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"Software aside, I'd much rather go with the laptop that's 25% lighter, with a multi-touch trackpad (trying to go back after using Apple's trackpad is like trying to use a mouse without a scroll wheel), magnetic power connector and a 50% longer claimed battery life. Believe it or not, there are other hardware considerations besides just mega hurts and giggle bites."
Well in that case... my netbook is lighter than any Macbook, and has a longer battery life than any Macbook, and costed me nearly a third the cost of an entry-level Macbook.

What's your point?



Wii/PC/DS Lite/PSP-2000 owner, shameless Nintendo and AMD fanboy.

My comp, as shown to the right (click for fullsize pic)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
Video Card: XFX 1 GB Radeon HD 5870
Memory: 8 GB A-Data DDR3-1600
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
Primary Storage: OCZ Vertex 120 GB
Case: Cooler Master HAF-932
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Extra Storage: WD Caviar Black 640 GB,
WD Caviar Black 750 GB, WD Caviar Black 1 TB
Display: Triple ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 monitors
Sound: HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card,
Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
Input: Logitech G5 mouse,
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard
Wii Friend Code: 2772 8804 2626 5138 Steam: jefforange89
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@Marc: Cool, it's been around forever? Holy shit. Show me something comparable to Quicksilver in terms of ease of use and functionality and I'll stop using OSX on my built pc. And uh... making osx run on a built pc is a little more involved than a patch.



Demon's Souls Official Thread  | Currently playing: Left 4 Dead 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, Magicka

If you like to be a poser, get a Mac, if you like to get some work done, PC is your choice.

I'm tired of people saying that Macs are THE platform for graphics desigm/movies/music.
I can get a better specd PC with two H-IPS panel monitors for a price of a G5 with cinemadisplay.

The best feature about Mac is that it's dumbproof, as in if you have no idea what you're doing, it's much harder to mess up OSX than Windows. But then again, being dumbproof also means being restrictive, and you have to adapt yourself to the machine, instead adapting the machine to your needs/workflow.



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marc said:
To make a long story short:

MAC = PC - Games

You want programs, then the PC is the way to go for max flexibility. The MAC really doesn't do anything well since they switched to the Intel platform. And no, MAC are definitely not more secure. I have 10x more virus problems with the 2 rooms of MAC's than I do with an entire base full of PC's on a secure domain.

I would love to know what ten or more viruses you're getting on your Macs. Seriously, I like to keep on top of these things.



"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event."  — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.

jefforange89 said:
"Software aside, I'd much rather go with the laptop that's 25% lighter, with a multi-touch trackpad (trying to go back after using Apple's trackpad is like trying to use a mouse without a scroll wheel), magnetic power connector and a 50% longer claimed battery life. Believe it or not, there are other hardware considerations besides just mega hurts and giggle bites."
Well in that case... my netbook is lighter than any Macbook, and has a longer battery life than any Macbook, and costed me nearly a third the cost of an entry-level Macbook.

What's your point?

That Macbooks present a useful combination of power and portability as well as an exclusive interface device and protection against a common threat to laptop hardware (somebody tripping over your power cord and kicking your computer off a table to a hard floor).

I'm glad you like your netbook. If all you need is internet and word processing and you can manage the small keyboard, it's definitely the way to go.



"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event."  — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.

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Prefer a Mac, but they are overpriced. I would prefer an 'assemble yourself PC' with MacOS installed with good drivers over a Mac, but I would also prefer a more modern PowerPC processor over x86 bagage...

IMO Windows, MacOS and Linux are all pretty sucky compared to where I wanted / expected us to by 2010 when I was a teen in the 90s.



Naughty Dog: "At Naughty Dog, we're pretty sure we should be able to see leaps between games on the PS3 that are even bigger than they were on the PS2."

PS3 vs 360 sales

I have a macbook pro and a hackintosh desktop (i can give my complete config if anyone is interested to build a 100% compatible hackintosh). To be honest the new imacs are rather tempting and have very good hardware specs maybe i should have gone that way instead of building my hackintosh pc..



Senlis said:
ZenfoldorVGI said:

This argument isn't exactly about this computer. However, I think it's specs are great for its price, as you've mentioned. You've marginalized it, by claiming that its small form factor causes more heat, and reduces the ability to upgrade. You've also mentioned that  the parts might be of low quality.

Truth is, those are nitpicks. For the price this is an excellent computer. This is a "dirt cheap"(your words) price on a computer with fantastic specifications. It also has HDMI out, so he can hook it up to his HDTV, and he can play older games like Warcraft 3, NWN, or even World of Warcraft much better than most CPUs with absolute shit integrated graphics cards.

The computer has 5.1 out, HDMI out, a decent integrated card, and good parts. I've inspected it. Yet it still manages to only cost 360 dollars. You'll have a hard time beating that.

Sure, it might "suck" compared to a lot of computers out there, which cost much more money, and still don't manage the connectivity of this PC. However, it ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT SUCK for the price. In fact, it is one of the best bargins out there for the price, as far as PC's go. The warranty moots most of your nitpicks, and again, upgrading with a small form factor is impossible, but also unnecessary unless you want to game on the PC.

Now, I do understand you making the incorrect assumption that only HD gaming ready PCs should be recommended, because this is a gaming website. However, I can't forgive you clinging to the presumption that price has nothing to do with quality. What would you pay for a Mac with these specs? What if the PS3 was 10,000 dollars? Then, it would suck. Price is a major factor, and you DONT always get what you pay for. Sometimes you get much more, and sometimes you get much less. You need to learn how to use the internet, if you don't believe that.

