Windows 7

[Big G]

what is there to say lol

[Titch]

Product Description: Apple Mac Pro Xeon 2.66 GHz
Processor: 1 x Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz ( Quad-Core )
RAM: 3 GB DDR3 SDRAM - ECC - 1066 MHz
Hard Drive: 1 x 640 GB - standard - Serial ATA-300
Optical Storage: DVD±RW (±R DL)
Monitor: None.
Graphics Controller: PCI Express 2.0 x16 - NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
Video Memory: 512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM
Audio Output: Sound card
OS Provided: Apple MacOS X 10.6

£1,863.80




Product Description: MESH Slayer Predator
Processor: Intel Core i5 750 Quad Core Processor (2.66GHz, 8MB Cache) - LGA1156
RAM: 8GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - ( 4x2GB )
Hard Drive: 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive
Optical Storage: 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer
Monitor: 26" Iiyama (1920x1200) Full HD Monitor
Graphics Controller: 2x 1GB ATI Radeon 5850 DDR5 - DX11 Graphics Accelerator (CrossFireX Configuration)
Audio Output:7.1 High Definition onboard sound card
Other Drives: Multi-Format Memory Card Reader
OS Provided: Windows 7 Home Premium Edition - 64bit English
Case: Thermaltake Element 'S' Gaming Chassis + 950W PSU

£1,598.99



you can pay more for the mac and you don't even get a monitor!! Pound for Pound, i'd rather have a PC.

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Big G

most likely since if you take off the GUI they have the same heart

Thats what I'm getting at, I don't get why some people like it so much - it doesn't give you anything over vanilla Linux.

[Big G]

personally I love the look of my laptop

[markwilliamson2001]

I would say that MacOSX is a friendly version of Linux, with all the benefits that Linux brings under the hood, and having a nice well thought out interface. The best thing about MacOS IMO is Time Machine - THE BEST local backup solution out there...pisses all over any version of Windows backup solution (within the OS), and the reason I bought mine at home. I use a Windows desktop at work, and am looking forward to 7 tbh, as it brings a lot of improvements. I can also do web-design using notepad on windows much easier, because of the lacking hash key on mac grrrr

[Big G]

ALT + 3 mark ####

[jimmy]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

Thats what I'm getting at, I don't get why some people like it so much - it doesn't give you anything over vanilla Linux.

Photoshop, dreamweaver, illustrator, maya, etc Unless you can use these things on Linux - properly I mean, not via some slightly unstable or semi-functional emulation gubbins.

I've never used a Mac in my life but I like the look of that 27" imac if I could afford it / get it as a 2nd computer and use it only for artwork. I think the best thing about a Mac for creatives is that it can do so little compared to a PC you've got less distractions

[DCM]

hee hee.... thats a good agrument for the Mac.... I think, Jimmy

[ashleyb4]

I have to admit here ive just spent the last 8 hours trying to install windows 7 profestional. I put the disk in and went to install and it kept coming up with an error saying some files where missing or corrupt. I tried everything i un plugged everything bar my mouse and KB. Took out 6GB of ram leaving me with 2. I formatted my Hard drives. One of which was a 1TB drive which took ages. None of this helped. I then put the disk in my DVD rom drive and it worked first time. I was almost in tears lol. Can only think its because my cd drive is getting on a bit. But now its installed its the best. Love it

A

[kek23k]

Originally Posted by ashleyb4

I have to admit here ive just spent the last 8 hours trying to install windows 7 profestional. I put the disk in and went to install and it kept coming up with an error saying some files where missing or corrupt. I tried everything i un plugged everything bar my mouse and KB. Took out 6GB of ram leaving me with 2. I formatted my Hard drives. One of which was a 1TB drive which took ages. None of this helped. I then put the disk in my DVD rom drive and it worked first time. I was almost in tears lol. Can only think its because my cd drive is getting on a bit. But now its installed its the best. Love it

A

Or maybe it's because Windows 7 comes on a dvd and not a cd?

[Marvin]

They were my immediate thoughts...

Oh, and anyone who buys a Mac appears to care more for looks than substance. Just because a Mac may feel like quality on the outside, doesn't mean that it is on the inside. See Titch's post above. The PC is £150 cheaper, more compatible with programs than Mac OSX, and is far faster, has more memory - that is also faster, a larger capacity hard drive - also faster and has TWO new HD5850 graphics cards in Crossfire (The 5850 is the third best graphics card produced by ATI, and is only bested by a small handful of Nvidia cards (GTX295, GTX285). Compared with a GTX120, they walk all over it easily, not even vaguely comparable.

[ashleyb4]

Originally Posted by kek23k

Or maybe it's because Windows 7 comes on a dvd and not a cd?

Yea its a cd dvd drive. Which i used to install beta and XP without problems.

A

[Big G]

that got me a while ago when I got a freebie ex-office pc off a friend which only had a CD rom and it took me ages for me to click why it wouldn't boot off the DVD to install fresh windows lol.

[Ben Turner]

I made mine onto a boot-able USB stick, and put it on my netbook. Kinda struggles a bit so I turned all the transparency's off, and am running the smaller task bar. So its pretty much windows XP/Vista now lol. Ooo and I turned the combining task bar off, as I was fed up of clicking like 3 times to get to a flashing msn window or whatever.

