DECISION TIME: -- Apple or PC
 

Time for me to buy/build a new box....

On the PC end I'm looking at:


P4 3.6ghz @ 1100mhz+ (ala P4 2.4c)
Abit IC7-G Motherboard (gigabit ethernet, firewire, SATA raid onboard etc)
1 gig of PC4200 DDR OCZ memory
2x SATA 160 meg drives running RAID-0
8x DVD-R/40x CD-R
1 Radeon AGP card with DVI 128mb
2 Radeon PCI cards with DVI 128mb
cordless ergo/natural keyboard and mouse
media bay (for CF/memory sticks etc)

I can do that for about $1400.

Because of the extreme overclocking there
(that 2.4c chip kicks ass) this is a pretty great
machine for $1400.




OR.....


I can buy an Apple through a friend that works there @ 30% off...

Which would bring the Dual 2ghz down to ~$2100
Dual 2Ghz
512megs ram
160GB SATA
"SuperDrive"... (4x DVD-R?)
ATI Radeon 9600 pro --w/64mb DDR


So for the apple, I would need to buy new/more ram, a new DVD-R, another hard drive & a SATA raid card (if they have one available?), a couple more video cards & my cordless keyboard/mouse etc.... figure about $600 in extras I'd need to buy.

So Apples "top of the line" for me would be ~$2700 I guess.




It's a really hard decision for me here... I've been wanting to switch to Apple ever since they went FreeBSD.

http://www.apple.com/powermac/
dual mac is a beast

i think as 2nd computer i wouldn't mind having a mac, but doing everything there probably wont be an easy change for me.

I just wish they would offer a bare/base system.

No memory, no hd etc.

go with the pc

it beats xeon by far now

http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/

impressive,i thought mac was always behind

Find out if your friend can get a deal on the refurbs too and you can knock another $300 to $400 off that Powermac price with the exact same warranty.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....3.1.1.0?73,53

if you plan to buy the PC buy a parhelia instead of the 3 radeons

There is only one right thing to do: get the MAC :thumbsup

That brings the base price of the dual 2.0 down to ~ $1700.

Hmmmmm. So tempting.

I don't think I like how matrox does multiple monitors. I tried that dual G550 or G450 they have & it wouldn't work with another matrox card in the machine (a millenium - I run 3 LCD's)

I see its like $300....

I wonder what the benefit would be to running it over 3 independent cards?

I hate change when it comes to things like computers. Changing to a Mac would be a pain to get used to.

Macs look great and are great.

The problem is the software, as (a) it seems more expensive (b) there is not as much (c) some manufactures that used to make Mac software or no longer.

Windows XP has meant that PC now are almost as good as Macs for video editing as well as graphics and so on.

Also Macs look great, but many PC makers are now giving PC's the Mac look.

I do love Mac laptops, they seem better built than many PC ones. Most PC laptops feel cheap and are not great to have sat on your knee while on a train. Mac laptops do look nice, and seem ideal for travelling.

Mac need to get more software out, that is not just based on professional use, but also home use. Mac is mainly let down by software. I do think the machines are making a come back, but until there is far more software, Mac will never sell as well as PC's.

So before you buy your next computer, ask yourself what you plan to do with it, and see if you can get the software first.

There is really no reason anymore today to go for a Mac

MAC? Join the petitioners for the law suit...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech...eut/index.html

...also, iPOD's battery lasts 18 months and it is not replaceable.

go for the Apple!

about the iPod issue... Apple has already said they will provide iPod owners with new batteries for no charge after the dirty secret got out...
OLD NEWS!

For desktops I would suggest that Mac. Laptops PC.

I'm looking forward to it....

I'm very familiar with the underlying OS (FreeBSD / *Nix) and can't wait to have all that nativity -- PHP, Apache, perl etc (yes I know you can do this in windows.. but its not the same :))....

To me Apple is like a nice looking, well established GUI with decent developer support on top of FReeBSD... very tempting as I am a big FreeBSD fan.

This might come down to flipping a coin :(


I don't think I'll be able to completely abandon PC's for awhile... so maybe I should get the PC first & prepare to have it become my backup box.

Apple is probably going to release the dual 2.5's or 3.0 soon anyway -- then I'll be sorry that I grabbed the 2.0.

yeah for me it's not a 'lack of software' issue at all. Mac has an impressive amount of software and developers on their own.... then if you throw in all the open source Unix/Xwindows stuff... woo :)

Since OSX was released I've wanted one... but the issue has always been price.

And its not that I cant afford it. The problem is I can't get myself to spend so much more for so much less.

That 3.6ghz system (2.4c overclocked) would be a pretty nice system - it would scream I'm sure.


You always hear mac guys talking about "This new mac I got screeeeeeeeams!" ... well sure, compared to the 3 year old one you upgraded from I'm sure it would - as apples hardware/performance upgrades (in the past anyway) move/d much slower than PC's (the whole supply and demand thing I guess)

I think I might hang out at best buy for a couple hours and run some benchmarks on my own.