Re:I fix PC's by day... and use Macs at home.
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Mac v. Microsoft TCO
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· Score: 1
Linux is in the same boat as windows for hardware reliability. And for the hours spent maintaining your linux environment and software I would bet it takes more of your time to do so than with a windows box. As long as you buy good hardware, keep your antivirus and windows critical patches up to date, and do a system cleanup / defrag once in a while Windows XP is a piece of cake and pretty dang reliable. Not that I'm a windows lover or anything - I think microsoft should be launched into the sun.
In reading this article it sounds like the video game industry is evolving to be much like the film industry. A video game can be thought of as a work of art. Just like Citizen Kane and other film class staples - games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid can be respected for more than just a way of passing time.
Like the film industry produces great works of art like Gone with the Wind, they also produce trash like Legally Blonde. The Video game industry has their Quake 2s and Final Fantasy's but they come out with way too much garbage like Gods and Generals, and Enter the Matrix (didn't mean to pick 2 video game adaptations of movies but those 2 just happen to suck)
Nevermind. I'm confused by the whole works. I thought you were dissing iTunes and iPod users by calling them elitest snobs. I own an iPod and I think its great. I don't get all elitist about it though, what's the point? I can't wait till I get my Powerbook so I can try out GarageBand.
eh? Maybe it means "I want a little box that has a whole bunch of music in it that I can carry around with me - and it would be cool if the box had a really good program for interfacing with my computer"
I've noticed that for the last 6 years or so the highest end ATI or Nvidia gamer card is always $400 - $500.
At the same time each company pushes a cheaper version of the same card for around $200.
Usually the faster card has more ram and can play all current and future (for the next year or two) games.
The Cheaper card can handle all current games pretty well - though shave off a few FPS.
ATI's current cheaper card is the Radeon 9600. Nvidia's cheaper card is the 5700 series. They are both around $200.
I said nothing about the GeForce2 which is so old that playing Halo on it would not do justice because of the DirectX 9 graphics effects which it can not handle.
I also said nothing about a pathetic (by gaming standards) 750 MhZ athlon machine.
My estimates were based on a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 or equivalent.
I am not suprised that your effects are choppy because of the lack of DX9 Support on your card. I am suprised that you aren't noticing other things like extremely long load time and moments when the game temporarily freezes or times when the frames per second go so shitty that you think you're watching a Halo slide show. OR are you experiencing some of these things and just holding out on us?
Halo is one of the most hardware demanding PC games available. Getting it to run well on a Windows PC would take much more than $400. Your graphics card alone would run a minimum of $200 for whatever the current Nvidia or ATI higher-end budget card selection is. On top of that you will need a fast CPU and plenty of RAM uppping your budget to more like $800 for the whole package - if you are good at shopping around.
I would assume that since the Windows port is so hardware intensive that the Mac port would be as well. I would have guessed that a power mac G5 would be where you want to start when thinking about playing Halo on a Mac to get anything close to a good user experience.
But, of course, If you consider yourself a gamer at all, the thought of playing anything on a Macintosh would seem silly when you have all these consoles and Windows computers that work perfectly fine for gaming.
I guess I just don't get it. I see all these stupid projects to get linux running on video game consoles and stuff. Pretty much anything with a processor.
I mean, I see how it could be viewed as fun or a challenge or whatever but these things are always touted to be practical. They say that you could use it as a workstation or a multimedia computer.
Right. . . Like you would want a workstation that's not upgradable and has 40 MB of RAM.
You geeks aren't fooling me. As soon as you get it working you'll be like "aw yeah check me out for being so 1337 and stuff" You'll use it for a week or so and then you'll realize that a regular computer works better as a computer. There's no shame in challenging yourself to try to get linux running on your toaster or appliance of the moment but just don't tell us that its practical!
I use XP Pro at home (Your condolences are not necessary) Mozilla Firebird is my default browser. I despise IE. The only time I see IE launch is when I do windows update. I wonder if there's any way microsoft could be convinced to program Windows update in a way that it could be accessed by other (standards compliant) browsers.
"Hi-MD" uses the FAT file system, making it possible to use "Hi-MD" formatted MDs and 1GB "Hi-MD"
discs as versatile media for recording PC data files, such as images and text. Furthermore, as
portable, rewritable PC media, "Hi-MD" complies with USB format's Mass Storage Class, ensuring that
simply by connecting a "Hi-MD" product to a PC it is immediately recognized as an external storage
device.
Well then, I guess I've already voted against apple. Since the only reason has been price I guess that makes me an issue-voter.
I guess you could also say I'm like one of those green-party members (Apple) who votes democrat (hand made computers - cheap retail parts, Linux) just because I don't want the republicans (Dell, Microsoft) to win. Or something.
You know, If apple lowered their prices about 10 - 15% I bet they could get that 15% market share. They have had a lot of big wins lately and Windows has had a lot of embarrasments. I'm sure I'm in a pretty common situation - want apple - don't want to spend that much money on computer stuff.
And what's this you say about not outsourcing to India? Is Apple 100% American made? I have no idea but I do like the idea of supporting the local economy.
Point is, if all we are going to do is to sit around and dish out glowing reviews, then we should not be surprised when (not if) a company we so approve of fails. Put your money where your mouth is.
Enough people are buying apple products right now to give them a nice profit. Sadly, not everyone can afford their products - but are doing what they can to support Apple by verbally salivating about their products.
I'm one of them! Though I do have plans to get a PowerBook, iPod and GarageBand as soon as fundage allows.
The reason it has an embedded version of Windows XP is so you can play PC games on it. This is a game console. I see no benefit of Linux on this system. If you want a cheap workstation build a cheap workstation. You could probably do it chaper and better than this box anyway.
