Afraid to switch

[Prise]

Look, games arn't everything but.. does this mean I can't play games on it? At all? That doesn't sound right for a computer I'm about to pay € 3000,- for, you know? Anyone care to clarify this?

Of course, you can play games on the Mac. There are many popular PC games for the Mac, though they debut initially for the PC. The issue really isn't running the game, but can you run the game as it were designed and intended to run in all of its graphic glory.

The Mac is a poor choice for games simply because the on-board 3-D graphics chip (not to mention RAM and Motherboard selection) will always be deficient when compared to the top of the line PC graphics accelerators. This is why on top of the line PCs (which are just as expensive, if not more so than a top of the line Mac) will run graphic intensive 3-D programs more briskly than a Mac.

There are few programs that can push the envelope of computer technology the way the newest 3-D games seek to do.

 

[smurfy]

Click here, then on the link in the third post.Lack of sleep because of the "just one more" customizing tweak.

yay my Thread.

 

[Brown Study]

yay my Thread.

Did you manage to convince your dad that Macs are pure?

 

[Miffle]

I don't know anyone on this forum personally so I can't say any of us are that qualified to provide you with advice on the graphics card choice, the simple answer is the PC will have more options in the way of graphics cards.

My advice stops at 2D but at CGTalk (You may also find links to specialist 3D websites via CGSociety or CGTalk) they should be able to give you advice on the cards available in the mac pro, various options you could have a think about. One thing would be despite the ample room in the mac pros case, can it do everything you want/will want in the future?

One of the great advantages of the mac pro is how many monitors you can run if you have the video cards. Just think about the dropping price of video cards! Its amazing to think that in a few years time you could be running 7 monitors, no problem! (I don't know if 7 is the limit, its just a nice config)

With the mac pro you may find you can get more work done, if you are working with something like a wacom graphics tablet you can zip around and be working in your favourite application in no time at all.

I'm yet to be amazed with the simplicity of Mac OS X, I would be frustrated if it did anything else.. Its nothing amazing but it has the potential to save a lot of time

You will have extremly fast boot up times and everything you need easily reachable. Does the OS offer everything you want to do, or may want to do? Its brilliant if it does, i'm yet to find an operating system to support all the programs i'd like to run

If you want to play games, theres no real way around it, its on a PC, sure you can play games on a mac but windows is the major player, I won't go into using Boot Camp to play games because, in all honesty, i'd rather use a dedicated windows machine.


Your problem isn't as simple as someone just wanting a hastle free computer to do some photo-retouch on and thats what makes it so interesting!

Whatever platform you choose, for the power you are looking to buy, anything will be enjoyable

 

[MacHeadCase]

Of course, you can play games on the Mac. There are many popular PC games for the Mac, though they debut initially for the PC. The issue really isn't running the game, but can you run the game as it were designed and intended to run in all of its graphic glory.

The Mac is a poor choice for games simply because the on-board 3-D graphics chip (not to mention RAM and Motherboard selection) will always be deficient when compared to the top of the line PC graphics accelerators. This is why on top of the line PCs (which are just as expensive, if not more so than a top of the line Mac) will run graphic intensive 3-D programs more briskly than a Mac.

There are few programs that can push the envelope of computer technology the way the newest 3-D games seek to do.

Oh I don't know, Maya comes to mind. And yes, there is a Mac version of Maya. Every version of Maya has been released for Mac since Mac went OS X. If the Mac was that lame for 3D why would they bother making one? This is just one example. There are more like modo, solidThinking, CINEMA 4D, LightWave 3D, etc.

Part of the problem in games resides in badly ported code instead of making the games OS X native.

 

[Prise]

If the Mac was that lame for 3D why would they bother making one?

I would certainly never characterize the 3-D cards on Macs "lame." LOL

However, the 3-D cards (even for the higher end Macs) Apple chooses for its hardware are very good, but never the "best" Nvidia or ATI has to offer. The graphics card wars between ATI and Nvidia have been waged on the PC platform, where games are constantly being developed to show off the new hardware. Because of this, the PC will always have "better" and more advanced graphics accelerators from which to choose from.

When it comes to purely hardware, the fastest machine will always be chosen from putting together the very best components rather than anything pre-packaged, much like a stereo system.

 

[baggss]

However, the 3-D cards (even for the higher end Macs) Apple chooses for its hardware are very good, but never the "best" Nvidia or ATI has to offer. The graphics card wars between ATI and Nvidia have been waged on the PC platform, where games are constantly being developed to show off the new hardware. Because of this, the PC will always have "better" and more advanced graphics accelerators from which to choose from.

Apple is wisely staying out of that battle for the most part. Unless you are pushing the bleeding edge in games, which are never available for the Mac until long after they are bleeding edge, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Kyomii]

Personally, if you have that many doubts and your main concerns are graphics, you may bot be ready to switch.

The best thing you can do is go to a Mac store and have a play around.

Also, I always advise people who are wary about switching to invest in a Mac mini (either off ebay or wherever) and KVM it to the monitor/keyboard/mouse they use for their windows system, and use that for a couple of months or so.

This way you have the best of both worlds while you are learning about the Mac - you could even start off with an eMac to mess around with.

If either of these machines leaves you wanting for more, and you want to upgrade, sell the Mac mini (of which you will lose very little) and your PC (If you feel ready) and then go and buy the Mac you really want.

It is pointless, IMHO, for a first Mac, to spend a huge amount of money because you may find it is not for you. If you want to mainly play games, then get a console or stay with a Windows system but there is nothing wrong with the cards in the Mac Pro's - they are more than capable for what you mention!

This is the problem inherent with using Windows, the ever-increasing fight to have the latest hardware makes you eventually think you need it - and you automatically think that anything below what is at the top of the list is not capable for the job - this simply is not true.

One main reason for getting a Mac is to get out of the upgrade rat race game - and with a Mac Pro, you can always upgrade the graphics core later if you really need to.

 

[JacobRogers]

I bought an Imac without ever using a Macintosh before ever in my life. I found it to be quite easy.

One of the reasons I think that Mac is mostly virus free is because the kind of people that levitate towards mac are not the kind of people that waste time downloading useless apps, songs, and stuff off of peer-2-peer networks.

For me when the choice is paying a dollar to get a song or having my computer get ruined by a virus, I buy the song. Also I only download and install software from reputable sources, mostly off of apple.com, or if it's for windows I research the software and then get it straight from the distributers website. It's those kind of things that keep people safe and virus free, in my opinion.

Do you have kids? If you have kids being virus free is pretty much hopeless because kids are just virus magnets, they'll click on anything. But I think a kid has a fairer chance of being virus free on a mac simply because a lot of the things meant to target them are Windows specific.

I've had trouble running some of the games for Mac, they're sluggish. But I also didn't buy the top of the line iMac and it was about a year and a half ago. It runs Unreal 2004 just fine, and I don't really need anything else on my Mac.

 

[y04chs067]

The problem with your sluggish performance in your Mac is because most mac games currently are designed for PowerPC, and you are most likely running Intel, hence your Mac will use Rosetta to translate the code for you. If you have a game in Universal Binary, it will be faster.

Also, on the issue of games, you can't run most Windows games on Parallels. In fact,you cannot run any 3D games on parallels or crossover as 3D acceleration graphics are not supported. So if you want to run games, just use bootcamp and create a XP partition, but make sure you don't browse the internet with it, or you may catch a virus

Speaking of Viruses, it is not really because UNIX is more secure than Windows or whatsoever, but really because of the matter of incentive. Virus creators wants lots of people to get infected, hence the most obvious choice would apparently be Windows users and not Mac Users. There are just too little Mac users to be significant to be targetted. (Not that I am unhappy about this =) )

 

[JacobRogers]

The problem with your sluggish performance in your Mac is because most mac games currently are designed for PowerPC, and you are most likely running Intel, hence your Mac will use Rosetta to translate the code for you. If you have a game in Universal Binary, it will be faster.

Yea I knew that, but it doesn't change the facts of my post. ;D

I'm tired of everything going through Rosetta

 

[Village Idiot]

I bought an Imac without ever using a Macintosh before ever in my life. I found it to be quite easy.

One of the reasons I think that Mac is mostly virus free is because the kind of people that levitate towards mac are not the kind of people that waste time downloading useless apps, songs, and stuff off of peer-2-peer networks.

For me when the choice is paying a dollar to get a song or having my computer get ruined by a virus, I buy the song. Also I only download and install software from reputable sources, mostly off of apple.com, or if it's for windows I research the software and then get it straight from the distributers website. It's those kind of things that keep people safe and virus free, in my opinion.

Do you have kids? If you have kids being virus free is pretty much hopeless because kids are just virus magnets, they'll click on anything. But I think a kid has a fairer chance of being virus free on a mac simply because a lot of the things meant to target them are Windows specific.

I've had trouble running some of the games for Mac, they're sluggish. But I also didn't buy the top of the line iMac and it was about a year and a half ago. It runs Unreal 2004 just fine, and I don't really need anything else on my Mac.

Wow...how wrong you are. I don't know if it was this forum or another, but there was a thread about Oink invites. Oink is a torrent site and a huge one at that. Mac being virus free has nothing to do with what kind of people use it. It's just some dumb stereo type that you made up. It has to do with the fact that every time a system change is to be made, an admin password is required, just like Vista has included in it.

And the comment about kids is just ignorant as well. Most of the kids out there are smarter than a lot of the adults I know when it comes to anything that involves technology. Saying kids are virus magnets sounds like something a computer illiterate adult would say.

 

[jonnyd]

Wow...how wrong you are. I don't know if it was this forum or another, but there was a thread about Oink invites. Oink is a torrent site and a huge one at that. Mac being virus free has nothing to do with what kind of people use it. It's just some dumb stereo type that you made up. It has to do with the fact that every time a system change is to be made, an admin password is required, just like Vista has included in it.

And the comment about kids is just ignorant as well. Most of the kids out there are smarter than a lot of the adults I know when it comes to anything that involves technology. Saying kids are virus magnets sounds like something a computer illiterate adult would say.

Gotta agree with this.

The most virus laden spyware infested computer I ever saw in my life was my 65 year old mothers.

 

[Miffle]

As per usual, Village Idiot is correct!

For the record I am a member of Oink, I don't really see what Jacob is talk about. If you search free MP3 downloads, you are bound to (at one point or another) to pick up some kind of spyware on a windows computer, that is common sense.

Oink is a prime example, good quality music (Most of it with technical infomation about the encoding) and a brilliant community, some people have bought the stuff they download some people haven't.. I won't go into the ethics.

I don't understand fully what kind of person Jacob was talking about but you can be a heavy downloader on any platform, I sometimes download 12GB of files a week (Probably not every week, some its probably only 500MB) and I am yet to get a virus because of the sources I choose to obtain my data from.

In contrast, someone can buy a mac, click on as many things as tey want, download viruses for a windows platform. I have been told that these viruses can then be passed on to windows machines.

Its just how you use a computer and your state of mind towards a computer.

 

[JacobRogers]

I don't remember saying Mac's were virus free village idiot. I said that peer to peer file sharing and irresponsible clicking is what causes most people virii. And I have to agree with what other people have said, the elderly are virus magnets like children are. I know my teeny bopper niece and nephew totally infect some healthy windows computers I gave them because of things like kazaa and searching for porn. But now they're older and do that kind of thing any more.

 

[Village Idiot]

I don't remember saying Mac's were virus free village idiot. I said that peer to peer file sharing and irresponsible clicking is what causes most people virii.

One of the reasons I think that Mac is mostly virus free is because the kind of people that levitate towards mac are not the kind of people that waste time downloading useless apps, songs, and stuff off of peer-2-peer networks.

here's some words so the message is long enough

 

[Zora]

.....

 

[JacobRogers]

here's some words so the message is long enough

I did say "mostly". I don't see what the problem here is, do you think that downloading shady programs from gratuitous websites and going crazy on the p2p aren't dangerous activities?

 

[dtravis7]

Yea I knew that, but it doesn't change the facts of my post. ;D

I'm tired of everything going through Rosetta

Get a Vista PC. It would solve your problems.

And none of this is really helping the OP with their question.

 

[Miffle]

What are you thinking about it, Zora?