Mac vs. PC benchmarking

[crazeinc]

I was wondering if there were any benchmarks of the two based on dollar value? I'm not trying to start an argument, but my friend is convinced that a 800mhz G3 with 512mb of ram is supposed to compete with my old Sony 2.8ghz P4 with 512mb of ram. My Sony was purchased for $800, and I think I'm being pretty fair to say the G3 is about the same price from what I've seen on ebay. I have nothing against Apple, I think they're great, but this is the main reason why I won't buy one because I don't think the price justifies what you're getting.

 

[XBoxLPU]

I'm eagerly awaiting Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, unfortunately it comes out the day I leave to go visit AMD in Austin. It'll be a short trip so I should be able to enjoy the game over the weekend at least.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is the perfect example of what's wrong with gaming on the Mac. Looking at the Mac game library you'll see a lot of the major titles, Doom 3, UT2004, WoW, etc... but the issue with games that are released on the Mac is that they usually take far too long to get there. Doom 3 is finally out on the Mac, and at one time I would've waited to play through it on the Mac but I grew bored of it last year on the PC and have no desire to play it on the Mac now. I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the next Splinter Cell, but it's not going to be out on the Mac so there's no way I'm waiting for it to be ported before playing it.

Then there's the issue of performance, both WoW and Doom 3 appear to run at about half the speed on the Mac as they do on the PC. Granted the Mac isn't a gaming platform, but this type of performance is just unacceptable since, architecturally, there's no explanation for the performance. It's a software/OS issue somewhere, but I'm hardly qualified to say where or why it still remains un-addressed by Apple. I guess I'd just like to be able to play the handful of games that I do play on the Mac, apparently that's too big of a wish.

Pretty much sums up how I feel towards Mac and gaming

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/default.aspx?bid=190

 

[ViRGE]

As a Mac owner, I'll flat-out say your friend is wrong. I believe that Apple's machines are a good value for the money when you consider other things besides performance, but an 800mhz G3 isn't going to touch a 2.8ghz P4.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: crazeinc
I was wondering if there were any benchmarks of the two based on dollar value? I'm not trying to start an argument, but my friend is convinced that a 800mhz G3 with 512mb of ram is supposed to compete with my old Sony 2.8ghz P4 with 512mb of ram. My Sony was purchased for $800, and I think I'm being pretty fair to say the G3 is about the same price from what I've seen on ebay. I have nothing against Apple, I think they're great, but this is the main reason why I won't buy one because I don't think the price justifies what you're getting.

It ALL depends on what you use the tool for. Are you going to use a 500Watt soldering iron for a tiny IC? Damn I hope not.

On the otherhand I do believe and personally practice, that with a properly equipped and maintained PC, you can pretty much do everything as well as a Mac and often do even better in things Macs have excelled at in the past and present for the same price or less. No flamesuit necessary.

 

[robisc]

As a Mac owner, I'll flat-out say your friend is wrong. I believe that Apple's machines are a good value for the money when you consider other things besides performance, but an 800mhz G3 isn't going to touch a 2.8ghz P4.

Agree with ViRGE, this is no pun intended, like Apples and oranges, I too am a Mac and PC owner, and a G3 800 would be no match for a 2.8 P4 in ANY benchmark

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: robisc

As a Mac owner, I'll flat-out say your friend is wrong. I believe that Apple's machines are a good value for the money when you consider other things besides performance, but an 800mhz G3 isn't going to touch a 2.8ghz P4.

Agree with ViRGE, this is no pun intended, like Apples and oranges, I too am a Mac and PC owner, and a G3 800 would be no match for a 2.8 P4 in ANY benchmark

Booting up OSX?

 

[SNM]

Originally posted by: crazeinc
I was wondering if there were any benchmarks of the two based on dollar value? I'm not trying to start an argument, but my friend is convinced that a 800mhz G3 with 512mb of ram is supposed to compete with my old Sony 2.8ghz P4 with 512mb of ram. My Sony was purchased for $800, and I think I'm being pretty fair to say the G3 is about the same price from what I've seen on ebay. I have nothing against Apple, I think they're great, but this is the main reason why I won't buy one because I don't think the price justifies what you're getting.

It's probably a match for 1.2-1.5 GHz P4. No way it touches your 2.8, though. As for why you buy a Mac, it's for the happiness it brings. If you don't like the OS, don't buy a Mac.

 

[Snakexor]

dont mean to thread hijack, but cant you put a windows emulator (forget what its called) and play all your pc games on the mac?? and if so, does anyone know if the performance will be the same?? i am asking this because i am considering getting a powerbook for graduatin rather than a beefy desktop...

 

[ViRGE]

There is an emulator(VirtualPC), but it only emulates a 2D video card(an S3 TrioV2; go S3!); you won't be able to emulate modern games on it, never mind the speed.

 

[crazeinc]

Originally posted by: SNM
It's probably a match for 1.2-1.5 GHz P4. No way it touches your 2.8, though. As for why you buy a Mac, it's for the happiness it brings. If you don't like the OS, don't buy a Mac.

I do like OS X, though, that's the problem :frown:

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: crazeinc

Originally posted by: SNM
It's probably a match for 1.2-1.5 GHz P4. No way it touches your 2.8, though. As for why you buy a Mac, it's for the happiness it brings. If you don't like the OS, don't buy a Mac.

I do like OS X, though, that's the problem :frown:

Why is that a problem?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
dont mean to thread hijack, but cant you put a windows emulator (forget what its called) and play all your pc games on the mac?? and if so, does anyone know if the performance will be the same?? i am asking this because i am considering getting a powerbook for graduatin rather than a beefy desktop...

No

 

[Snakexor]

so ther eis no emulator...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
so ther eis no emulator...

Read (posted by ViRGE):

There is an emulator(VirtualPC), but it only emulates a 2D video card(an S3 TrioV2; go S3!); you won't be able to emulate modern games on it, never mind the speed.

 

[Snakexor]

i did read that, but xboxlpu decided to be a douche i guess so i wanted to know his reasoning

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
i did read that, but xboxlpu decided to be a douche i guess so i wanted to know his reasoning

He answered your first question sufficiently. The other question(s) relied on a non-no answer to the first question, so there was no need to continue.

:beer: