general mac vs pc question

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artCROSS

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I have $1700. Originally i was going to get an imac g4, the 1.25ghz 80g 512 ram model...however, while i was perusing at best buy today, i discovered i could get a sony vaio, pentium 4, 3ghz 512ram 60g for the same price. I know that i can't take the mac specs and pc specs at face value, but it seems that the sony is way more advanced than the imac...true?
 
If you're not too intimidated by it all, I highly suggest that you piece together your own machine. For that amount of money, you can smoke both of those computers and have money left over for other things.
 
** I HAVE NEVER OWNED AN APPLE **

But, it seems to me that you are paying for the cool case design and user interface.
Whattaguy's right, if you have the time you could build an absolutely killer computer for $1700 (US right?).
A month ago I built pretty much the exact same computer as the Sony you mentioned for a friend, for under $1700 Australian. Thats under US$1200. You could get a very nice soundcard with the leftover $500!
 
very true, but i already have a good soundcard...i do enjoy the mac interface over windows, which is why i wanted to get one, but i guess my real question is how does mac ghz compare to pc ghz...if that question makes any sense...
 
If you're going to buy a prebuilt computer, don't get a Sony. They are crap. I just worked on one over last weekend, and the parts and construction couldn't be cheesier.
 
Macs are far more efficient (ghz wise) so a 1.25 is about the speed of a 3ghz P4.

For that money, I think you should get a high spec athlon 64 machine. I personally think it is faster and more reliable than the mac, and you can do other things on it (other than graphic design...the only other use for a mac) whilst not recording music.
 
What do you want to do with this computer? $1700 is a lot for a PC today.

Ed
 
Using industry standard benchmarks and assuming the creme-de-la-creme state of the art tech, the AMD processors score at or above the Intel processors (used by PCs), and the Intel processors score at or above the Motorola processors (used by Mac).

Regrets that I do not have the links in front of me. Hopefully someone else will post them.

You may find that you do not need the hottest processor extant and that the Mac provides the value you need. Or not.
 
artCROSS said:
...it seems that the sony is way more advanced than the imac...true?
Click to expand...
Uh. No.

Any IBM compat (i.e., any desktop computer not made by Apple) is, under the covers, essentially identical. The primary charateristics (which get the work done.... processor, memory, HDD) vary dramatically. Generally speaking the more you shell out, the more you get. The secondary charateristics (they serve a function similiar to a woman's chest... they get your attention but strickly speaking aren't critical for functioning) vary widely.

Sony's (I admit) look very sexy. Don't be seduced. Get the specs, find a plain jane box with the same specs. Compare Jane to the Mac, not the Sony.
 
For most the real difference is software. While Macs are known for their music and desktop publishing capabilities, the percentage of software available for Macs is a tiny percentage of that for PCs.

If you want to use it for other things, then finding software may prove to be difficult. The same is somewhat true for add-on hardware as well.

Ed
 
Well I have built tons of pc's and crap, I build this ultra nice pc. Sorry but to me it sorta blows. 2.4 ghz p4 with a gig of cosair ram on a abit is-7 and it is not fast enough for me.

I would hold out for a year and then build a computer. I wasted 1,000 bucks for something that totally sucks and is not even that much faster then my 1ghz amd t-bird.

One reason is for the software market to keep up with the software market, they write the software bigger and bulkier so it requires more hardware. Why is Windows XP 4 times larger? It is because the hardware is 4 times faster. Admittly the software and hardware is faster, but not shit compared to what it should be.

Why did windows event apci? This is why, because windows 98 doesn't work with it. Windows xp needs it, or at least for the initial install, you can disable it later. Ok sure it is a technological advance.... haha that must have been the 2nd reason it was invented.

Either way you the consumer are getting fucked up the ass, so have a good time with it.
 
fluxburn....did your woman leave you or something?.....sounds like your upset...we all know about the corporate corruption and technology they have locked away because they are still profiting off of whats out there.....i remember when the super nintendo was out and 3 months later it was found out that nintendo had made the 64 but didnt plan on releasing it anytime soon. waiting and waiting wont get you a top system....most pcs are out of date a month after they come out...i only upgrade according to my use interest. i had a 950mhz duron and 20gb hd and upgraded to a 1.7 celeron and 2 20 gb hds for recording and video games. and now i plan on recording more than just me so instead of building up my computer again...I'll just build another computer with the 160+gb hds and maybe switch back to AMD to speed up the equipment purchases. theres enough stuff out there to build what you need and go on with your life.
 
dude if i had that much money i would just get one coustom built for me. forget worrying about building and installing a bunch of crap. this is where i bought my computer and i've been very satisfied.

http://www.adkproaudio.com/

i got a p4 system. the only thing i don't really like is that the hard drives are louder than i was expecting (my off the shelf compact is much quiter). i would get the silent case.
 
