04-11-2005, 03:57 PM

About a year ago I bought an iBook to test out Mac's and I love it. I also bought a U2 iPod and loved that too. I am looking into getting a more serious laptop now but had a few questions.

1.Is it worth the almost $3000 dollars?

2.Isn't 1.67 GHz slow compared to some Windows laptops?

3.I want to use virtual PC to play PC games like Half-Life 2,but I heard it is very slow?

4.How does it stand apart from other laptops?

5.How is the comparison in performance and graphics?

6.....should I get it?


Sorry for soo many Q,any and all help is greatly appreciated.

04-11-2005, 03:59 PM

I want a Mac because no viruses and it is very smooth,but I want to run PC games that are very intense.

04-11-2005, 04:03 PM

Virtual PC is not meant to play games on. Infact, you can't play any full screen based games on it.

04-11-2005, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Solomon210

I want a Mac because no viruses and it is very smooth,but I want to run PC games that are very intense.

VPC isn't really intended for gaming. It is primarily used for running Windows apps like Office or something not extremely processor intensive. Honestly, if your main concern for getting a laptop is for gaming, my suggestion would be PS2 or XBox, or a Windows PC. There are several games that do run fine on Mac, but you will likely not see extremely stellar, smooth gaming on a Mac. Bottom line IMO, if you want to run intense PC games, then play them on a PC.

04-11-2005, 04:05 PM

What does the PB have to offer to me?I could get a Alienware...but Windows OS is unstable and all the viruses....There is a downside either way I go.Any help?

04-11-2005, 04:08 PM

Aside of games,how is it?Performance wise,3d wise,Mac games,etc.

I am just looking for a powerful laptop I can multitask with for various reasons and maybe some gaming on the side.But I own an XBOX,PSP,and some other consoles just for gaming.Is there a lot of MAC games that are real good?

04-11-2005, 04:09 PM

If you are a gaming stay with PC's. Don't come to Mac's expecting to play high powered games, especially on a powerbook

04-12-2005, 12:09 PM

"1.Is it worth the almost $3000 dollars?"

Unanswerable on its own; depends on if you will use it for what its strong at.

"2.Isn't 1.67 GHz slow compared to some Windows laptops?"

I have a 1.5GHz 12 inch PB, it performs on a par with my XP2500+ desktop PC. (for WORK related stuff, see below)

"3.I want to use virtual PC to play PC games like Half-Life 2,but I heard it is very slow?"

Forget it. Seriously.

"4.How does it stand apart from other laptops?"

Smaller (depending on which model and what you are comparing it to).
Better battery life (I get 3:45 out of mine with wireless running)
Runs a *nix-like OS (ignore if you would put linux on your laptop)
Widescreen, depending on model.
Built in bluetooth and wireless (when I shopped, I couldn't find that cheaper than a PB)

"5.How is the comparison in performance and graphics?"
See above for CPU, graphics will work as per the graphics chip set, they are standard ATI / NVidia parts...

"6.....should I get it?"

based on your "I could get an Alienware for all the gaming power"...

No. Its not a machine that will do what you want.

(edited for the sloppy quotage)

04-12-2005, 12:49 PM

dont alienware laptops weigh in at almost 10 pounds? that would suck to lug around

to me it sounds like you should get a powerbook if you are going to do graphics and video-editing, otherwise go with an ibook

also, i would recomend getting a seperate gaming pc if you really want to play pc games...i would also say just use your xbox to play games

04-12-2005, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by SogniX

Virtual PC is not meant to play games on. Infact, you can't play any full screen based games on it.

Depends on the game. I played, thru the end, Monkey Island 3 (Curse of Monkey Island) on Virtual PC 6.1, Windows XP (SP1), on a G4 iMac 1.25Ghz, 768MB RAM.

Because the graphics aren't intense, just bitmap backgrounds and specific moving characters it didn't choke the system. It played pretty decent, no lag or sound glitches.

Other games you could possibly play in VPC should be any of the Space Quests, King's Quests and Police Quest Series.

04-12-2005, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by trpnmonkey41

If you are a gaming stay with PC's. Don't come to Mac's expecting to play high powered games, especially on a powerbook

End of thread folks

04-12-2005, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Solomon210

1.Is it worth the almost $3000 dollars?

Yes, if you do the kind of stuff a mac is good for. Don't plan on it being a gaming machine. I have the top of the line newest PB with 1 GB Ram, and for games, it dosn't come close to a pc. Although, for stuff like photoshop, it's twice as fast as my pc.

2.Isn't 1.67 GHz slow compared to some Windows laptops?

Yes, as far as the number itself. However, the Mac OS uses the processor much more efficiently than Windows. I've yet to find a mass produced Windows laptop that can match the speed of mine.

3.I want to use virtual PC to play PC games like Half-Life 2,but I heard it is very slow?

Yea, forget abt. gaming on a mac.

4.How does it stand apart from other laptops?

Graphic Design, Video Editing, Music Recording. That's the real strength of a mac. Now its great for other stuff too, just anything but games.Compare this, my PC has 512mb Ram with the AMD 64 chip. It is a very powerful chip. My PB runs faster than that pc for everything but games, and it runs faster than any laptop I've never used.

5.How is the comparison in performance and graphics?

Excellent, for everything but games. Photoshop, Illustrator, and other media type software runs twice as fast on my mac than my PC.

6.....should I get it?

If you plan on doing work with media and basic computing tasks, it will outperform most windows computers (not like a dual processor 8GB ram...., but most). If games is a necessity for you, forget it. [/Quote]

Sorry for soo many Q,any and all help is greatly appreciated.

04-12-2005, 03:55 PM

its kinda like me:

i want a mac (saving... ) because.. well i use my PeeCee for: Internet, school and homework related snuff and chatting... so... why not get a mac and get: a nice computer with no visuses and spyware? (unless, youre like this) :spook:

oh yea.. and i moved all my gaming to console... much easier.... :bone: