# Solved: MAC vs Windows Help! I'm caught in the middle!



## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Ah yeah the title says it all. I'm a windows user love the look of Windows 7 but can't make the choose between it and MAC OS X Snow Leopard because I'm looking at upgrading in late January 2010 when I should be able to afford whatever I want and if not Jan definitely June. 

Here's what I want to do.
play games
have a computer I can press the power button and count to 5 or 10 and be able to run everything I want straight up. and definitely _*NO WAITING*_
edit pictures do some fairly basic audio recording
music editing
browse the net
and have a desktop that 'works'

MAC OS X owns the last point but it's the other ones that will through the balance of power. So I call on the powers that be to answer the conundrum that many pc users are facing I'm sure.
Especially when I will want to virtualize windows something to run my old programs without having to by a completely knew set of programs.

Over to you Mr. Brown.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/870279-windows-7-hibernate-bug-2.html


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Are you looking for desktop machine or laptop?
Is money/price important?

A few points:

1) Both systems will be able to satisfy your requirements. 
2) Mac hardware can run Windows natively.
3) Windows has by far more games and Mac ports of common games often come out later.
4) Mac hardware can be slightly more expensive. (make sure to compare common hardware)

So if your top priority is playing games, I would say go with Windows.

The speed of startup will depend greatly on the hardware you choose for either platform, but they should both perform similarly on newer hardware.

Having said that a 27" iMac is a pretty impressive machine and that bright screen is pretty gargantuan.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Oh fiddle sticks I managed to lose my original reply. Here's the gist of it.

My sticking point is what is are the power capabilities of the GPU's in the iMac's specifically the 27" with the i7 upgrade options.


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

Bang for the buck goes to Windows.
Versatility... windows again...much more software available
An OS is just an OS...its the software we use on them that make them usable.
Mac are very nice....make a very nice OS...but you are hampered with not as versatile with software.
As nice as it is it still has a dock rather than a taskbar...the W7 taskbar can be set up vista style and still use peek and preview...making multitasking the winner.
For a single machine..Windows..if a person already has windows..then a second machine could be a considered along the mac line...While macs used to be impervious to spyware thats not the case anymore as the lowlifes have been creating do harms for them as well now.
If a person had a business and stored alot of files on it related to business,a mac could be a good choice as there will be more than one user and there is still a lesser chance of an infection.
If money really wasnt a problem....Mac just for the cool factor...but i still have to have windows as well


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

I'm afraid your your right I love Mac OS X because it leaves the Windows task-bar behind I've never really found it usable although with Windows 7 they seem to have solved a lot of the issues I had but still for me the Macs still win when it comes to the functionality and if you really need it you can setup it's bar hanging down from the top to compensate for what your missing in Windows.

But it still comes down to the fact that for those of us making the switch to the Mac from a PC we still need Windows in some form or other. If you were adventurous for your first PC you would have no problem running just a Mac. But there's still that IF.

Macs are still great though one of my uncles has just bought an iMac he has been waiting to buy one for years and now he reckons it's great but I still will want to keep those old programs still.

The two current virtualization programs for the mac allow seamless integration of windows programs so one could use windows XP but if there's a program made 2 years from now that a selfish developer refuses to make for the mac market and you really really want/need that software your going to have to update your windows version. On the other hand one would hope that we would see a decrease in such attitudes as we go on. Linux hardware drivers are a good example there almost on par with windows drivers now so hopefully on the mac and linux front we'll start seeing some parity but in the mean time. What to do?

I still need this question answered please!

My sticking point is what are the power capabilities of the GPU's in the iMac's specifically the 27" with the i7 upgrade options.


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

Here is what my taskbar looks like right now..as you can see I have it looking like vista...so my tasks are not grouped by application...if they were i would first have to go the associated icon and go through further actions to pick my task.......i have my quick launch on the left making opening new ff as easy as it gets.....W7 has the superbar which groups the windows to the application much like a dock....and unsed apps are taking up space in the taskbar..with my set up I dont have unused apps taking up space...and I use the space to keep my tasks revealed rather than buried under the icon...As you can see right now I have 14 windows belonging to ff and visible at all times 2 yahoo windows..I can see the tasks as they are revealed 2 notepad..1 ie..I folder open..wmp and task mgr....my current window is high lighted.

If i were to be using a dock I would first have to go to the icon then expand the list and pick...these are unneeded steps..while not usually a big deal..it is when you are doing alot of editing,as you will have to switch bewtween windows often....if i were editing at the moment I would remember the highlighted task in the task bar,look at my other tasks,,if still enough not infor is given all I have to do is mouse over the task in the taskbar without clicking..I can preview my task at an instant....this helps prevents one for losing his rhythm and remember where the first task is located...the previews in vista were to small...7 they are bigger..plus you can mouse on the preview,then mouse the preview to get a full window peek all in an instant.
One can effectively look at every window in a few seconds without even clicking....its a dream come true IMO


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

I like this guys position between mac and windows


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## Adderad (Oct 27, 2009)

If you want to play games, the obvious answear is Windows.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Adderad said:


> If you want to play games, the obvious answear is Windows.


I hate to say this but your right however with Macs it's not just an OS choice it's also a hardware choice. Now I know other people have had there threads shut down for asking a similar question but is it possible to run MAC OS X in a virtual machine like you can windows and linux, not standalone but with another Windows OS with things like VirtualBox (C) by Sun Microsystems. Well obviously not VirtualBox it only supports windows and linux systems but do some of the retail virtualizes support Mac OS X legally. just wondering because their are some Mac programs to die for that I like the look of and well it would sort-of be cheaper than buying a full Mac.

Just looking at possibilities.  I'm not looking at breaking any laws.

Oh and no one has answered the final question in my last post. What are capabilities of the iMac's GPU?


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

If all you want is to play games on something other than a console, go with Windows. Fortunately for you, all the current (and several-year-old) Macs run Windows natively.

You mention you can afford either. Then go with both (and, I might add, do so legally). 

Get a Mac.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

VegasACF said:


> If all you want is to play games on something other than a console, go with Windows. Fortunately for you, all the current (and several-year-old) Macs run Windows natively.
> 
> You mention you can afford either. Then go with both (and, I might add, do so legally).
> 
> Get a Mac.


*?QUESTION?*

When you say "go with both" do you mean have them running on the same hardware, ie iMac, or do you mean on separate hardware. Currently I'm interpreting this as buy a Mac, use Boot-Camp to dual boot with windows, and Mac's do have enough processing power in their GPU's, oh and oversized i7 CPU's, to run games. Is that about right? Because I couldn't afford the separate hardware in one go at least! as I'm sure most of us couldn't in this time of financial instability. (note: not recession)


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

> Oh and no one has answered the final question in my last post. What are capabilities of the iMac's GPU?


Before you said power requirements, sounded like you were asking how much AC/wattage the GPU used.

It depends on which iMac you get. The 27" model with the ATI 4670 or ATI 4850 will likely play any current game fine. You best bet is just looking at many of the PC reviews of those models. Although the OS X drivers might not be as streamlined as the PC versions, you should get a pretty good idea what level of frames per second you can expect.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Thanks for that. That's pretty much the last problem I had, I think. Now how do fit it in my desk? 27 inches is a really big screen that barely fits in. The hole I have in my desk might fit it in, *MIGHT*


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

minimum viewing distance for a widescreen is 1.5 times its size...that comes out to 40.5 inches.....might need a recliner as well


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

buy a recliner!! I will have to the screen is bigger than our TV's like 7 inches bigger . Unfortunately for me my Mum and Dad think that 2500 or rather 2800 for the i7 is way to much for a new PC but personally that's the bare minimum you should be paying if you want something that works for the next 2-4 years. My Dad's was out of date from the time he bought it. Hmm. Tells you a lot. And he still needed to buy a graphics card for it and that didn't work either and he wonders why the computer takes so long to start up.  I don't want to make that mistake.


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

but this just occurred to me with a PC it's very easy to walk out the door and spend a lot of money on it. a Mac? not so easy you can't upgrade the graphics card (that I know of), processor? no, RAM? yes but you get so much to start with it's unlikely you'll need any for a long time, HD? yes but a 1TB hard drive should last for a very long time even splitting it fifty-fifty with the windows dual boot.

One last question regarding those hardware upgrades with the RAM I would only buy direct from apple but for an extra HD can I just go out get a Seagate or Western Digital HD from my computer store and whack it in?


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

For that much green I would have to have a pc with raid setup
Huge dual core or a quad core processor
a nice card for video and a nice big monitor can be bought later..and always tossed if it goes bad.

I dont even know how much trouble it is putting in a hard drive in an imac...the interface will be the same though.
How much trouble is it to clean the psu and heat sinks?
I can have my old dell desktop out on the tailgate remove the side cover and blast it with shop air..in a few minutes..If the monitor goes there is a spare...I am not to crazy about the all in one setups....they are cool granted...but I suspect that putting in a hard drive is a bigger task than with a tower...heck i have one in my old desk top hanging by a shoelace.
Will you be taking advantage of the apple software final cut studio?


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Probably would actually take advantage of final cut studio that's one reason why I'm having so many conflicts over wether to stay with the familiar windows pc which I know almost all there is to know about the hardware side of things to a Mac where I'll probably be toting it down to special re-pare center in the CBD about a 20 minute train trip 30-40 minutes drive due to atrocious traffic management. In comparison to a 3-6 minute walk to my computer store which happens to be where I'll be working from January! When I have something go seriously wrong. *ARGH!!!*

Is so annoying!

