OS discussion

[UnderseaLcpl]

Hello everyone,

This may be a bit off topic but I just posted a response to a fellow subsimmer telling him (half-seriously) to get a mac to resolve any critical faults with Vista.

After some thinking I realized I could use some info from experienced PC users. A brief search of google yielded little aside from "Get a PC!" and "Get a Mac!"

As a long-time, modestly experienced PC user I can say that PCs eventually develop fatal problems for me. Despite my best efforts to maintain them they always fail eventually at some disastrous level. Because of this I purchased an Imac last year and have been immensely satisfied. Sure my vista has tanked a couple of times, mostly due to my gf getting viruses (esp. those "You have a virus, buy this to remove it" types) but the Mac portion has never failed me.

I'm hoping for experienced perspective from the hardened veterans of computer programming and repair as I assume a great deal of talent and experienc must go hand-in-hand with the technical expertise provided by members of this forum.

In short, for Sh3, 4 (and GWX!!!!) and all (hopefully) future subsims as well as other programs, what are your views on which operating system is superior or inferior? What are the advantages? What are the drawbacks? What would you suggest for a comparitively illiterate user such as myself?

All comments and criticisms are welcome,
Thanks!

P.S. If I need to provide more specific details on anything I will be happy to oblige.

[Platapus]

This thread may find a happier home in the general topic forum.

[silentrunner]

I think this belongs in general topics.

But I don't think that best OS is a very good question. I have only used a Mac couple of times, but from that small amount of experiance I was very unsatisfied. It does not do very well with the things I use computers for. Now Editors would probably think different because Macs are known for there editing abilities. So I don't think there is a best OS just what is better for you.

[Platapus]

I recently "upgraded" to a mac. I use my mac for all my non-gaming and I am very happy with the OS 10.5. no problems and pretty easy to learn.

I still have an XP machine for my gaming as there are still games not runable on the mac. As the windows emulators get better as well as more games coming out for the mac, I might, one of these days get rid of my xp machine.

But for non-gaming applications, I am very happy with my mac.

I still have a few PC corpses that I have been meaning to install Linux on to experiment. But never seem to have the time.

[SUBMAN1]

My problem with Mac's is that you have to push them in the direction you want to go, and when the machine is satisfied that it also wants to go that direction, then you may get some work done! :D

This video pretty much sums it up:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8999211063940301823&q=the+problem+with+macs&ei=ntJNSN3pOpD6qQP5q_y-DA&hl=en

-S

[bookworm_020]

I have both a mac and a PC. The PC's are easier to do upgrades yourself, mainly due to the construction of the desktop. Mac tend to be eaiser to use as well as easier on the eye!

[Red Heat]

I have both a mac and a PC. The PC's are easier to do upgrades yourself, mainly due to the construction of the desktop. Mac tend to be eaiser to use as well as easier on the eye!

The fatal true words, mate...now you said everithing! :yep:

[Doolan]

I have been using both a Mac and a PC for many, many years, and well, it all boils down to what you want to get out of the computer.

With Boot Camp and intel processors, gaming is no longer a barrier. SH4, for example, plays beautifully on all mid to high end Macs under Windows.

The two largest problems the Mac has are a relatively high price for the average consumer (it's only cheaper for some design studios because of the truckloads of bundled software and the mostly free upgrades) and the lack of expandability (severe in the Mac Pro, total in the other models unless HD and RAM upgrades are the only thing you want to do)

As for getting stuff done, after more than ten years using both, I'd say the Mac wins.

I have used Macs since the Powerbook 100 and the Mac Classic, and so far I have never, ever experienced a shutdown problem or a serious lockup. After the upgrade to OSX, even after lockups or a couple of power grid farts, I found after powering up again that my OS was in perfect condition and all my unsaved work recovered automatically.

Since most of the software you'll end up using for productivity has been made directly by the creator of the hardware or under their strict supervision, you will find that interaction is total.

As for "tricking the Mac to do what you want" this is far from true. The way Windows XP handles user permissions (this has changed in Vista, btw) has always been openly criticized even by Microsoft personnel, as it locks the user out from certain functions while allowing anyone (malware included) to access vital system functions. OSX works on a BSD base complete with user terminal and superuser access, so there is literally nothing you cannot do with the OS.

The video, by the way, is comedy and nothing else. Apart from the "OMG IT CRASHED" witty humor that can be found (also unfairly most of the time) in most criticisms of Windows (OMG BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH LOL), the few "objective" things the video mentions are false.

For starters, drag and drop from a CD does not make a shortcut, it copies. My apologies to the comedian, but anyone who DOES have a Mac can confirm it works that way...

I still keep a PC for gaming for a very simple reason. I don't mind lockups or crashes or spending a full hour solving driver conflicts when I want to play a game as much as I would if I was trying to work. Plus, if a new game comes out and I need a more powerful video card, chance is I quite simply won't be able to get it for my Mac, and if Apple does market one, it will cost three times as much as a similar PC video card. Even as a Mac user I just can't deny that fact. The PC is more expandable and more affordable.

My formula is, desktop PC for gaming, Mac laptop for actually getting stuff done.

[Platapus]

Both Mac and PCs suck.

If you really want some gaming power try

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221162405.htm

Fastest Computer: One Million Trillion 'Flops' Per Second

Wow, and at one time I was happy with my 3mhz 8088 :)