Apple + Intel =

[Arshad]

makes me want to sell my dell and buy a Mac and use it for Architecture (does anyone know if it runs Microstation?) and for some music stuff.


I think you are one of the people who might not be able to migrate to the Mac as-is (unless Apple starts allowing people to dual-boot their machines into Windows). Microstation SE runs on the Mac, but this is an old outdated version and as far as I know Bentley has not released their latest SW under OSX. For most people who just want to cruise the web, use email, use office apps (word, excel, powerpoint), edit videos, listen to mp3's, collect digital photos etc. the Mac is perfectly fine. However, for those that need a very specific app, such as Microstation and are not able to switch over to another CAD program that does exist on the Mac, this can be a deal-breaker.

 

[Joel]

you guys put up a good fight, makes me want to sell my dell and buy a Mac and use it for Architecture (does anyone know if it runs Microstation?) and for some music stuff. Problem is it would take me a while to get used to it and transfer everything before I get it to how I want to set it up. It seems like a good idea to switch becuase I am getting (silent profanity) mad at the viruses and all of the hard boots and all this crap...I think I am going to go Apple

Umm...is your avatar a foreshadowing of the inevitable? :biggrin:

 

[queenlives]

you guys put up a good fight, makes me want to sell my dell and buy a Mac and use it for Architecture (does anyone know if it runs Microstation?) and for some music stuff. Problem is it would take me a while to get used to it and transfer everything before I get it to how I want to set it up. It seems like a good idea to switch becuase I am getting (silent profanity) mad at the viruses and all of the hard boots and all this crap...I think I am going to go Apple

we've got 2 sony xp pro laptops we use heavily for professional purposes(neither of us are coders). over the summer we bought a g5 for video/music and have since installed vnc client on the win box, so can run all laptop programs from the mac - it's ultra cool. i can see us eventually xfering everything back to macs (wife was part of early mac launch team but we had to move to win in mid-90's), but until then, vnc lets us use the mac and access 100% of our laptop stuff.

good luck.

 

[IsR]

It's possible to override the hardware requirements for Aperture. I have it running on my 12" powerbook. 'slow, but it works!

How ??

 

[heySkippy]

Picked up my MacBook yesterday.

SWEET!

 

[Arshad]

Congrats, it's definitely a fun machine

 

[nchopp]

1) This new CPU is dual core in addition to other microarchitectural enhancements which make it more than 2x the theoretical performance of the older Intel CPU's that Mac's were being compared against. So it's no longer the same comparison -- the older Intel CPU's had less than half the computational power.

2) The G4 has always done poorly at the Spec benchmark for a number of reasons (a lot of which comes down to the compiler actually, and not the HW). Now Apple is using Spec as a benchmark to compare the two platforms and naturally this makes the delta seem even larger over the older machines.

3) In a lot of ways the PowerPC architecture is still technically superior, but that's a moot point now (with Apple anyways)

I've been working with Macs and PCs on a side by side basis professionally for 7 years, in the most demanding field for computers - digital video editing and compositing, and 3d modeling\rendering. Whether or not it's the hardware or the compiler, the simple fact is that Macs have always been slower than PCs for my work. Equivalent renders in AfterEffects take longer, rendering juicedrops in the Juicer takes longer, and 3d renders are just about interminable on Macs. It really doesn't matter to me if it's the hardware or the compiler - they're still slow.

As to the PowerPC architecture being superior - I just plain don't see it. I'm only speaking from my experience, but I run into just as many bugs and crashes on my dual 2.7 G5 at work as I do on my 3.2ghz P4 at home - usually more. Final Cut Pro, Apple's beloved DV editing child, simply crashes to the desktop probably 3 or 4 times a day - on BOTH of my edit suites. I'm running at least 4gb of RAM on each, Firewire800 RAID arrays by DVProject, and each machine is used exlusively for digital content creation - no extras installed, no games, nothing cluttering up the system.

However you want to slice it, they're just plain slower, whether you chalk it up to the software, or the hardware. Now, granted, I've yet to work on the Intel based systems, but if I have my way, our next HD systems will be PCs anyway.