On the Mac side I can wait until I'm at UNI probably around 2011, one and a bit years away, and get one of their student deals or on the windows side buy when I'm ready and pay the same amount especially when I need Windows 7 to make it worth my while. GRR! (


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+p623...000050006&ref=10&loc=01&id=pcmprd119100050006


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

This is an unbeatable deal in Australia but these guy's don't ship to Australia unfortunately. And from my experience there isn't any store in Australia that offers prebuilt computers at this price. I'm going to investigate some of the "freak stores" I've used when assisting my friends with PC upgrades. (see http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/863839-solved-inspiron-4150-expansion-ports.html) as an example. So well see if I can find parts that I can put together myself for a similar price because I have been avoiding AMD due to prejudices against their classification system. Intel's Ghz rating is understandably and gives you a scale to work to, AMD? I still have got no idea!


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

can you purchase from newegg or tiger direct


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

checking right now


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

check this out
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5310920&CatId=3508
I'm going to check if I can Buy online not now obviously but maybe there's i7 kit in the pipeline!


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

well it accepted my zip cade and said I qualified for free shipping on the 3-7 day mail plan so looks like I can!


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

Cool


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

I found something else!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229147


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

what was I saying regarding core i7 kits
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229147


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Well this post has sort of gotten off topic. However the result is for me at least I'm sticking with the PC for a while longer. Windows 7 has one the day and reclaimed some ground lost by Vista.
That being said I do not dis-condone the Mac they are good machines for their purposes. Depending on one's budget.
So this hasn't really helped me in the long run but it's made up my mind in the short term hope someone else finds the post helpful.

Special thanks to aka Brett who seems to have hogged the limelight but hay non the less done an excellent job assisting me. Thanks to the others who put in their part. As well.

All is well in love, war, and computers!
plagiarized from unknown source.


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

For what its worth I will buy me a mac mini when the time is right.
About 600 american,,,,decent enough specs and affordable:up:


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Hope you enjoy your purchase.

One of the worst things people do when purchasing computers is get lost in the numbers.
This is X times as fast or this is Y times cheaper but has this, etc.

Just like anything else a computer and an OS are just tools to complete some job. The job is different for every user and often purchasers lose focus on accomplishing that job and get lost in the numbers. 

For me, I traded in a Quad Core Dell XPS 420 for a 24" iMac. Sure the quad core was faster for movie encoding and such, but my overall system use isn't any slower. I've ditch the headaches of trying to dust a bulky unit under the desk and a tons of cables with a sleek simple unit that sits on my glass desk.


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

I can help you sleek that desk a step further
A 15 inch laptop....attached keyboard and mouse....A true all in one..let me know if you are interested in a trade


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

aka Brett said:


> I can help you sleek that desk a step further
> A 15 inch laptop....attached keyboard and mouse....A true all in one..let me know if you are interested in a trade


Must say that new 27" iMac does look impressive, maybe I do need to move up. 

(Of course i have the 24" iMac and its also driving an additional 22" LCD beside it, but you know the newest is always more impressive.  )


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

aka Brett said:


> For what its worth I will buy me a mac mini when the time is right.
> About 600 american,,,,decent enough specs and affordable:up:


That's a good idea. They're a bit more than things like WD's Media Boxes that only read information from USB connected storage devices in that they read information off of the network as well and operate, well like media PC's. Hopefully there's a program that will allow you to access PC's running Windows 7's WMP 12 as a media server like other PC's can! For normal use though I don't think it has enough bang for buck! But then again Apple only advertises it as something you would plug into a TV just like their Apple TV which I think is almost one in the same?


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

Its a full fledged pc...no monitor keyboard or mouse.If a person has those laying around he is in bussiness


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Hey Hey Hey! peoples I'm getting cut out of the conversation here! and it's getting a little weird! Can we at least attempt to keep on topic! I don't mind people talking about relevant topics but...!


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

aka Brett said:


> Its a full fledged pc...no monitor keyboard or mouse.If a person has those laying around he is in bussiness


and who doesn't?! I'm sure we all have a few keyboards, mouses, screens lying around we need to get rid of or use!


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

*YIKES* It's been only hmm 3 months since I looked at the mac mini but there are a lot more ports on these things now! *YIKES*


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

blue tooth and wireless included....has a speaker..probably not the best but it is a start.

Cool little tower...not a bad deal really


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## azariah007 (Sep 8, 2009)

Yeah as a comparison try this on for size!
http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=100033&lang=un
As usual there is a PC equivalent. Believe it or not I found this by accident while looking at this http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=100025&lang=un unfortunately it's a discontinued model I really hope there are going to be some other one of this type around when I'm truly ready to buy!


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