pc or mac?

sup3r · Sep 12, 2008

hey everyone i'm new here i found this place by google and i have a problem...

i always have used pcs and only have very brief experiences with macs so i thought i would try and clear things up before i just go out and buy one, ok here goes...

my current pc specs are as follows:
intel Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz
4Gb DDR2 RAM (4-4-4-12)
ATi HD4850 gfx card
500Gb 7200rpm HDD
(cost was £400 to build including everything else too)

i like the look of macs, but i refuse to buy one just because of looks
here's a few things that are confusing me:

1. are macs able to be OC'd?
i think the highest frequencies i've seen on a mac processor were 3.2Ghz on a mac pro, but this itself would be a performance loss compared to my current system

2. am i able to upgrade graphics cards, RAM etc. when the old one becomes unable to play the latest games or abit outdated?
i like to play games on my pc aswell as a fair bit of photoshop etc. and macs don't really come prepared for this by the look of it.

3. how are apple able to justify their prices?
is it just the design you are paying for? the operating system? or what?
the internals seem very overpriced for what you actually get in a mac and i can get operating systems for free using torrents etc. so i don't really want to pay for that

please help answering my questions in as much detail as possible

Strimkind · Sep 12, 2008

sup3r said:
hey everyone i'm new here i found this place by google and i have a problem...

i always have used pcs and only have very brief experiences with macs so i thought i would try and clear things up before i just go out and buy one, ok here goes...

my current pc specs are as follows:
intel Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz
4Gb DDR2 RAM (4-4-4-12)
ATi HD4850 gfx card
500Gb 7200rpm HDD
(cost was £400 to build including everything else too)

i like the look of macs, but i refuse to buy one just because of looks
here's a few things that are confusing me:

1. are macs able to be OC'd?
i think the highest frequencies i've seen on a mac processor were 3.2Ghz on a mac pro, but this itself would be a performance loss compared to my current system

2. am i able to upgrade graphics cards, RAM etc. when the old one becomes unable to play the latest games or abit outdated?
i like to play games on my pc aswell as a fair bit of photoshop etc. and macs don't really come prepared for this by the look of it.

3. how are apple able to justify their prices?
is it just the design you are paying for? the operating system? or what?
the internals seem very overpriced for what you actually get in a mac and i can get operating systems for free using torrents etc. so i don't really want to pay for that

please help answering my questions in as much detail as possible

To answer your questions:

1. No but remember that the Mac Pro uses a Quad or 8 Core Xeon Server Processor, not a consumer level Core 2 Zero Q6600. Ghz means little now when comparing CPU chips.

2. Mac Pro can be upgraded with a video cards and can hold (correct me if I am wrong) 16GB of memory.

3. Its a mac. Quality, customer service and uber points. Simple as that.

louishen · Sep 12, 2008

use the search function on this site to find the myriad Mac vs PC threads and why you should choose either

But if your main concerns are swapping hardware, overclocking and hardcore gaming, I think you may be happier with a PC

sup3r · Sep 12, 2008

i see, but the Xeon CPU uses the same architecture as core 2 chips anyway and hardly anything takes advantage of all 4 of my cores right now so i really don't need 2 quad cores in my computer

ok so i can change video cards and add RAM, thats good does the mac pro support crossfire?

"hurrr it's a mac" isn't exactly what i was looking for here
Quality of what? internal parts? i think they're just the same as i can get at microdirect etc. right?
i don't need customer service to be honest if anything went wrong i would sooner open it up myself and have a poke around (is that possible with mac?)
what are uber points?

dtravis7 · Sep 12, 2008

A Mac Pro or any Mac for that matter is really not a gaming system. If that is your goal and overclocking as well, I would really suggest like louishen said, stick with a PC with Windows.

The Mac Pro does not support SLI Video.

Also our forum rules do not allow talk or discussion about Piracy of an OS off a Torrent.

In your case for what you want from a computer I would stick with a PC.

sup3r · Sep 12, 2008

ok then i'll stick with Vista, macs seem to be kinda a ripoff and i don't really see why they are so expensive

is there anywhere i can buy the cases apple use? this is the only reason i was drawn to them for their looks. i would probably have put Vista on it anyway

ErikJenkins1187 · Sep 12, 2008

Macs use Apple designed cases.

Sigh... You have to understand one thing dude, the Mac Pro is a WORKSTATION computer, the components to build a similar specd PC workstation would be INSANELY expensive (go to Newegg, and don't skimp by putting some pedestrian PC garbage in there, buy a server motherboard and 2 Xeons, you'll see it's around 3800 to do it). It is the kind of computer that can compress or play raw HD video (I don't care how fast your overclocked WinBox would be, it couldn't do this, trust me, I've had friends that have tried), run a server, run 64 tracks of audio in a DAW setting, address massive amounts of ram, and store tons of info. If you want to play Crysis, go buy a cheap gaming PC, if you want a computer to CREATE with, get a Mac.

Khris · Sep 12, 2008

sup3r said:
macs seem to be kinda a ripoff

And that's where you're completely wrong.

technologist · Sep 13, 2008

sup3r said:
ok then i'll stick with Vista, macs seem to be kinda a ripoff and i don't really see why they are so expensive

I's pretty obvious that you don't know Thing 1 about Mac OS X, have never used a Mac, are not willing to take the time to research it, and probably aren't even curious. I'm sure you'll be another satisfied Vista customer.

i was drawn to them for their looks.

Ahh, considering a $3000 computer because you like how it looks. That explains a lot.