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redcolours
05-13-2008, 12:43 AM
...is such a great project, and is bringing me closer to owning a mac.:hehehmm:

although technically, iim already running a mac, only on a home brew.
(running Leopard on a custom PC from last year - 4GB RAM, OC'd quadcore intel chip, 2 8600GT running 4 LCDs).

im just now realizing that however fast and powerful i build a rig to be, the bottleneck is THE DAMN OS!

x64? sure, use an OS which is really still a BETA, whose apps are not optimized, and are themselves not as stable as their 32bit counterparts (if there is one to begin with, knowing the dearth of apps written for it).

Leopard is an eye-opener - here is an OS thats been around for ages, and has been 64bit from the start, stable, and is just... elegant.
The facts have been there all this time, and in my myopic, cheapass, dismissive nature in the past, i just failed to see it.

Everything is so simple and ready to use out of the box that i find myself LOOKING for things to tweak, like i always do with a windows OS. Bad habits die hard.

Now i can just go to work and play at the same time, without fiddling around for stupid time-consuming tweaks and adjustments to apps that half-ass worked before. Here im ready to do the things i want to do NOW. FOr a person with an undiagnosed attention-deficit syndrome, this is very good!

all 4GB of RAM is recognized! now im ready to max out my mobo to 8GB of RAM! with the prices dropped so low, this is gonna be SWEET!
and i can now use quicktime, and (lawdalmightee!) itunes! i hated using those 2 on a PC, since they slow down and kill the PC, but being Mac apps natively, they run without hiccups here.

maybe now i'll buy an ipod.... or not. we;ll see.

all the things that vista got bloated about and still does a pisspoor job at it, OSX already have implemented to work smoothly for a while now. vista is a stiff mannequin with a dress on, while leopard is like a runway model wearing the same dress.

another analogy - windows is like eating bread with powdered sugar. it fills you up, its sweet. its peasant bread. the mac is like a 3-layer cake, with all the icing, toppings, and sprinkles on it. Its a joy to slice.

i will keep my XP machine (to view webpages in IE), but it will soon be relegated to secondary duties. Some things i still like about XP, and oddly enough its the small apps. CDEx, Irfanview, 7zip, dbpoweramp, to name a few. There are equivalent apps on the mac (which is whats great about it). i just have to start looking for them.

granted, the Mac is not for hardcore gamers, or for those who want to endlessly tweak their system.

but for those who just want to simply work and create and actually get something done, and have fun doing them, the mac
is there for them.
or for me. ;D

when ive saved enough, i'll get a real mac. XP? sure! i'll just use bootcamp. for now im doing the reverse. :)

that is all.
and hello to all! how are my G|A brothers and sisters from another mother?

Devhux
05-13-2008, 08:35 AM
Running Vista Ultimate x64 with three virtual machines right now -- no issues at all. My old TV tuner card was the only thing that didn't work. I have 8GB of RAM in my system.

At least with Vista, I'll be guaranteed to be able to download the updates -- not so true of a Hackintosh.

Also, I should point out that you may have a 64-bit OS, but that doesn't mean all Mac apps are 64-bit. Adobe products, for starters -- they're actually going to be releasing a 64-bit version of Photoshop for Windows before Mac.

redcolours
05-13-2008, 05:36 PM
but is x64 offered to the general public for mass consumption? in reality its still an option, and even then its for the "power user" who knows what theyre doing.

from microsoft themselves:

The 64-bit editions of Windows Vista are for the serious computer users who have advanced high-performance needs and are running a computer system with a 64-bit processor. These editions bring together Windows Vista innovation with cutting-edge PC hardware to deliver access to vast amounts of memory, stronger security, and a new level of reliability. Security features such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Microsoft's PatchGuard provide an additional layer of security against threats, while increased memory capabilities improve the performance of applications with heavy memory demands.

and

The 64-bit editions of Windows Vista are not for everyone, and require a system with a 64-bit processor and 64-bit system drivers. Please confirm that your system, applications, and devices are compatible with a 64-bit edition of Windows Vista before installing.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

and why do i have to pay with a "minimal fee" to get it, if i didnt get the Ultimate version?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/2057/ordermedia/default.mspx

and microsoft keeps reiterating:

The 64-bit version of Windows Vista is not for everyone. Please confirm that your system, applications, and devices are compatible with a 64-bit edition of Windows Vista before installing. Learn more about the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista.

Mac OSX is the same whether its an imac or a pro, and anyone who buys either one uses the same OS.

maybe in the future windows will have one 64bit OS, but thats a ways away due to legacy issues - programs and games and apps and utilities and drivers will have to be written from the bottom up to make sure it works on a 64bit windows. people are not so readily willing to let go of everything right away.

(unless theyre like me, who just got fed up with complicated clunkiness).

so popular programs are still being written FIRST for a PC, then later on ported to a Mac, if at all. But over the past decade support has grown for this niche market, and pretty much anything you need to do on a PC you can do on a Mac now.

except PC games.
but the majority of Mac users dont seem to be worried. It seems its just users who have been on a PC that need/want it still.

And even to that Apple has provided Bootcamp. Since both OS works on the same hardware anyway, now a windows environment is a simple reboot/log off away, and its not an emulation anymore, its natively running, utilizing the hardware as is.

But dont worry - Im not out to convince and convert everyone to go and buy a mac right now. im simply openly conveying my experience and thoughts about the matter. Its my own personal preference - if no one shares it, so be it. but i dont think im alone in my windows frustrations....

thats one reason why i have a hackintosh for now. its a test-bed, a way for me to check the water before i dive in. a break-in period. im well aware that no OS update will work on it (that goes without saying).

im not afraid of limited upgradeability. With powerful processors these days, its just a matter of having how much memory you have to run the applications well. And im buying into the concept of having a WHOLE SYSTEM replaced, instead of a collection of parts that have an equal number of support to contact. With a mac, its all there in one simple package. And it simply works.

i still think steve jobs is arrogant and self-serving, and apple products are still too expensive. but i like the way those products work. i dont mind paying a premium for something that wont give me headaches constantly.

in the end im buying a mac, its just a matter of when (and $$$). That doesnt mean im going to junk windows. hell i still use XP for my HTPC, since it works so easily and so well for it.

both serve a purpose, and both have their own relevance.

attgig
05-15-2008, 12:51 PM
you got a link for this?