OK so pc vs apple who knows anything about this?

[Bitmap Frogs]

EvilChronos said:

So I think I might be going with apple on there next upgrade. There current IMAC at best buy is:

$1499.99

20" screen

2 gigs ram

dual core 2.4

350 gig hd

256mb ATI video card

I thought this was a huge rip off and I always have thought that apples were WAY over priced until I started using Vista about a year ago and I absolutly hate it. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. Also I have heard and read about that macs pretty much can not get a virus and if they do they are not affected in the same way windows pc's are and it will hardly mess with them. 

So to have mac os and not get viruses is a huge bonus and I have heard that the next imac upgrade will go something like this:

$1299.99

20" screen

4 gig ram

quad core 2.2-2.4

500 gb hd

512 mb nvidia or ati video card 

Now this is still anywere from 25-50% more expensive then buying a pc and lcd with same configure however with this u do not get restarded ass vista and macs are a lot more secure.

So has anyone heard if the next imac upgrade will be like this and does anyone have an opinion on mac vs pc? Please do not turn this into a flame war. I have had like 5 different pc's in my life so switching to mac is a pretty big deal so I would like some honest opinions and some good hard facts if anyone has any? THANKS

 

Current imacs? do not buy the 20". It packs an underpowered screen that can't show millions of colors - it uses dithering to simulate them. Go for the 24" to get the real deal. I have a 24" at home and use a 20" at work and the difference in the quality screen is considerable. Of the current models only the top of the line packs a pseudo-acceptable gpu for gaming but the sucker is like 1900$. Ouch.

Apple usually upgrades imac 1-2 months after a laptop upgrade (which is happening tomorrow), so unless you were in a hurry I'd wait and get a fresh one. Up to you. Also, buy another 2gb ram stick yourself and upgrade as soon as the box hits your house - do NOT order the extra ram from Apple, you've been warned.

Yeah, Mac OS X rocks whatever version of windows. If you still care about gaming you can use bootcamp (it comes with the OS) to create a windows partition to boot from alternatively to play your games. It's not the same as having them native, specially since windows can't access the contents on the mac os partition. Well, you can as long you shell out 40$ for the HFS drivers. Alternatively you can use something like vmware fusion to run windows inside mac os but it incurs in a performance hit.

My opinion? I've had a 24" for a year and it's terrific: the screen is great, it runs pretty much silent and the one-box approach kills a lot of clutter around your computer area. Oh yeah, Mac OS X rocks, did I mention that already?.

Negatives I've noticed? The OS is damn lazy about ramping up fan speed so it can get really hot - get smcFanControl (free) to take care of that. Also, the screen is bright as fuck - I use a (free) utility, Brightness Control, to moderate it. Whenever I'm watching a movie or using color-critical apps I disable it. Oh, I forgot: video-conference through MSN is a rocky issue - your only option is aMSN and I wonder how the hell they coded it, but it's sluggishly painful to use. Other IM protocols (including raw-text MSN) have better support - there's a little wonder called Adium, google it.

edit: viruses for mac OS X are practically non-existant. Virus makers tend to not care =). Trojans however DO exist - beware of what applications you download from the internet, just because it's a mac OS X machine doesn't mean people can't build a malicious application and trojan it as miley_cirus_naked.app

edit2: QuickSilver. It's free and it's the best.thing.ever