Thinking about switching to apple

[Narse]

I have always owned top of the lie gaming PCs that I have built myself. I now find that I don't play PC games very much anymore and I am getting bored with Windows. I am thinking of selling my PC and buying a Mac.


Any suggestions on a Mac to look at, any reason not to etc.

 

[Kaido]

Question 1: Do you need a portable?

Question 2: Like to tinker?

If you need a portable, then I would suggest a MacBook or MacBook Pro. The Air is nice but it's more of a second computer. If you don't need portability, then there's the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro. If you like to tinker, you can build a Hackintosh (Mac made out of PC parts).

 

[randomlinh]

have you ever used OS X? if not, be prepared for drastic changes.. especially the little things... like resizing from any corner. and if you use the home/end key a lot (this is my biggest standing gripe still, I haven't been able to mimic home/end to be beginning line/end line). little things like that. but overall, I love OS X over XP (Vista... not sure, haven't used it enough, but it looks pretty).

If you're not gaming, or doing any media work.. swing with a cheap refurbed mac mini if you're not sure. Or, if you're adventurous, shoot for the hackintosh. The iMac is nice... but you have to be certain you can live w/o upgrading the monitor... and should it die, it's basically a laptop. I somewhat regret going this route, as I want a 24" monitor now (w/o doing the whole dual screen bit). I should have done macbook pro + external monitor. I just didn't have the funds for it.

 

[Narse]

I do like to tinker, I have tried to load OSX on my PC but I have not been sucessful installing it on my 680i and q6600, I am currently installing it on my Dell Laptop to try it out, and yes I will purchase the software if I decide to use it as a hackintosh. Also are thier any guides for PC parts that work well with Leopard? I just want to make sure before I bite the bullet and sell my PC.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

What do you do on the PC now?

I recently switched to a Macbook (about 8 months ago or so) and my computer experience is quite enjoyable now.

Check out InsanelyMac.com for all your Hackintosh needs.

 

[Narse]

I basically use it to browse the net, e-mail and encode video, I also play games once in a while (played alot of games before I quit WoW and found better things to do.)

 

[TheStu]

I went for the switch a year and a half ago, and have never been more happy with a computer. That is not to say that OS X is for everyone, far from it. If you are serious about, then I say go for the Hackintosh route on your laptop, see if you can acclimate to the OS easily. I find that the best thing to do is to not expect it to work like Windows, and you should be fine. Also, feel free to explore the OS, it is incredibly hard to break anything irreparably, and exploration pays off in little things that you didn't know existed and you think are just teh bee's knees (the basic ability to drag and drop anything, anywhere)

As far as peripherals go... I have not yet run into anything major that I can remember that didn't work with OS X, at least rudimentarily. I had a Dell network printer that did not have OS X drivers, but I could at least print to it, nothing fancy, but could print to it. The only thing that I can remember distinctly would be a wireless projector that I was trying to connect to. The software was only available for windows, and there was no way to get around it. That was minor since I could just plug into it directly, but it was an annoyance.

Consider your budget, consider how willing you are to 'learn' a new OS (it is more a new way of doing the same things), and then consider what you are wanting, portable or non-portable.

 

[Narse]

Portable or not is really no differance to me as long as I could get a dock or a nice big LCD to replace my dell 24". So far all I get on my lappy is lockups, I am going to do some readin on the forums about my Dell D630 and see if I can figure out why its being so picky. I have no problem at al learning a new OS so thats not an issue.

On the Subject I need to know a good selling Price for my PC if I decide to make the switch, spec to follow



nVidia 680i MB by EVGA
q6600
4gb DDR2
800W PS
Antec 900 case
eVGA 8800gtx
SoundBlaster x-fi xtreme gamer
1TB RAID 0 (2 x 500gb 7200.10)
DVD Dl burner with lightscribe
Logitec G15 Keyboard
Logitech mx revolution mouse

 

[cruiser1338]

I'd suggest, for what you seem to want, a basic Macbook configuration will suit. It's cheap, functional and reliable. And I wouldn't worry about switching from Windows to Leopard, I'm positive you'll find it quick and easy to get used to (there's not that much difference really). The most you'll have to worry about is using the Dock as your Start Menu and after that it's smooth sailing. Spotlight can help with applications you need to use but don't want on the Dock, too. You'll probably find you're much more efficient and having a good time while your doing your work. And the multitouch gestures on the trackpad (two finger scrolling) are a lifesaver.

The video encoding won't be horribly fast, but with Visualhub for your media files and Handbrake for your DVDs you can encode much, much faster than Quicktime and I'm sure quick enough for your needs.

 

[Pabster]

The best part is that you don't have to give up Windows to go Mac now.

In fact, you really get a better experience. You can run both, simultaneously.

If you are doing serious audio or video production work, a Mac is where it's at.

 

[AnthroAndStargate]

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
I'd suggest, for what you seem to want, a basic Macbook configuration will suit. It's cheap, functional and reliable. And I wouldn't worry about switching from Windows to Leopard, I'm positive you'll find it quick and easy to get used to (there's not that much difference really). The most you'll have to worry about is using the Dock as your Start Menu and after that it's smooth sailing. Spotlight can help with applications you need to use but don't want on the Dock, too. You'll probably find you're much more efficient and having a good time while your doing your work. And the multitouch gestures on the trackpad (two finger scrolling) are a lifesaver.

The video encoding won't be horribly fast, but with Visualhub for your media files and Handbrake for your DVDs you can encode much, much faster than Quicktime and I'm sure quick enough for your needs.

I thought Macs were made for video production? How is video encoding slower?

 

[kalster]

i think the cheapest route for you, is to get a intel motherboard for your rig and try to install leopard on it, the nvidia intel chipsets arent very well supported in hackintosh, something like a p35 chipset will work pretty well , check the osx86 wiki to find out more info. You can eventually buy a mac, that is my plan too, I am loving my hackintosh experience, I plan to buy a mac book pro after the next round of updates

 

[cruiser1338]

While its true that Macs do video very well, the problem is that the speed of an encoding will be determined by the power of the processor and Macbooks are at the lower end of the spectrum. It'll still convert and it'll be pretty quick but certainly not as fast as a a Macbook Pro.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
While its true that Macs do video very well, the problem is that the speed of an encoding will be determined by the power of the processor and Macbooks are at the lower end of the spectrum. It'll still convert and it'll be pretty quick but certainly not as fast as a a Macbook Pro.

No it won't be as fast.... but it won't exactly be dog slow either. The MacBook starts at 2.0GHz, the MacBook Pro at 2.2GHz. Even if you went for the absolute lowest MacBook, and the highest MacBook Pro, that is only a 30% difference, and for that 30% he would be spending something like 2.5 times as much on that MacBook Pro as the MacBook.

O, and to the OP, any Mac can drive the 24" Dell display that you have.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
And I wouldn't worry about switching from Windows to Leopard, I'm positive you'll find it quick and easy to get used to (there's not that much difference really)

heh, I highly disagree with that. I use so many keyboard shortcuts in windows... it took a good while to adjust.

 

[jhbball]

Fuck the apple key.

 

[umrigar]

Originally posted by: jhbball
Fuck the apple key.

Sagacious. :roll:

 

[Illusio]

Originally posted by: jhbball
Fuck the apple key.

I'll take an apple key over that annoying windows key any day of the week...

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
And I wouldn't worry about switching from Windows to Leopard, I'm positive you'll find it quick and easy to get used to (there's not that much difference really)

heh, I highly disagree with that. I use so many keyboard shortcuts in windows... it took a good while to adjust.

Then remake all your shortcuts. You can remap the Command Key to the CTRL key, so you don't have to make your fingers go to a new location (breaking muscle memory can be hard) and then in the Keyboard preferences, you can define as many shortcuts as you want, in as many apps as you want and they will all work. Best of all, one of the rules of the HIG is that every app on OS X must not only support having user-defined shortcuts, it must use them first.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
And I wouldn't worry about switching from Windows to Leopard, I'm positive you'll find it quick and easy to get used to (there's not that much difference really)

heh, I highly disagree with that. I use so many keyboard shortcuts in windows... it took a good while to adjust.

Then remake all your shortcuts. You can remap the Command Key to the CTRL key, so you don't have to make your fingers go to a new location (breaking muscle memory can be hard) and then in the Keyboard preferences, you can define as many shortcuts as you want, in as many apps as you want and they will all work. Best of all, one of the rules of the HIG is that every app on OS X must not only support having user-defined shortcuts, it must use them first.

do you have a suggestion for mimicing the home/end functions? I don't care about apple vs. ctrl (I have to support macs, so my settings won't be on them.. heh), but i use home and end to navigate through text a lot. I never could get it it to work right.

also, navigating through dialog boxes with tab doesn't work too well.

 

[TheStu]

In Keyboard & Mouse settings, under the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, at the very bottom are radio buttons. They are there to handle tabbing. Simply flip the selection.

Home and end is easy. Apple+Left Arrow is Home, Apple+Right Arrow is End.

 

[randomlinh]

I already have the radio button for tab, but I've noticed it not to work in everything. I don't remember what off hand tho, but I've run across it.

As for home and end, I meant actually use the home and end key to do that. I tried remapping it via some method through the console, but that didn't work too well

 

[Esquire]

i drink kool aid - just do it man

 

[texascrazy88s]

O M G DO IT!