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Mac vs PC - 2014
- Thread starter BumRush
- Start date
- Status
Just to touch on this, my current Macbook Pro was purchased in 2008. Still runs perfectly. Really is amazing.
BIGWORM
Member
...in what sense?
BadAss2961
Member
Viral Mac campaign confirmed.
Chance Hale
Member
Nonsense.
Proper viruses are rare, but adware/nagware/trojans are still very easy to get if you're not paying attention while downloading stuff from the internet. Even legit programs like to install crap like Ask toolbar or that useless McAfee security scan.
I would never buy a Mac, but I admit they last a lot longer than most laptops, hardware-wise. They also don't suffer of "Windows rot" that affects those who don't know how to avoid it (aka: nearly everyone).
BadAss2961
Member
People that aren't very computer literate still fuck up their PCs.
I just wouldn't expect many of these people on GAF.
If you've never had a PC with an SSD, it is night and day. All programs are faster, they're more responsive, it's just better. I don't even like using HDD for storage anymore to be honest. I'd rather drop from a 600 dollar gpu to a 400 dollar gpu, or drop from 16gb to 8gb of ram. I would sacrifice other aspects of my PC for an SSD.
In 2014 you don't buy a computer without a SSD, unless you are on an extremely tight budget. In short, it transforms what the computer feels like. Processor speeds, etc. do not matter in day-to-day use at all, having a SSD does matter.
If your space needs are modest enough - especially since you are not on tight budget - I'd go with just SSD. For my next PC desktop, I'm going to grab a 500GB SSD at minimum (their prices just dropped to $200) but might go up to 1TB (which is about $400 but might drop to $350 by that point). Mechanical drives still have a place for cost-effectively storing large quantities of data that is needed rarely - like if you have 1TB of ripped Blu-Ray movies at 20GB each, no point in paying for SSD space for that. The important thing is that OS, apps, all files you touch often are on the SSD, so the mechanical HDD never even spins up unless you specifically go access something from that drive.
Apple charges very high prices for SSD upgrades (and it's pitiful that they don't have some quantity of SSD as default on iMacs). Their SSDs are fast compared to average consumer SSDs, so they are providing value for money in a way, but unfortunately that speed difference is not really something the average consumer will notice, so all they are left with is the sky-high price.
If I was personally buying an iMac, I'd probably either buy it with the 256GB expensive-but-fast Apple SSD, or if that's not enough space, buy it with the stock HDD, buy my own regular 500-1000GB SSD for $200-400, and pay $50 (?) for the shop to install that SSD before I take delivery of the iMac. (Of course, that option leaves you with the stock 1TB HDD in hand, which is a perfectly sized backup disk or external media storage; you just need to grab a $30 USB enclosure to put it in.)
Personal preference is PC, but based on what you're saying you're probably gonna want a Mac.
Stop looking at porn, you have a wife
Stop looking at porn, you have a wife
FullMetalx117
Member
Get a Macbook. I thought Macs were a huge waste of money a while ago, but after owning one (found a great deal), I don't think I can ever buy a PC laptop again. If you're really into gaming, though, get a PC.
Edit: Definitely get more than 128GB though. My Macbook Air fills up wayyy too fast.
Edit: Definitely get more than 128GB though. My Macbook Air fills up wayyy too fast.
Wow....yeah I can see how those sites could totally screw someone.
Yep.
Not to mention the fake drivers, fake antivirus, fake "PC boosters", fake anti-malware software, fake backup software, fake flash players and pirated software, which is a minefield for computer illiterate people.
An SSD has no moving parts; you can think of it as essentially a giant internal thumbdrive as your main HDD. The primary benefit is lightning fast speed. As in, when you turn your machine on it will boot so fast you'll be at the desktop in well under 10 seconds. Opening files is basically immediate. Loading times in games greatly reduced, etc.
Buddha Beam
Banned
I'm deep and happy in the Mac ecosystem. I'm still pretty sharp with a PC (although Windows 8 was... something else at first) but I just find Windows to be an overall more cumbersome experience. I've always found Windows to be much more high maintenance and I don't want to worry about that any more.
I dunno. I just... don't want to be bothered by all the malware concerns.
I also find that OS X is a much better multi window OS. Kind of ironic, really.
I dunno. I just... don't want to be bothered by all the malware concerns.
I also find that OS X is a much better multi window OS. Kind of ironic, really.
DemurOnion
Banned
I switched from Mac 3 years ago and never looked back and never will. Mac is over for me in every way.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Sounds like you should get an iMac. Their 27 inch models are beautiful. I would recommend getting the SSD, and hooking up a USB3/Thunderbolt drive. It should work really nice with your wife's iPad and your iPhones. Coming next OSX and iOS updates integration between the devices is going to be even stronger.
DemurOnion
Banned
In the sense he has no clue what he is talking about.
My PC is built with parts a Mac could only dream of having in it.
Viruses are a problem for inept people. Period.
Macmanus
Member
Props for doing that. I don't even care - just wanted to see if you would.
Also my 3 year old Asus laptop that I bought for $400 can do exactly what you posted so I guess I don't even get the discussion.
In desktop world I don't feel that's accurate at all due to the significantly lower cost and ease of upgrades and replacements. In laptop world that also seems dubious. Is it common for people of appropriate means to be rocking a MBP from '08?
