adnoh

Apple Laptops are pretty cool, granted. Over priced, granted. Build a faster comp than a Dual 2.5GHz G5 for $1700...ummmmm...no. And $4000 for a G5 setup is about mid-range.......Fully loaded, without displays, a top-of-the-line G5 goes for about $7500US.......$13,650 with 2 displays. Unless your $1700 PC had dual Xeon processors running over the 4-4.5GHz range, the G5 has it. Look at the simple tests on the Apple website. A single processor 1.8GHz G5 was already 5% faster than a PC running dual Xeon processors @ 3.2GHz...both with 2GB RAM. The top-of-the-line Dual 2.5GHz G5 was 95% faster then that same setup during a series of real-world tests (ie. Photoshop CS filter tests ect..) If you can afford it, the G5's are, arguably, the fastest out there. Especially with the ability to upgrade to 8GB of RAM on the 64-Bit processor (and not to mention the 1.25GHz fronside bus)

And what about Gaming?? Unless there is a specific title you really want, but cant get on Mac, there all there.....Halo, unreal tournament, Doom III....anythng else? And surprizingly enough, alot of the Mac programs I've bought for my G3 (OSX) have had both PC and Mac versions on one disk.

But once again, it's all about price.....and Mac's are WWAAAYYY Expensive
But as I said.......resale value. Take a Hyper-fast PC out of the store and it's like a domestic car......value is cut in half automatically. Not the case with Mac. You will get your money back.

Whatever tickles your pickle.

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1998 Acura Integra Type R #864

92b16vx

If you're spending $1700 on just the PC no monitor, keyboard mouse,etc, yes you could builld a smoking fast box that will give a personal user more computer than they need.

adnoh

Totally true.

Citizen_Insane

Dual Xeons 3.06 gHz HT (running stock speed)
IWILL DH800 motherboard (with overclock capability)
1gb Crucial DDR400
Radeon 9800pro

I garentee that this thing can render frames (in 3d) than a dual G5. I don't care what else it can't do as well, this computer is purly for 3d Modeling/Rendering and gaming, and for that, no Apple can compete. I don't care what it can do in 2d (photoshop runs fine on a PIII for god's sake), for pushing pure polys, the Xeon is unmatched. It outperforms both the g5 and the Opteron. Check it out on tom's hardware guide.

I know I could use more ram, but frankly, I just don't see the point. 3ds Max doesn't use more than 150mb ever unless I have MAD textures.

I agree with you in a lot of respects. If they made 3d software that was acutally good for Mac, and was designed FOR mac, then I would probably own a mac, but alas they don't (and don't make a lot of other software too) so I don't think I'll be buying one soon. THe lack of pirated software for mac also turns me away from them

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adnoh

Well, I agree with you in most respects as well. In terms of the 3D rendering world (including a lot of CAD programs made specifically for the PC platform), your Xeon setup would rival a G5....but that's pretty much the only time. As you stated, the reason the G5 cant keep up with a PC based 3D rendering system, is due to the fact that the software was not written for the Mac platform....which is a shame. But both computer platforms have their niche in the market. Just the same (being a Audio engineer/producer), I wouldn't ever be able to run 48 simultaneous channels of 32-bit true tape audio, with individual compression, delay's/filters/effects processing units ect.... on a PC. No matter what you have in there, it's not going to work. Alot of that has to due with the Windows platform but thats another conversation for another time.

In my eyes, a Xeon setup has too small of a "sweet spot" where it can really shine. The Mac G5's have the real-world performance I need....and the ability to not crash when overloaded (which happens alot in audio).

In terms of Pirated software........dude, the majority of the programs I have downloaded have had both PC and Mac drivers on them....so it hasn't been too hard. But, I know what you mean.

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1998 Acura Integra Type R #864

Citizen_Insane

My Xeons have never crashed, and I've had both procs @ 100% for 30+ straight hours in a hot dorm room. (holy god was that hot ) They are stable as shit. For me, Xeons = real world perofrmance, because all I do is 3d graphics and game. I do, do some audio work, but never more than 2 channels, so it doesn't matter, hell my old Quadra 660AV could handle that. Also, there is no denying that there are FAR more games for PC than Mac. Most publishers just dont wnat to take the time to make a game for a system that corners only 1-2% of the market. I wish they did, because I love mac's, but for what I do, and for what the maker of this thread wants, PC is the way to go.

__________________
No tech questions through PM please!

B16 CRX....you will be missed