[GreekMaverick]

Hope you guys can make my decision easier, This year I am getting an awesome 12% off Apple products (ALL their products) from my work. My desktop is up for a total upgrade, it was top of the line 4 years ago and it has kept up perfectly fine but I kinda "want" to upgrade not "need" to I guess.

My Q is, should I stick w' Windows 7 or jump ship to Mac OSX Leopard????
My wife loves the graphics of macs and she knows how to use them very good since that is what they have at her clinic.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Note* Gaming is 4-5/10 of importance, Productivity is 10/10 on this comparo.

Thanks.

[radiantm3]

Unless you are a person who is unable to adapt to change or rely heavily on windows-only software, I say go with the mac. Since gaming isn't a huge priority, there's no reason why you shouldn't give it a shot knowing that you can dual boot windows as well. You'll look back in a few years and ask yourself why you didn't do it sooner.

The new 27" iMac is Apple's best desktop offering in years. I'll argue that it's their best desktop computer to date. The price is very good when you look at what you get. I'm about to pick one up soon with a core i7 and I don't even need a 2nd computer (I use a 17" macbook pro).

[GreekMaverick]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

Unless you are a person who is unable to adapt to change or rely heavily on windows-only software, I say go with the mac. Since gaming isn't a huge priority, there's no reason why you shouldn't give it a shot knowing that you can dual boot windows as well. You'll look back in a few years and ask yourself why you didn't do it sooner.

The new 27" iMac is Apple's best desktop offering in years. I'll argue that it's their best desktop computer to date. The price is very good when you look at what you get. I'm about to pick one up soon with a core i7 and I don't even need a 2nd computer (I use a 17" macbook pro).

Exactly what I am thinking about getting.

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) and User's Guide
Apple Remote
Microsoft Office Mac 2008 - Home and Student Edition
$2200.00/Free Shiping

The only downside that I can see is, the Video card....They should have had more options, 512MB it seems so little.

Thanks.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by GreekMaverick

Exactly what I am thinking about getting.

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) and User's Guide
Apple Remote
Microsoft Office Mac 2008 - Home and Student Edition
$2200.00/Free Shiping

The only downside that I can see is, the Video card....They should have had more options, 512MB it seems so little.

Thanks.

Yea Apple never has the highest end GPU's in their computers. I'm not quite sure why that is, but I do know that the firmware is different in the mac versions of the cards. They are good enough for most games. I run a bunch of games just fine on my mac laptop. Anything from the Half-life and unreal engine seem to run pretty well.

And unless you really need microsoft office for business, I'd go with iWork instead. I think both offer free trials so try them before spending money on one.

[UltimateBMW]

I see this turning into more of a personal preference thread, if it wasn't already that to begin with.

But is this going to be your only desktop in the house?
If not, I'd diversify as long as you don't need to directly upgrade what you have.

Does your wife work at home ever since she works at a clinic/hospital?
If she never works at home, there really isn't any reason to get a computer that is compatible with her work computer other than personal preference. I don't consider this productivity.

What type of productivity do you need? (What applications?)
It sounds more like you just want to buy a mac, and if that is the case there isn't really anything to debate about.

If you game, you'd be better served on a PC though. (If you do light gaming like Tetras, it won't matter.) I've heard most PC to Mac converts say it takes time to get use to a Mac and really like it. If you want to devote yourself and are set, go for it.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

(If you do light gaming like Tetras, it won't matter.)

That's just BS. You can play a lot more games than "tetris" on a mac. With that said, one is much better off dual booting windows to play games. And the GPU in modern macs is plenty powerful for most games. You won't play the latest/greatest at max settings, but you can play most of the popular games. I play Company of Heroes just fine on my mac laptop. And that's at native res and with settings above average.

[Year's_End]

Only reasons I see for buying a Mac are the pretty monitor (not necessary), the tidy packaging (if you suck at organizing cables) and if you have a preference for Mac's OS. I don't. I just like Macs for their lack of viruses and the better UI you get when you use Photoshop.

I think a large part of the money goes towards style and ease of use for those who don't know what they're doing.

[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

That's just BS. You can play a lot more games than "tetris" on a mac. With that said, one is much better off dual booting windows to play games. And the GPU in modern macs is plenty powerful for most games. You won't play the latest/greatest at max settings, but you can play most of the popular games. I play Company of Heroes just fine on my mac laptop. And that's at native res and with settings above average.

I think your reading a little too much into my statements. I wasn't saying that tetris is all it can run. It was more a feeler towards what type of gamer he was. Since technically flash games and small past time games are still games.

Judging from the context of the rest of my post, its pretty clear I'm attempting at not including my bias in this thread. So no, it's not BS.

[GreekMaverick]

I am planning on running X-Plane 9 on it and from videos that I've seen it looks Very Sharp, granted not flight simulator X sharp, but very sharp none the less.
As far as the wife goes, she has to go through some loops to get things done on my Vista computer on stuff related to her work, so it will make her life easier at that end.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

I think your reading a little too much into my statements. I wasn't saying that tetris is all it can run. It was more a feeler towards what type of gamer he was. Since technically flash games and small past time games are still games.

Judging from the context of the rest of my post, its pretty clear I'm attempting at not including my bias in this thread. So no, it's not BS.

You reduced it to being useful for casual games at best. You install windows on a mac, and it has the same capabilities of a comparable spec'd PC. Unless you think a 2.8ghz quad cor i7 with up to 16gb of ram, and ATI Radeon HD 4850 is not good enough for games. You may not be running the crytek engine at 2560x1440 res with full anti-aliasing on, but plays games just fine. And yes, the same ones you'd play on a PC.

[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

You reduced it to being useful for casual games at best. You install windows on a mac, and it has the same capabilities of a comparable spec'd PC. Unless you think a 2.8ghz quad cor i7 with up to 16gb of ram, and ATI Radeon HD 4850 is not good enough for games. You may not be running the crytek engine at 2560x1440 res with full anti-aliasing on, but plays games just fine. And yes, the same ones you'd play on a PC.

Your still missing the point. Which is, why would I buy a Mac to load windows to game if I do it often. At which point, a PC would just be simpler.

You really need to get the chip off your shoulder.

[JME]

Preferences aside, judged against similar pre-built systems of equal quality, the mac is still a better deal. Add in the form factor and OSX, and you have yourself a great deal.

That computer will play most video games, and play them well. Also, many video games out there are playable on Macintosh computers, especially current generation MMOs and RPGs.

However, the productivity software will be leaps and bounds ahead of the PV equivalent. Objectively speaking, I think the choice is obvious.

[Poppin Fresh]

MAC FTW! I've been using em for almost 7 years now and it only gets better. Double boot is just an added bonus. My house is basically running on OSX network (music, movies, life)

[brocken]

If you don't think you'll need Windows at all for work or gaming then Mac is a good option.
But if you need Windows for %50 or more of your time it seems like a waste to buy Mac hardware with their inflated prices.
I would wager you could build the same computer for Windows for 30-50% less than the Apple machine costs you.

The nice thing is that Windows 7 is awesome. Completely blows Vista out of the water and renders XP unnecessary. We have some Macs at work and with a good screen on 7 I would say the desktop graphics are pretty dang close.
Even better deal when you consider you can get a non Mac monitor for $200 for a 23" or bigger.

Mac OS X is a really neat operating system but that's what it is... neat. I'd like to use it personally but it doesn't do everything I need to. Can't game with it, doesn't have the same media center capabilities, can't use it for work, etc.