Dragaera

Mac vs PC War--delete if not interested!

Matthew Klahn mklahn at mac.com
Sun Feb 8 09:55:46 PST 2004

[Warning: top-posting only to remain consistent!]

To back up the disagreement: You can replace most hardware in a Mac 
desktop that you'd care to replace. I think the only major part you'd 
have a hard time replacing is the processor (which IS still possible on 
the desktop side, though much more expensive than x86 processors, to be 
sure). Macs use IDE harddrives, standard RAM DIMMs and PCI or PCI-X 
cards in PowerMacs. Most Macs are really meant to use FireWire or USB 
(1 or 2, depending on how new your Mac is) for expansion so you don't 
HAVE to replace internal components. Mac laptops have PCMCIA, USB (1 or 
2) and FireWire (400 or 800) for expansion.

The $1900 iMac is a complete inaccuracy. I'm not going to do a 
comparison, because it's tedious, but iMacs range from $1299 to $2199, 
mostly depending on screen size (from 15" LCD to 20" LCD). And, there 
are eMacs ($799 and $1099) that probably do everything your $1000 Dell 
does.

Games are the only place that Macs are really lagging, and that's 
mostly because of the economies of scale. Games are not huge money 
makers unless you sell many, many copies. Now, most games are moving to 
consoles because of the rampant piracy of PC games, and the 
commoditization of computer hardware. I would argue that if I want to 
play computer games, I'd be much better served to by a $300 console 
than a $1000 PC. And, I do play games (from Ghost Recon, UT2003 & Halo 
down to Angband) on my Mac, but I'm not by any stretch of the 
imagination a "hardcore" gamer. Not a priority for me, but I can see 
that it is for some people. And x86 PCs are just better at that than 
Macs, I agree. That doesn't detract from the value of Macs, as hardcore 
gamers are such a minority of computer users, just like racers are a 
minority of car drivers.

And, Marathon was a great, though very difficult, game. Shame that 
Bungie sold Halo to Microsoft (or was Bungie itself sold to 
Microsoft?), or it would have come out on the Mac about 2-3 years ago.

On Feb 8, 2004, at 10:27 , Jeffrey Kiok wrote:

> I disagree with a great deal of what you said, but you now have my 
> undying and eternal respect for naming perhaps the greatest fps ever 
> made, Marathon (1, 2 and Infinity).  That game had the best plot of 
> any computer game ever made in my humble opinion.  The intricacies of 
> its plot, its metaphysical questions are still being debated to this 
> day at http://marathon.bungie.org/story/ to this day.  Quite the 
> amazing game.
>
> -Jeff
>
>
> On Feb 8, 2004, at 4:49 AM, Casey Rousseau wrote:
>
>> Akodo Bob wrote:
>>> There's really no way to defend the Mac against the "PCs have
>>> all the games argument." They don't, it sucks, I deal.  That
>>
>> I'm a wintel user, mostly I buy Dells these days.  I've used Macs 
>> enough
>> that I can do what I need to with them, but the user interface is a 
>> bit
>> frustratingly simplistic.  My IQ isn't quite as high as 180, but even 
>> if I
>> didn't need to maintain my Windows proficiency for work, my home 
>> platforms
>> would still be x86.  I have not seriously experimented with Linux, 
>> but it's
>> hard to argue with the difference in bang for the buck between a Dell 
>> and a
>> Mac.
>>
>> For about $1000 including Tax and shipping, I can get a good Dell 
>> Desktop
>> with hardware comparable to a $1900 iMac (plus tax and shipping).  I 
>> can
>> also repair or upgrade the Dell myself with all replacement hardware 
>> being
>> about 25-30% cheaper.
>>
>> Ironically two or three of my favorite games ever were Mac-only.  The 
>> most
>> notable was Marathon.  Its sequel was ported to Windows but was a bit 
>> buggy.
>> For those unfamiliar with it, it was a first person shooter that 
>> could be
>> played solo or deathmatch style.  It was considerably better than 
>> Doom, its
>> contemporary on the wintel side.
>>
>> Casey Rousseau
>>
>
>
--
Matthew S. Klahn
Software Architect, CodeTek Studios, Inc.
http://www.codetek.com