On 9.2.04 10:37, "Matthew Klahn" <mklahn at mac.com> wrote: > On Feb 8, 2004, at 22:24 , David Dyer-Bennet wrote: >> The single piece of hardware I've replaced most, over the years, is >> the *power supply*. >> >> I've added SCSI, IDE, multi-serial, and firewire cards to PCs. Yes, >> I've added IDE cards to PCs with two IDE channels on the motherboard >> already. >> >> And of course video cards. I've replaced a lot of those (not because >> they broke). >> >> Your list of what you might want to replace or change seems very >> limiting to me. >> >> (And I hardly ever even play computer games. *Never* play fancy >> modern ones.) > > Ok, so just to let you know then, in Power Macs (the desktop tower > machines), really almost everything is replaceable by a knowledgeable > PC builder, if you don't mind eating the cost: > > - motherboard yes, but you do not have the options that you have with an x86 based machine. but then, you also don't have to do any research. Apple will tell you what you can use. > - power supply > - AGP video cards (ATI & nVidia right now) > - PCI extension cards (modem, FireWire, USB2, add'l video cards, > specialized DSPs, etc.) > - memory > - processor(s) (probably the single most expensive thing) Again, limited options... > - hard drives > - optical drives Hopefully Apple will stop their crippling DVD drives and allow their DVD+R capable drives to actually write that way soon instead of just DVD-R. > - zip/tape drives you do have to note, however, that Apple has built many of their cases to limit the number of optical drives you can add. If, for some reason, you wanted a ZIP drive and two optical drives in the Quicksilver line, you were out of luck. The new G5s also have an insane limit of two internal hard drives, I believe, which makes it impossible if you want to have a raid and a separate boot drive. Bad decision on Apple's part I would say. But then they want you to buy the Xserve if you want to raid. Much of your expansion, should you want to expand either with optical or hard drives, must be done with external drives which are more expensive and take up more space. > > Hell, I can't think of anything that is in a PC that you can't put into > a Mac, except specialized hardware that has only Windows support. > However, please remember that Macs are very heavily used in the video > and digital art/publishing markets. This is actually surprising and not all that true for the film industry where some houses have moved from Sun to Linux lately. I work with a film major who would not consider doing his editing on compositing on a mac as there are better software packages (for less money) for his PC. > Almost every part of a Mac is > standardized to PC hardware because they are trying to get their costs > down and make it easy for companies that have lots of Macs to repair > them in-house. > > Now, granted, in a G4 iMac (the new, flat-panel ones), you don't have > PCI expansion, and no room in the case to do anything with expansion. > Of course, the parts are replaceable, but not from off-the-shelf > components, because the case of the machine is so specialized. All > normal parts (HD, optical drive, memory) are replaceable/addible by the > owner, if you're brave. Most modifications to the iMac, except for the easily accessible one stick of RAM will, however, void your warranty. But the iMac is great for someone who primarily wants to save space, surf, email and do word processing, which is much of the population. I have a PC at home and a mac at work doing web and database design as well as photo editing on both machines. The only things I miss on my PC are BBEdit and apple + q to quit an application. I use crazy browser at home and was excited when Safari had many of the same features. I do think Safari is a wonderful browser, however. My next work station will be a PC because I don't mind doing the research to put together a decent system and can build and support it myself. If I were to get a laptop, however, I would definitely get an Apple as you cannot get the same features (configuration, weight, battery life) at an even comparable price in an x86-based laptop. Plus, I do enjoy OS X, especially now that it is using the video card so that it is not so sluggish. All in all I think both platforms have their uses and like them both for different reasons. The thing that bothers me most about both platforms are the zealots, but that bothers me about anything. > > Sorry I didn't put in a complete list before; I completely forgot AGP > video cards... > > -- > Matthew S. Klahn > Software Architect, CodeTek Studios, Inc. > http://www.codetek.com >