I built almost every computer I owned before getting my MacBook Pro. I hand picked every part for ultimate performance. I did own a Dell laptop, and an HP one, an AlienWare one (before Dell bought/ruined them), and a Sager laptop. I still use the Sager. It runs Ubuntu Server edition so I can test and benchmark server software on it. I even just upgraded the hard drives to those Seagate hybrid 1T ones. It looks like a laptop, but weighs like 20lbs. Its a bitch to lug around, so I never really did. I didn't really carry around the others either. Windows and Ubuntu desktop didn't work well without a mouse, and it hated using the trackpads on those systems built to run Windows. I was never much of an Apple fan. On the hardware side, you got way more bang for your buck building your own rig. And apple's software was just awful until OSX. They'd build a slick packaged hardware platform and put an OS on it that used 110% of its resources. The old macs spent more time OS swapping to floppy disk than doing any useful work. I avoided Apple like the plague. I'd talk a lot like Natebishop3. Way better hardware for cheap. And you didn't get stuck with OS9 and all the Pascal legacy bullshit. I got that Sager to run Ubuntu, not Windows. Windows was always an OK X Terminal, but only useful as an OS for lack of anything else. XP? Hahahaha. 3.2G memory limit even if you have a 64 bit CPU and 32G of RAM. Microsoft was absurdly late to the 64 bit world. Vista was a disaster, and unusable. Windows 7 actually worked, but it was still windows. Microsoft uses a file system called NTFS. It works fine until your hard disk gets 10% full and then all that whiz bang super cheap and blazing fast hardware slows down over time as you use your computer more and more. Seriously, has everyone not noticed that wiping your hard drive and installing Windows fresh makes your computer run fast again, like when it was new? So I worked in a Windows shop. Windows server for email and other things, windows XP on every Dell workstation. I bought 8G of RAM for the Dell for $69 out of my own pocket and installed it. Then installed Ubuntu 64 on it and ran Windows in a VM to access the 2 mission critical apps required by my job. One was a .NET app that would not display properly in any browser but Internet Exploder... This legacy hell is a huge reason to stay away from M$ in the first place. Ubuntu worked great. It ran all the things I needed to do 90% of my job. I never liked OpenOffice, so I used M$ Office in the VM. I have been a Unix geek since the mid 1980s when it ran on PDP 11s and Vax systems. I ran Linux in the early days when the kernel version was 0.3.x and exchanged emails with Linus regularly. I built data center scaled applications using FreeBSD, which was just better software (every algorithm well done). I knew many of the core committers, the best ones ended up hired by Apple. Ubuntu showed the promise of what Unix can do for the desktop. The graphical UI was on par with Windows, but the applications were amateur and not often as well developed as the commercial ones you could get for Windows. Like GIMP vs. PhotoShop? Adobe did it way better. Apple's hardware is plenty good enough. I play Diablo 3 on the laptop with all graphics options set to max and get a fast frame rate. What I also get is 8 hours of battery life compared to the 2 on my Windows class laptops, or the 20 minutes on the Sager. The operating system is just so well done. It's Unix under the hood, but the Cocoa UI makes stunningly great apps. Why spend less money on better hardware that runs shitty software? I learned my lesson. As for games, that's what the PS4 is for.
I just think it's crazy to spend an extra thousand for an operating system. In another thread I was comparing the hardware between a current iMac and a PC I built in December of 2011. They are nearly identical, but I spent around 900 to build the tower, and the iMac is $2200. I understand liking the OS, but that just seems absurd. I can't support a company that gouges their customers like that. The OS is worth, at most a few hundred dollars in my mind. Those computers should be $1400 or $1500, not $2200. Also, the reason why that Sony probably died is because of all the crappy extras that came on the OS. I wonder if you could have saved it by installing a bone stock OEM version of Windows. That's what I did with my laptop and it's still going strong five years later.
I hear what you're saying, but I prefer FPS games like COD and BF4 on a PC. Diablo can't touch some of the graphics in an FPS. I played Diablo 3 and I felt like the graphics and gameplay were very dated for something that was supposed to be cutting edge. Also, you can't play SC2 or WoW on a console. The only games I like for my console are sports games and things like GTA. I think Microsoft is going down the tubes. I wouldn't buy their phones, tablets, or laptops. Actually, I wouldn't buy a laptop from any of the major manufacturers. I've been tempted to try a Chromebook though. I look at laptops as something to do homework and surf the web. Maybe store a few pictures. That's it. I used to game on a Dell laptop, but their products got worse and worse. Vista was a steaming pile of shit. I really like Windows 7. I haven't had any problems with it. I knew Windows 8 was going to suck. Hopefully their next version isn't quite so crappy.
Please show me this current iMac that 1) costs $2200 and 2) you can build on your own. And then post a picture of this self made, windows, iMac.
http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/imac?product=ME089LL/A&step=config This is the one I linked in a thread yesterday. With the Intel i7 processor, it bumps it up to $2199. I built my computer in December of 2011 with all of those same specs, except the Nvidia. I went with a similar AMD video card. I have the i7 intel processor. I have 8 gigs of DDR3 ram. I have a 1T hard drive. I have an HD video card with 2 gigs of dedicated ram. I spent about half of what that computer costs.
How much of the Apple store phenom is that it's not super easy to buy Apple computers/shit? I can go to Fred Meyer, Target and Wal Mart (tho I don't go to Wal Mart) and buy most of the Windows shit I'd want. Is that true of Apple?
You can get Apple at Best Buy which is pretty easy. I think people go to the apple store for the concept of going to the apple store to hang out. Its like going to Starbucks to hang out so other people can see you there. Plus a good number of people are there getting service/technical support at the Genius Bar.
My mistake… They "were", but stopped after they decided not to direct attention to the industry. But with this article, it says that scientists still use macs because they can get into linux shells easier. http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_lost_its_focus_on_science
Tell me what powerhouse has this…. 1.) Dual GPUs - allowing you work pixel for pixel in up to (3) 4k displays 2.) 20Gb/s of throughput (The freeway to where all information can be passed back and forth) 3.) Up to 12GB of video memory 4.) 528GBs of memory bandwidth. 5.) 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processors - up to 60GB of memory bandwidth. 6.) Up to 12 processing cores/24 virtual cores
Seriously. So many people are so concerned about the specs on their computer, even though they'll never use them. It isn't neat to be able to tell your friends you have 24 virtual cores. Here come Denny to tell me he fully utilizes his hardware using various IDEs.
Nope, its used in the music recording, mechanical engineering, video editing (professional level) and heavily intensive 3D modeling
Yeah, no doubt that they're vastly superior in the creative community, graphic design, etc, but its just overkill for most people.
You are correct… But saying some dude can build a computer that is just as fast and just as good is seriously doubting the engineering capabilities of apple.
