If you have a plasma or CRT TV, using stretch mode prevents uneven burn-in.
My brain is perfectly capable of adjusting to the distortion of a stretched image. I don't mind bars on the left and right sides either.
I find DVD quality to be "good enough" on my HD set. HD is noticeably better, but not to the point that I am willing to drop a huge amount of money on BluRay equipment. I do not have the HDMI card for my TV, so that's another expense that I would have to contend with because of that stupid image constraint token idea. When PS3s are cheaper, I'll grab one.
I do NOT find standard definition broadcast TV to be good enough, though. I pretty much only watch HD programming and HD channels. Anamorphic 16x9 gives DVD just enough of a quality boost to make it fit within my personal quality standard.
If Apple recently updated their product, the price is generally competitive. But as it sits on the market, Dell more aggressively changes prices or upgrades the specs with the market. You are also much more likely to get significant discounts with Dell. Overall Dell usually is a bit cheaper.
That said, you're right though. Many who complain about Apple's pricing fail to make appropriate comparisons. The closest Dell to a Mac Pro is the Precision Workstation. The Mac Pro is not an el-cheapo Dimension/Inspiron.
Apple just doesn't do bargain basement. Even their "budget" Mini has gigabit ethernet, firewire, bluetooth, IR, DVI, optical audio and wifi.
PCs are "designed" for whatever use you want to use them for.
Total hardware cost? With modern HDTVs, you can often just connect the PC through standard connections (DVI or VGA). You can hook up your old console game controllers with a very inexpensive USB adapters. We've had a PC of some sort connected to our HDTV since 1999. We use it for all sorts of things, gaming included. We haven't had a need for a standard DVD player in 7 years. Windows Media Center made the whole experience a lot better by allowing use of our universal remote with it. We now use a Mac Mini - its small, quiet, but powerful enough to do lots of things.
The OPs question is perfectly valid. Back in the day, we used joysticks to play games on PCs. Somewhere in the FPS craze, gamepads went out of vogue. I'm not a fan of using a mouse and keyboard to play games. Most current games don't even have joystick input as an option. But it would be interesting to hear of any more recent titles that might work in this environment.
So, as many others have pointed out, the biggest library of games that's going to work well in that environment are emulators of older game consoles and arcade games.
If you want to collect them together in one nice user interface under Windows, check out Gameex.
I think Microsoft's problems run much deeper than just Vista. Microsoft has completely lost sight of how to create innovative products that people enjoy using.
When they can't seem to innovate, they backtrack and try to compete with existing products. Only it takes them so long the thing they're competing with becomes deeply entrenched in the market and has become a de-facto standard. Examples: TiVo and UltimateTV. iPod and Zune. It surprises me that XBox has done as well as it has.
Microsoft has been in the mobile phone business for over 5 years. They've had all this time to refine PocketPC/Windows CE as a phone OS. Still, I don't know anyone who really loves Windows Mobile. It's functional but clunky. Yet Apple comes along and takes their first stab at a phone, it's a smash hit with people overall.
Vista is just another example of how Microsoft just "doesn't get it". They keep changing things around in ways that just aren't better, especially for less technical people. They keep taking their common "standardized" UI elements away from their applications. That goes for other products too. The most basic UI staple - the menu bar, is now missing from Internet Explorer 7 and Word 2007 amongst others.
i really used to be a fan of Microsoft's products, but not so much anymore.
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Yes, you can buy limited selections of reissues and "new old stock" at a premium online You ought to swing by a DJ oriented music shop some time.
If you have a plasma or CRT TV, using stretch mode prevents uneven burn-in. My brain is perfectly capable of adjusting to the distortion of a stretched image. I don't mind bars on the left and right sides either. I find DVD quality to be "good enough" on my HD set. HD is noticeably better, but not to the point that I am willing to drop a huge amount of money on BluRay equipment. I do not have the HDMI card for my TV, so that's another expense that I would have to contend with because of that stupid image constraint token idea. When PS3s are cheaper, I'll grab one. I do NOT find standard definition broadcast TV to be good enough, though. I pretty much only watch HD programming and HD channels. Anamorphic 16x9 gives DVD just enough of a quality boost to make it fit within my personal quality standard.
If Apple recently updated their product, the price is generally competitive. But as it sits on the market, Dell more aggressively changes prices or upgrades the specs with the market. You are also much more likely to get significant discounts with Dell. Overall Dell usually is a bit cheaper.
That said, you're right though. Many who complain about Apple's pricing fail to make appropriate comparisons. The closest Dell to a Mac Pro is the Precision Workstation. The Mac Pro is not an el-cheapo Dimension/Inspiron.
Apple just doesn't do bargain basement. Even their "budget" Mini has gigabit ethernet, firewire, bluetooth, IR, DVI, optical audio and wifi.
-- Rob
PCs are "designed" for whatever use you want to use them for. Total hardware cost? With modern HDTVs, you can often just connect the PC through standard connections (DVI or VGA). You can hook up your old console game controllers with a very inexpensive USB adapters. We've had a PC of some sort connected to our HDTV since 1999. We use it for all sorts of things, gaming included. We haven't had a need for a standard DVD player in 7 years. Windows Media Center made the whole experience a lot better by allowing use of our universal remote with it. We now use a Mac Mini - its small, quiet, but powerful enough to do lots of things. The OPs question is perfectly valid. Back in the day, we used joysticks to play games on PCs. Somewhere in the FPS craze, gamepads went out of vogue. I'm not a fan of using a mouse and keyboard to play games. Most current games don't even have joystick input as an option. But it would be interesting to hear of any more recent titles that might work in this environment. So, as many others have pointed out, the biggest library of games that's going to work well in that environment are emulators of older game consoles and arcade games. If you want to collect them together in one nice user interface under Windows, check out Gameex.
Because, buying the upgrade will give you that genuine Microsoft key. No stressing over cracks and Windows Update. .
I think Microsoft's problems run much deeper than just Vista. Microsoft has completely lost sight of how to create innovative products that people enjoy using. When they can't seem to innovate, they backtrack and try to compete with existing products. Only it takes them so long the thing they're competing with becomes deeply entrenched in the market and has become a de-facto standard. Examples: TiVo and UltimateTV. iPod and Zune. It surprises me that XBox has done as well as it has. Microsoft has been in the mobile phone business for over 5 years. They've had all this time to refine PocketPC/Windows CE as a phone OS. Still, I don't know anyone who really loves Windows Mobile. It's functional but clunky. Yet Apple comes along and takes their first stab at a phone, it's a smash hit with people overall. Vista is just another example of how Microsoft just "doesn't get it". They keep changing things around in ways that just aren't better, especially for less technical people. They keep taking their common "standardized" UI elements away from their applications. That goes for other products too. The most basic UI staple - the menu bar, is now missing from Internet Explorer 7 and Word 2007 amongst others. i really used to be a fan of Microsoft's products, but not so much anymore.