I recommend getting a computer just for audio. I do both internet and audio with mine and can't wait till I build my other computer for the internet. Then I can strip almost every windows xp service and my computer will run 100x faster, more stable, etc.


No I did not just lose my woman. Yet when it comes to "technology" I feel we are lightyears behind. You can thank the economy for that though. That is why we don't live in a perfect world. Economic's classes answer all lifes probelms, they all have to do with money.


your site http://www.adkproaudio.com

lists it's p4 with this nice joke below.

Description:
Pentium 4 based DAW with Dual Channel DDR memory. Low latency, High VST and 60-90 tracks. 24-60 plug-ins.

60-90 tracks and 24-60 plugins
In your dreams, we all wish.
 
Last edited:
elevate said:
Whoa! You are crazy wrong.
Click to expand...

So what is it then? What 3ghz systems have you used, and what 1.25 ghz macs have you used?
 
I'm going to be using this computer for recording and graphic design...however, because i just got a full time job for a corporation doing graphic design, my computer will be used more for that. I'm not in the recording industry as a business, more like a hobby. I've used a number of pcs and macs, but in the end, though probably the same efficient wise, i like the mac better. I just wasn't sure why on paper, pcs had 2+ more ghz than a mac in the same price range. However, the debate of efficiency doesn't seem to be resolved...anyone else that can shed more light on this? thanks for all the replies btw
 
I have a custom built PC a store bought PC and a Mac(TiBook g4 1ghz) and I just sold a 966mhz G4 that I had for a while

The mac gives me absolutly no problems Windows Xp is garbage compared to OS X (opinion)

Macs seem to have more hardware problems, Not very common problems but reading support forums for macs it seems everyonce in a while a mac/apple product will just die, and sometimes apple is no help here is a problem I ran into and apple still won't admit a problem exsists.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?14@204.GHAca24OnEg.2@.3bb90097

But these problems are not too common.

where I seem to have a lot of software issues with XP
To me XP tries to think for me and I don't think the way Microsoft does and thats a problem.

I always see bench mark test that say Macs are slower then every processor out there but the things I do on my "blazing" 1ghz could easily destroy any 2ghz windows machine or 3ghz machine running XP.

I hate dishing out for overpriced macs but they are better for the time being. Software and accesories are not as hard to find as PC users think they just don't sell them at Best Buy.

sorry if this post is not coherent I am eating dinner and typing and thinking
 
shutupandshave said:
So what is it then? What 3ghz systems have you used, and what 1.25 ghz macs have you used?
Click to expand...

I've used both, and he's right.....you are way off. 1.25Ghz G4 is maybe a 2.4Ghz 800FSB P4. It used to be that you could double the PPC and that would give you its approximate Pentium equivalency (sp?)

But after seeing the G5 dual 2Ghz get its ass kicked by a 3.2Ghz P4 and an FX51 AMD, I highly doubt the doubling theory applies anymore.

VanAmp said:
I always see bench mark test that say Macs are slower then every processor out there but the things I do on my "blazing" 1ghz could easily destroy any 2ghz windows machine or 3ghz machine running XP.
Click to expand...

Like I said, having used both (a 1.25Ghz G4 and 2500+ AMD running PTLE and Photoshop CS as the guinea pigs) I highly doubt a G4 can beat much more than a 2.4 P4.

If you're having that much trouble with XP, then you did something wrong because I never have problems with it.
 
Vanamp, That thread you posted is kinda disturbing, makes me a little fearful of getting a mac now, but you said it doesn't happen often, and i hope you're right. I wish there was another solution to using OSX other than getting a mac. I know they look real nice, but i just feel like they're a little overpriced...anyways, I paid $3000 for my amd athalon 1ghz 40g 64mb back in the day, so i can't really complain. Plus i'll need to carry the imac from room to room and since it's basically one unit, it'll be much easier than carrying a desktop. (I wanted a laptop, but i don't feel comfortable doing GD on one...if anyone's selling a cheap powerbook though...)
 
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