Hey guys. I'm in a dilemma between buying a PS4 or a Xbone:
- I want to play Uncharted
- I like Japanese hardware
- I really like the words Station and Play
What should I choose?
wii u
Aquamarine
Member
Get a Mac so you can get an overpriced computer with a beautiful, durable design.
Depends how you define value. There's merit in spending money for much better aesthetics, build materials and so forth. For a desktop PC I'd still buy a Windows machine though, but laptops is Macbook every time.
Beermeister
Banned
I kind of doubt that, unless you've put like $2k+ into your build. The Mac Pro specs are quite beefy.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
People who build their own PC in here seem so angry at the world.
Chance Hale
Member
The Mac Pro is an overpriced workstation so you have to compare it to different things. Much cheaper cards on both the desktop and mobile versions will run games better because they have drivers made for that purpose.
Not really, if anything its amusing to see people with macbook airs tell people that their hardware is better than a desktop.
I define value as the internals of a PC, you know the thing that actually is used when you turn it on. Not to mention the idea that Apple is the only company making attractive laptops is very silly. Vaio, Dell, and others have some really visually appealing options. And on the desktop side companies like Lian Li are in a class of their own.
He didn't mention price and as far as I can tell, a D700 compares best to a 280x or 290x. The OS also supports almost all of the current GTX7XX cards if you have an older Pro tower or built your own.
Chance Hale
Member
You don't use workstation cards for gaming, their drivers aren't optimized for them.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
In that enclosure? It's not as likely as you think.
You all have convinced me to go SSD...would you recommend going Apple's 250 GB SSD and an external 1TB HD?
I know, but the post I replied to didn't mention gaming in particular. Also see the second part of of my post. GTX780 is most certainly a gaming oriented card.
that enclosure is the problem, they are filling a desktop shaped hole with a laptop shaped peg.
Both OSs fail at window management. I'm confident the right choice for the future is a tiling window manager. Microsoft has the beginnings of one in Metro UI, but they don't seem to be willing to keep extending and powering it up to make it a replacement of the old desktop window manager, so unfortunately it's not a strength of desktop Windows yet, if ever.
Orthogonal to the physical handling of the windows is the question whether to be document-centric (Windows) or app-centric (OS X), and in this I think Windows is fundamentally in the right. Unfortunately they haven't further steps towards being data-centric and de-emphasizing apps, which I think is the ultimate place to end up; if anything, they have taken small steps to Apple's app-centric direction starting from Win7.
But then comes the polish and small-scale usability, and there OS X is so strong that Windows isn't even in the running. Windows is feels ugly and works poorly. OS X needs a little help from third party software to really shine (mostly to obtain window tiling and Maximize, both of which Windows has out of the box) but that's a simple addition of functionality that works just as well as native shortcuts after it's set up; in contrast there's nothing the user can do to fix Windows' clunkiness since it sits in the very core design and UI elements. This is why I stick with OS X year after year despite wanting nothing to do with Apple's apps, walled gardens, iOS devices etc.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
I'm just assuming this, but isn't the iMac the top selling or one of the top selling pre-made desktops? Looks like it's filling the right hole.
Macbook Pros are still far and away the most well designed and built laptops around even though others are catching up. People also find value in a trackpad that is actually usable and 10 hours plus battery life.
because it is popular, it is flawless. gotcha.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
No one ever said that.
It seems your concern over which GPU is put into the computer isn't too big of a deal to most desktop buyers. Which is the story of every Mac/PC thread since the first iMac.
The thing is, the only real reason for them to have a new desktop model that doesn't isn't already accommodated by their current products is gaming. And Apple has never given a shit about Mac gaming.
Chance Hale
Member
Value as in performance per dollar. Retaining value doesn't really matter when you overpaid by hundreds in the first place.
You saw my recommendation already - it's either that, or you buy a bigger 3rd party SSD and get it installed after the fact. What you should do depends on how much data you have in total, and how much of it is the kind of data that doesn't really benefit from being on a SSD. When possible I'd err on the side of getting a large enough internal SSD to fit everything, and just have an external disk for backup rather than being dependent on it for storage.
Re: backup, OS X has a very convenient automatic backup thingy, for which you should have a separate partition on the external drive that's somewhat larger than the internal storage. So if you have the 250GB SSD in the iMac, I'd set aside a 350GB partition on the external disk for backing that up, so then you'd have X - 350GB space left on the external to store some mass data (that is not backed up - obviously you can't have a backup and the original data on the same physical HDD).
Chance Hale
Member
The idea that apple laptops are the only ones with decent build quality is pure marketing, just the same as the retina screen being some one of a kind thing. Can't argue with the trackpad though, it's the one thing I miss about the macbook pro.
D
Deleted member 12837
Unconfirmed Member
It matters when every machine after your first is $700 cheaper because you can still sell a 4-year-old model for a great price.
Also, not everyone measures value in performance per dollar. That might be your preference, but that's just one metric out of many.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Eh, I'm as much of a PC tragic as you'll find on this board but I honestly don't see much contention here. The OP wants a general purpose computer which plays games decently, and doesn't care about paying more cash. That's a Mac.
I would always go for something cheaper myself because I'm just going to put Linux on it anyway, but if you want a no fuss computer and don't need to budget then I think a Mac is a great choice, if not the best.
I would always go for something cheaper myself because I'm just going to put Linux on it anyway, but if you want a no fuss computer and don't need to budget then I think a Mac is a great choice, if not the best.
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