THIS was my point. You can get a PC that can do pretty much anything the best Mac can do(for the casual user) at about the same speed(or greater), with much more connectivity, for 360 dollars. Remember, gaming sucks on a Mac, one of the largest talking points is that HD gaming is terrible on Mac. Same as this computer. However, this computer is 360 dollars, not 1000. It comes with Windows 7, and at this price, if you built the PC, you'd pay 100 dollars for that, alone.

Is this PC hot? No, stays cool even under load.

Does this PC have quality parts? Yes, I've inspected it, and I've also owned many, many Acer products as do many modern frugle PC entheusiasts. I also own several self-built computers and one hybrid.

Is this computer fast? Very, even the HD is fast

Can you game well on this computer? If you aren't gaming in HD, then it's not bad. This is not a gaming PC.

Does this computer have bells and whistles? 16x DVD Rw, card reader, HDMI out, 5.1 optical toslink out, nice integrated graphics, very efficiently sized, Windows 7 premium, decently sized Hard-drive, 64 bit processor, 3gigs of ram out of the box, 9 usb ports. This would be a GREAT entry level PC or the PERFECT HTPC. Do you disagree? Is this a bad HTPC, lol?

Does this PC have a guarntee? 1 year warranty, 30 day money back guarntee.

Is this PC well respected? Great reviews all over the internet, sold out everywhere.

is this PC well priced? Specwise, this is one of the best dollar to power ratio PCs in mass production

For YOUR purposes, it sucks. For a casual, and for 99 percent of the civilized world, this PC is far superior to their current PCs, and costs far far less than they paid for them.

 

Let's get off this PC. I don't really care about it. I just became offended at the implication that I didn't know what I was talking about. Bro, I build computers monthly. Honestly, I think this would be a great first PC for the kid, or any kid, or any student. Gamers, shop elsewhere, or build your own, this is obvious.

You did make a few good points though, so I salute you. Your first paragraph was impressive.

You have some good points too, even though I still would never buy a small form factor PC, even for an HTPC.

This is completely off topic (even more than before).  I just ask that you don't use the term "HD" when talking about PC gaming.  It means absolutely nothing; We have had what console gamers consider HD for a long time.  I don't care if you run World in Conflict at 640 x 480 (what I would consider the closest thing a computer monitor would go to SD, even though it is still progressive scan), it would still probably not run on that computer.  I just don't like the marketing term "HD" because it is very misleading.

As for the brand of computer you go with, I would take a look at ASUS computers before you make your decision.  They are the best quality computer companies out there, and they sell their equipment at very reasonably prices.  Their customer service is real good too.

I've got a really nice Asus netbook, just bought it. 10.5 battery life, they claim. It was a little bit more expensive, but it really rocks. Upgraded to 2gigs and I've got a fine little netbook.



I don't need your console war.
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor.
You're power hungry, spinnin' stories, and bein' graphics whores.
I don't need your console war.

NO NO, NO NO NO.

Well, back on topic, I think when you buy a Mac, you pay for the brand name. You pay a lot. You get basically nothing. For every small insignificant advantage of the "user friendly" Mac software, you give yourself huge disadvantages. For instance, the inability to play games. Build quality is a myth. Acer or Apple, you still get a warranty with your product. As far as build quality, however, the cheaper PC brands still tend to have excellent build quality, and a GREAT indication of that is user reviews.

See, in the modern world, you should never choose your items by their brand name. You should pick them with user reviews and research of individual models. This is called research. There is no broad simple explanation. When researching quality vs price, I suggest you look at a few macs, just so you know exactly what the everyone has to offer for the price.

So here it is, if you don't have a vague understanding of how a computer works, or what software is, then Mac still isn't worth the extra price you pay for nothing but prestige and brand name. Every nitpick you have about PC is countered by real disadvantages of Mac. It's a user-friendly OS that costs out the ass. It's for casual users.



I don't need your console war.
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor.
You're power hungry, spinnin' stories, and bein' graphics whores.
I don't need your console war.

NO NO, NO NO NO.

ameratsu said:
@Marc: Cool, it's been around forever? Holy shit. Show me something comparable to Quicksilver in terms of ease of use and functionality and I'll stop using OSX on my built pc. And uh... making osx run on a built pc is a little more involved than a patch.

Holy Shit here is a list of file indexing software some that go back as far as windows 95.

http://software.informer.com/getfree-quick-file-search-program-windows/

And oh btw, OS2 actually came with a file indexer for quick search and I am fairly sure you could get something similar for DOS and *nix if you tried because I could probably write the program (ugly as it might be) in about a day. Windows has had an index feature built into 2000 (possibly NT4 as well) but normal folks dont usually use it. Need a song? Plop it into a search after indexing and your results are practically instant. Click and launch. Remote file exchanges... are you kidding we have been doing that since the old IBM nix days and we never needed a mouse. Virtual desktops go back to the nix days as well and there were apps that gave you that feature on windows 95 as well. Do I need to describe how to make desktop shortcuts and write shell scripts too? How about the start menu, does that really need a replacement?

Dont get me wrong, I am not saying that quicksilver is bad, I am saying that it is not innovative and its features are readily available on every OS since the mid 90's for anyone who wants to use them but most people dont want to bother because most would find it unimportant. You probably never bothered to use those features before because they were not hightly advertised.