[blue_pinky]

LOL...love the mac vs PC argument....it'll go on for ever!!!

IMO....

Mac = Better user experience than windows for general day to day tasks. Amazingly well designed object to own! Have you ever seen inside one?

Games consoles = Better user experience than PC for gaming....no upgrading/compatability/performance issues...and I can sit on my sofa and play it on a massive telly!

PC = Jack of all trades, Master of none...ugly, but cheap! Which is why we all have them

Looking at those 2 machines specced above...

The PC spec is a good gaming machine spec...probably lovely for games, but not so good for music/animation/graphics/design work....standard desktop quality processor, 2 big gaming graphics cards. How much more upgrading will that platform take though? And a PC has to cope with many developers, 3rd party suppliers, so the platform is pushed when it comes to stability and reliability because of the vast array of possible hardware/software configurations.

That Mac spec is a PRO machine so good base spec for music/animation/graphics/design work...workstation quality XEON processor and ECC ram. And that machine is capable of being upgraded MASSIVELY from that spec....perfect for professional design use, and stable because it's a platform with only a few trusted developers who can design and test extensively to ensure reliability with only a few possible hardware configurations. Not primarily aimed at home use.

imacs, macbooks, mac mini are more day to day general use machines and are much cheaper...but also don't do games...but then not everyone does.

Anyway, for me, they are different beasts! If gaming is how you measure your speed then that PC wins, but that MAC will be better in most other uses....hence the price!

You always get what you pay for

I have a PC incidentally, you can't do 3D engineering design on a MAC currently...grrrrr...it's the perfect platform for it as well, which makes it all the more annoying! Nowt's perfect is it!

WOW..long post...sorry!

[Big G]

my macbook pro does games

512mb GF9600 GT and 4gb of DDR3 RAM

I can bootcamp into XP if I want to play games only made for windows. personally I only really play warcraft or toca racer which are both made for mac although you'll be pleased to know my warcraft subscription runs out in 24 days so that's the end for me!

and true. the windows vs mac argument will never end hehe

I much prefer RC racing to game

[rowanp25]

ok so first off the whole argument about games for windows, maya ect is a feelble one at best! ok if you want a rig to play the latest Cod or whatever then (at the moment) a windows pc is your only option. for music/ graphics windows and osx can do these very capably. But the reason the softwares out for various Os'es is the fact thats thats where the market is. Now in defence of my personal choice in linux is simple i want a system that can go online (firefox), do graphics (blender and Gimp) oh an most of all work as a music studio (the RT linux kernel can run at lower latencies than both current win or osx)
for games we have a wii or there is codega?? if i must play on pc

[Big G]

the latest cod is on mac too...

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by blue_pinky

Looking at those 2 machines specced above...

The PC spec is a good gaming machine spec...probably lovely for games, but not so good for music/animation/graphics/design work....standard desktop quality processor, 2 big gaming graphics cards. How much more upgrading will that platform take though? And a PC has to cope with many developers, 3rd party suppliers, so the platform is pushed when it comes to stability and reliability because of the vast array of possible hardware/software configurations.

That Mac spec is a PRO machine so good base spec for music/animation/graphics/design work...workstation quality XEON processor and ECC ram. And that machine is capable of being upgraded MASSIVELY from that spec....perfect for professional design use, and stable because it's a platform with only a few trusted developers who can design and test extensively to ensure reliability with only a few possible hardware configurations. Not primarily aimed at home use.

Waah?!?!

The Intel Xeon processor in the Mac is one of these. Woop.

The Intel i5 750 processor in the PC is one of these.

Massive performance advantage (!) with the Mac there... 2MB less cache, otherwise, no different - great.

Not only that, the LGA775 is an aging platform now, whilst the i5 is very new - far more capable of receiving future upgrades.

Memory - 3GB DDR3 1066 RAM. Compared with 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM. So the RAM speed is slower, and there is 5GB less of it. Another convincing win there... ECC isn't that important at all to be honest. Otherwise, I'm sure everyone would be using it by now.

Can't comment on the hard drive speed, other than in general, the 1TB capacity drives tend to be in a company's best range - so is likely to be faster (better read/write speeds and random access speeds), and there's more space.

Not enough info on the DVD drives to pass judgement, both are read/write drives.

No monitor, in comparison with a high resolution 26" monitor. Clear winner there.

Graphics cards - pretty much any graphics card will be 3D design capable, and the GT120 certainly won't be any more capable than two HD5850s for 3D design. No contest whatsoever, be it for gaming, design, watching films or anything else.

There's not enough info on the sound to draw any good conclusions.

Windows 7 vs Mac OSX - personal preference. I personally don't like Macs, but that's an opinion.

Oh, and the biggest point, £260 cheaper than the Mac.

About your 'more upgradeable' point. There's no need to upgrade the PC spec machine - it's far superior than the Mac. The reason why there are few developers in the Mac OSX is because the market isn't really there - people (particularly when it comes to technology) tend to go with the best.

Of course it's easy to make something stable if there are only a handful of developers writing for your system.

[Titch]

Originally Posted by Marvin

There's not enough info on the sound to draw any good conclusions.
.

PC had shitty on board sound, which I was suprised at considering the rest of it's spec. Even a Fatal1ty would have been nicer.. though they do have a snap crackle and pop issue on high RAM machines Personal experience there.. doesn't help when trying to produce a new track.