[azariah007]

Ah yeah the title says it all. I'm a windows user love the look of Windows 7 but can't make the choose between it and MAC OS X Snow Leopard because I'm looking at upgrading in late January 2010 when I should be able to afford whatever I want and if not Jan definitely June.

Here's what I want to do.
play games
have a computer I can press the power button and count to 5 or 10 and be able to run everything I want straight up. and definitely NO WAITING
edit pictures do some fairly basic audio recording
music editing
browse the net
and have a desktop that 'works'

MAC OS X owns the last point but it's the other ones that will through the balance of power. So I call on the powers that be to answer the conundrum that many pc users are facing I'm sure.
Especially when I will want to virtualize windows something to run my old programs without having to by a completely knew set of programs.

Over to you Mr. Brown.

[azariah007]

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...ate-bug-2.html

[Headrush]

Are you looking for desktop machine or laptop?
Is money/price important?

A few points:

1) Both systems will be able to satisfy your requirements.
2) Mac hardware can run Windows natively.
3) Windows has by far more games and Mac ports of common games often come out later.
4) Mac hardware can be slightly more expensive. (make sure to compare common hardware)

So if your top priority is playing games, I would say go with Windows.

The speed of startup will depend greatly on the hardware you choose for either platform, but they should both perform similarly on newer hardware.

Having said that a 27" iMac is a pretty impressive machine and that bright screen is pretty gargantuan.

[azariah007]

Oh fiddle sticks I managed to lose my original reply. Here's the gist of it.

My sticking point is what is are the power capabilities of the GPU's in the iMac's specifically the 27" with the i7 upgrade options.

[aka Brett]

Bang for the buck goes to Windows.
Versatility... windows again...much more software available
An OS is just an OS...its the software we use on them that make them usable.
Mac are very nice....make a very nice OS...but you are hampered with not as versatile with software.
As nice as it is it still has a dock rather than a taskbar...the W7 taskbar can be set up vista style and still use peek and preview...making multitasking the winner.
For a single machine..Windows..if a person already has windows..then a second machine could be a considered along the mac line...While macs used to be impervious to spyware thats not the case anymore as the lowlifes have been creating do harms for them as well now.
If a person had a business and stored alot of files on it related to business,a mac could be a good choice as there will be more than one user and there is still a lesser chance of an infection.
If money really wasnt a problem....Mac just for the cool factor...but i still have to have windows as well

[azariah007]

I'm afraid your your right I love Mac OS X because it leaves the Windows task-bar behind I've never really found it usable although with Windows 7 they seem to have solved a lot of the issues I had but still for me the Macs still win when it comes to the functionality and if you really need it you can setup it's bar hanging down from the top to compensate for what your missing in Windows.

But it still comes down to the fact that for those of us making the switch to the Mac from a PC we still need Windows in some form or other. If you were adventurous for your first PC you would have no problem running just a Mac. But there's still that IF.

Macs are still great though one of my uncles has just bought an iMac he has been waiting to buy one for years and now he reckons it's great but I still will want to keep those old programs still.

The two current virtualization programs for the mac allow seamless integration of windows programs so one could use windows XP but if there's a program made 2 years from now that a selfish developer refuses to make for the mac market and you really really want/need that software your going to have to update your windows version. On the other hand one would hope that we would see a decrease in such attitudes as we go on. Linux hardware drivers are a good example there almost on par with windows drivers now so hopefully on the mac and linux front we'll start seeing some parity but in the mean time. What to do?

I still need this question answered please!

My sticking point is what are the power capabilities of the GPU's in the iMac's specifically the 27" with the i7 upgrade options.

[aka Brett]

Here is what my taskbar looks like right now..as you can see I have it looking like vista...so my tasks are not grouped by application...if they were i would first have to go the associated icon and go through further actions to pick my task.......i have my quick launch on the left making opening new ff as easy as it gets.....W7 has the superbar which groups the windows to the application much like a dock....and unsed apps are taking up space in the taskbar..with my set up I dont have unused apps taking up space...and I use the space to keep my tasks revealed rather than buried under the icon...As you can see right now I have 14 windows belonging to ff and visible at all times 2 yahoo windows..I can see the tasks as they are revealed 2 notepad..1 ie..I folder open..wmp and task mgr....my current window is high lighted.

If i were to be using a dock I would first have to go to the icon then expand the list and pick...these are unneeded steps..while not usually a big deal..it is when you are doing alot of editing,as you will have to switch bewtween windows often....if i were editing at the moment I would remember the highlighted task in the task bar,look at my other tasks,,if still enough not infor is given all I have to do is mouse over the task in the taskbar without clicking..I can preview my task at an instant....this helps prevents one for losing his rhythm and remember where the first task is located...the previews in vista were to small...7 they are bigger..plus you can mouse on the preview,then mouse the preview to get a full window peek all in an instant.
One can effectively look at every window in a few seconds without even clicking....its a dream come true IMO

[aka Brett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL7YkXkEffU
I like this guys position between mac and windows

[Adderad]

If you want to play games, the obvious answear is Windows.

[azariah007]

Originally Posted by Adderad

If you want to play games, the obvious answear is Windows.

I hate to say this but your right however with Macs it's not just an OS choice it's also a hardware choice. Now I know other people have had there threads shut down for asking a similar question but is it possible to run MAC OS X in a virtual machine like you can windows and linux, not standalone but with another Windows OS with things like VirtualBox (C) by Sun Microsystems. Well obviously not VirtualBox it only supports windows and linux systems but do some of the retail virtualizes support Mac OS X legally. just wondering because their are some Mac programs to die for that I like the look of and well it would sort-of be cheaper than buying a full Mac.

Just looking at possibilities. :-) I'm not looking at breaking any laws.

Oh and no one has answered the final question in my last post. What are capabilities of the iMac's GPU?

[VegasACF]

If all you want is to play games on something other than a console, go with Windows. Fortunately for you, all the current (and several-year-old) Macs run Windows natively.

You mention you can afford either. Then go with both (and, I might add, do so legally).

Get a Mac.

[azariah007]

Originally Posted by VegasACF

If all you want is to play games on something other than a console, go with Windows. Fortunately for you, all the current (and several-year-old) Macs run Windows natively.

You mention you can afford either. Then go with both (and, I might add, do so legally).

Get a Mac.

?QUESTION?

When you say "go with both" do you mean have them running on the same hardware, ie iMac, or do you mean on separate hardware. Currently I'm interpreting this as buy a Mac, use Boot-Camp to dual boot with windows, and Mac's do have enough processing power in their GPU's, oh and oversized i7 CPU's, to run games. Is that about right? Because I couldn't afford the separate hardware in one go at least! as I'm sure most of us couldn't in this time of financial instability. (note: not recession)

[Headrush]

Oh and no one has answered the final question in my last post. What are capabilities of the iMac's GPU?

Before you said power requirements, sounded like you were asking how much AC/wattage the GPU used.

It depends on which iMac you get. The 27" model with the ATI 4670 or ATI 4850 will likely play any current game fine. You best bet is just looking at many of the PC reviews of those models. Although the OS X drivers might not be as streamlined as the PC versions, you should get a pretty good idea what level of frames per second you can expect.

[azariah007]

Thanks for that. That's pretty much the last problem I had, I think. Now how do fit it in my desk? 27 inches is a really big screen that barely fits in. The hole I have in my desk might fit it in, MIGHT

[aka Brett]

minimum viewing distance for a widescreen is 1.5 times its size...that comes out to 40.5 inches.....might need a recliner as well