Emulation is not even close to the real thing. I wouldn't dream of giving up my original NES. Sure, I could play super mario on my PC or on pretty much any console that emulation makes possible. But I'd still know that the Graphics, Sound and tactile controller response just aren't the same.
I have an Atari 2600, NES, SNES, N64, GCN, PS2, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, PC gaming machine and a total of 171 original copy games. I wouldn't accept emulation as a substitue for any of them. So I have the GCN, PS2 and N64 on my main TV because I play them most and I rotate the other consoles when I want to play them on a smaller tv in my bedroom.
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Linux is in the same boat as windows for hardware reliability. And for the hours spent maintaining your linux environment and software I would bet it takes more of your time to do so than with a windows box. As long as you buy good hardware, keep your antivirus and windows critical patches up to date, and do a system cleanup / defrag once in a while Windows XP is a piece of cake and pretty dang reliable. Not that I'm a windows lover or anything - I think microsoft should be launched into the sun.
Like the film industry produces great works of art like Gone with the Wind, they also produce trash like Legally Blonde. The Video game industry has their Quake 2s and Final Fantasy's but they come out with way too much garbage like Gods and Generals, and Enter the Matrix (didn't mean to pick 2 video game adaptations of movies but those 2 just happen to suck)
Nevermind. I'm confused by the whole works. I thought you were dissing iTunes and iPod users by calling them elitest snobs. I own an iPod and I think its great. I don't get all elitist about it though, what's the point? I can't wait till I get my Powerbook so I can try out GarageBand.
eh? Maybe it means "I want a little box that has a whole bunch of music in it that I can carry around with me - and it would be cool if the box had a really good program for interfacing with my computer"
No we don't. Enlighten us.
woh, let's not get personal here. I didn't judge you. And you didn't say whether you bought it used or refurbished.
I'm too lazy to see how many US dollars that equals out to but I'll guess not that many. Did you buy it used or refurbished or something.
At the same time each company pushes a cheaper version of the same card for around $200.
Usually the faster card has more ram and can play all current and future (for the next year or two) games.
The Cheaper card can handle all current games pretty well - though shave off a few FPS.
ATI's current cheaper card is the Radeon 9600. Nvidia's cheaper card is the 5700 series. They are both around $200.
I said nothing about the GeForce2 which is so old that playing Halo on it would not do justice because of the DirectX 9 graphics effects which it can not handle.
I also said nothing about a pathetic (by gaming standards) 750 MhZ athlon machine.
My estimates were based on a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 or equivalent.
I am not suprised that your effects are choppy because of the lack of DX9 Support on your card. I am suprised that you aren't noticing other things like extremely long load time and moments when the game temporarily freezes or times when the frames per second go so shitty that you think you're watching a Halo slide show. OR are you experiencing some of these things and just holding out on us?
I would assume that since the Windows port is so hardware intensive that the Mac port would be as well. I would have guessed that a power mac G5 would be where you want to start when thinking about playing Halo on a Mac to get anything close to a good user experience.
But, of course, If you consider yourself a gamer at all, the thought of playing anything on a Macintosh would seem silly when you have all these consoles and Windows computers that work perfectly fine for gaming.
This means here are so many hippies here its crazy. Which also means that there are tons of people playing congas everywhere.
I fricken hate congas.
Xenophobe was released for the NES and it is probably among the 10 worst games in my (about) 200 game collection.
I mean, I see how it could be viewed as fun or a challenge or whatever but these things are always touted to be practical. They say that you could use it as a workstation or a multimedia computer.
Right. . . Like you would want a workstation that's not upgradable and has 40 MB of RAM.
You geeks aren't fooling me. As soon as you get it working you'll be like "aw yeah check me out for being so 1337 and stuff" You'll use it for a week or so and then you'll realize that a regular computer works better as a computer. There's no shame in challenging yourself to try to get linux running on your toaster or appliance of the moment but just don't tell us that its practical!
Yes, very bouncy. Its a shame about those shorts though.
I use XP Pro at home (Your condolences are not necessary) Mozilla Firebird is my default browser. I despise IE. The only time I see IE launch is when I do windows update. I wonder if there's any way microsoft could be convinced to program Windows update in a way that it could be accessed by other (standards compliant) browsers.
Girlfriend on film is just about the right combination.
The speakers are made of LEXAN plastic which is the same material that those Nalgene bottles are made of.
Maddox had this idea long before this clone
What do you think, Mac, Linux compatible?
I guess you could also say I'm like one of those green-party members (Apple) who votes democrat (hand made computers - cheap retail parts, Linux) just because I don't want the republicans (Dell, Microsoft) to win. Or something.
good one - silly fool.
And what's this you say about not outsourcing to India? Is Apple 100% American made? I have no idea but I do like the idea of supporting the local economy.
I haven't run into that problem. Usually the partial albums have only the good songs from what I've seen.
Enough people are buying apple products right now to give them a nice profit. Sadly, not everyone can afford their products - but are doing what they can to support Apple by verbally salivating about their products.
I'm one of them! Though I do have plans to get a PowerBook, iPod and GarageBand as soon as fundage allows.
The reason it has an embedded version of Windows XP is so you can play PC games on it. This is a game console. I see no benefit of Linux on this system. If you want a cheap workstation build a cheap workstation. You could probably do it chaper and better than this box anyway.
I have an Atari 2600, NES, SNES, N64, GCN, PS2, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, PC gaming machine and a total of 171 original copy games. I wouldn't accept emulation as a substitue for any of them. So I have the GCN, PS2 and N64 on my main TV because I play them most and I rotate the other consoles when I want to play them on a smaller tv in my bedroom.