Mac or pc

deanlegg · 24 May 2012, 18:17

Hi all

My dell has broken down again, its only a year old

Can any point me in the direction of some posts for and against macs

I tried search but couldn't find any

I see the mac pro runs an ATI card which I thought was a no no

Also to get the same spec as my pc it would cost $3499!! with no monitors. I already have 2 x 27" screens

All comments welcome

Thanks Dean

solo · 24 May 2012, 19:02

This is gonna turn into a Mac vs PC thread.

My suggestion, stay away from Dell or HP for that matter, stick with Asus.

Or, get a machine built to spec.

Rich O Brien · 24 May 2012, 19:08

I see alot of mentions for Asus of late. I've never even seen one over here.

Are they really that good? Their site isn't very user friendly.

Funny you say stay away from Dell and HP, my desktop and laptop respectively.

EscapeArtist · 24 May 2012, 19:45

What do you want to use it for outside of SU? If gaming, consider a PC. PCs are much easier to upgrade and add or remove components from with competitive pricing. If you want a good work computer, then get a Mac. They have good stability and usability, but you're generally going to be locked in to the hardware and Mac software (even though you can run Windows on a Mac, but for that matter you can create a mac clone and run OSX on a PC too).

Whatever works for you. I'm not a fanboy of either of them, they both have their place. My house has i-devices and PCs both. I just prefer the PC for the aforementioned reasons; I can multi-boot linux flavors and windows versions and replace any component as necessary for an upgrade within the limitations of the motherboard. You can make it as powerful or as efficient as you like. With a self-built PC, the upgrade costs decrease after the first build. The LCD monitor, CD/DVD, HDD drives and case can almost always be cannibalized for the next system. Often the sound card (if not built-in) and power supply can be as well (if a high quality one was purchased initially). That leaves only the CPU, motherboard, GPU and memory for each upgrade. A considerable savings. My last build for internal components was less than $1000 for an i7, 24 GB mem, 1TB HDD and a GTX570. The rest of the parts were salvage.

If I had to buy a pre-built system, I have also heard that ASUS is OK, and my folks have an HP that works very well. You'll likely need to go through and uninstall any pre-installed trial or other software by the manufacturer, there's usually plenty of it and it has nothing to do with making your computer work.

JMO.

jeff hammond · 24 May 2012, 22:31

@deanlegg said:

I see the mac pro runs an ATI card which I thought was a no no

they're switching back to nvidia again.. hang on a couple of weeks if you decide on a mac..

Rich O Brien · 24 May 2012, 22:38

@unknownuser said:

they're switching back to nvidia again.. hang on a couple of weeks if you decide on a mac..

for once I'm really interested to see what they do with the Macbook Pro. Recent exposure to Macs has perked my interested but always it's a price problem. Very hard to stomach paying out all that cash knowing I can get way more grunt in a PC.

jeff hammond · 24 May 2012, 22:50

@rich o brien said:

for once I'm really interested to see what they do with the Macbook Pro. Recent exposure to Macs has perked my interested but always it's a price problem. Very hard to stomach paying out all that cash knowing I can get way more grunt in a PC.

latest rumors (well, in this case, suspected controlled leaks via apple themselves which they do from time to time)

• a Retina 15.4-inch display at 2880x1800 resolution for a density of 220 pixels per inch
• adoption of macbook air form factor :
"This will include new, ultra-thin unibody enclosures that jettison yesteryear technologies like optical disk drives and traditional hard drives in favor of models with lightweight chassis that employ flash-memory based solid-state drives, instant-on capabilities, extended battery life, and rely on digital distribution for software and media. "
• Nvidia GeForce GT 650M
• base cpu -- Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM quad-core processor running at 2.7 GHz (with an upgrade option)
• USB 3.0 (along with thunderbolt)

expected to be announced at WWDC june11-15

Ecuadorian · 24 May 2012, 22:56

Buy a Mac. This way you won't be able to compete with me (I use some Windows-only software) unless you install Bootcamp + Windows 7.

pilou · 24 May 2012, 22:59

@unknownuser said:

but always it's a price problem

That is the eternal problem between these 2 monsters

[flash=560,315:1e1l0vyy]http://www.youtube.com/v/uLbJ8YPHwXM[/flash:1e1l0vyy]

fuzzion · 25 May 2012, 02:43

PC for desktop, Mac and Asus with extended warranty for Laptop.

