but im a mac lover :)

I may someday get a gaming PC, but id much rather have a mac. Thanks again for the suggestions.

BTW, now that I think i have decided on a mac, would it be a good idea to upgrade my processor as a stop gap measure and wait for what comes out in 2003? Or wait anyway? Or just buy one now? Id like the quicksilver dual ghz, cause of the cache (which really improves Protools plugin performance im told) Too many choices.
 
Another reason I dont want a console, is there are 3 competing standards out there, some games I would want are only on one system. That weakens the cost argument if I have to buy 3 systems, controllers, games.... Id probably buy an xbox if they could figure out a way to emulate gamecube and ps2 hardware.
 
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