Most software is designed around Windows. You can boot windows on a Mac, so the issue is preference and cost.

bmike · 25 May 2012, 03:34

having just moved from a dell 'mobile' workstation (17"m6400) to a 17" macbook pro, i can't say that i'm missing anything. i do have bootcamp loaded with parallels for some topo software and accounting software that i didn't want to have to shutdown and reboot for. and i can always direct boot into win7 if i need to do anything more than check plans in auto cad (don't want to drop the $$ for a new mac license... and the don't swap licenses for you)

i don't 'game'.
i sketchup / layout and (less and less) autocad.
photo process, organize, write, blog, etc.
web, movies, music, etc.
i've dipped a toe into rendering, but if that was a huge part of my workflow i'd probably set up a cheap PC box to crunch the numbers, and keep the mac laptop as my main design tool.

for me, as i work mobile a lot, i lost 6-8 pounds out of my kit from the old machine and power 'brick' just moving to the new machine, and was able to stick with a 17", as i'm often on the road and wanted the screen real estate (almost went 15, and would likely do that if / when they go retina).

and i'm hooked on the magic trackpad, gestures, and overall stability and speed (i'm sure one can achieve this with a win machine, but after ... 12 years i'm glad to be back on a nice piece of hardware and software)

if you want a mac, hold off on until they make some announcements. you might see some cool new stuff, or you might see prices drop on existing stock.

but, if you game, render, have tons of software PC only, well, then you are probably looking PC.

deanlegg · 25 May 2012, 14:22

You guys have confirmed my thoughts and I think I will stick with pc

Basically I only use it for SU and downloading

I never meant to start a war just wanted people's thoughts

Solo ( and others) what spec do you run on your machine?

Cheers all

Paul Russam · 25 May 2012, 14:56

I have PC's at work and Mac's at home, I love my iMac, my MacBook Pro, my iPhone and my iPad but I HATE SKETCHUP ON THE MAC
For 90% of the apps that run on both PC's and Mac's I think the Mac versions are 'nicer' to use but SU is in the remaining 10% (Welllll in there). I've got Parallels VM with Win7 installed just to use SU at home.

Unless you really really want a Mac I'd stick with a Win7 PC........

and a good virus checker

tim · 25 May 2012, 22:44

@fuzzion said:

Most software is designed around Windows. You can boot windows on a Mac, so the issue is preference and cost.

Well, yes and no. You'd be amazed how much software is written by people that know how to do a good job on both. And, for a $50 or so purchase of Parallels or VMWare you can run Windows (and linuxes, whatever) at the same time as OS X. It's not at all difficult to run TurboCAD under Windows at the same time as SU under OS X and gimp under Ubuntu. For work I've occasionally had three or four versions of Windows running at the same time to compare some app's behaviour. Mostly it reminds me why I dislike OS X less than I dislike Windows but that's neither here nor there right now.

tim · 25 May 2012, 22:45

@paul russam said:

I HATE SKETCHUP ON THE MAC

What problems do you have to make you so annoyed with it? Since I use SU on an iMac I'd be interested to know what you think I'm suffering from...

fuzzion · 26 May 2012, 12:32

@deanlegg said:

You guys have confirmed my thoughts and I think I will stick with pc

Basically I only use it for SU and downloading

I never meant to start a war just wanted people's thoughts

Solo ( and others) what spec do you run on your machine?

Cheers all

27 inch led screen
4ghz oc i7 intel
460gtx sli
6gb triple channel ram
256gb intel ssd
razor mouse

Mike Lucey · 26 May 2012, 14:36

On balance Josh, for what you intend to use the computer for, I think you are probably making the right choice.

I use a MBP 17" and it suits my needs. However I also think SU somehow is more ...... Mmmmm ..... what's the word I'm looking for?
Got it! More 'businesslike' on a PC.

Here is a fairly well balanced Pro / Con review, okay the Mac wins, but only just

Mac vs PC - Pros & Cons Comparison Review

http://www.digitalphotographywriter.com/2010/08/mac-vs-pc-pros-cons-comparison-review.html

BTW, we like the occasional War around here

solo · 26 May 2012, 15:27

Mike, read some of the comments and you will see that this is not an "unbiased" review, especially when it comes to hardware. I'm not buying this as credible.

bmike · 26 May 2012, 19:56

@solo said:

Mike, read some of the comments and you will see that this is not an "unbiased" review, especially when it comes to hardware. I'm not buying this as credible.

Find me a tech writer who is unbiased and I'll ...

Mike Lucey · 26 May 2012, 20:52

I stand corrected