Whoooooweeee! Check out these specs(for the top of the line model:

[b]DUAL[/b] 1GHz Pentium Crushing G4's, including the powerful AltiVec unit
256KB of on chip L2 Cache, with 2MB of DDR L3 cache off chip
133MHz System Bus
512MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM on a 4x AGP bus
80GH HD
CD and DVD RW with the Superdrive
4 PCI Slots
2 Firewire ports
4 USB ports
1 Gb Ethernet port

All for only $3000!

I thought we already did this thread?

For less than $2000, I can get a PC with:

[b]SINGLE[/b] 2.2GHz Pentium that runs STANDARD software

[b]400[/b]MHz front end Bus
512MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM on a 4x AGP bus
[b]120[/b]GH HD
CD and DVD RW
4 PCI Slots
[b]4[/b] Firewire ports
[b]6[/b] USB ports
? Gb Ethernet port

and I can run [b]STANDARD SOFTWARE[/B]

Sorry, but Macintosh lost the VHS-vs-Beta war a long time ago.  They look cool, but they dont' run what we need to run.

My little son's kindergarden teacher a few years ago, got a grant to buy 3 Macs for her classroom.  I spoke with her a few weeks ago, and she says that for every software title she finds for the Mac, there are 5 to 10 for the Windows/Intel platform. I think Macs have pretty lost the battle, and possibly losing the war.

Not  quite true brouhaha. When most computer mags test Mac Vs. IBM compatible, they will use programs that are crossplatfors, such as Photoshop. The Macs, even running at about half the MHZ's, still are equal to or out  preform the higher Pentium chips. The Mac is a graphics computer, and OWNS the graphics industry, the desktop publishing industry, and the specail effects industry. ILM and Pixar are just 2 of the big companies that use Macs.

[smoke]

I'm so excited I could just ..... [sleep]

Whatever blows your skirt up.

Fight4yourrights said

As a windows user getting ready to re-install the OS over a 2.5 year old fully customized win98 install that is beginning to get flaky I really hate the fact that I agree with this.

Damn it, I hate that windows gets so schizo after running it for a few years.

I could really get into an OS X that would run on PC hardware, but Apple is apparently too intent on frittering away what small amount of influence it has left on proprietary hardware and gadgets.

Friggin sucks.

I spec'd out a custom built PC (oh yeah, can't do that with MAC...) at very similar specs, over a year and a half ago.....for more than a thousand dollars less. And it didn't have that godawful MacSlut case, either.



Owns the graphics industry? I'm guessing the words Silicon Graphics don't cross your ears much. Or at least, last I recall is wasn't banks and banks of G4's rendering FMV for things like Final Fantasy, or Monsters, Inc.

Okay, I'll give on the desktop publishing industry (but not on a cap owns level...just on the owns)....but things like spec effects? Sorry.....there is an answer, but it sure as heck ain't Apple.



Are you sure you got that right? I always understood that Intel went with CISC instead of RISC.

[img]http://www.mdcplus.com/web/beerslayer/MACposter.jpg[/img]

Mac advantage

Hardly anyone writes viruses for Macs.  My gun-lovin electrical contractor PC using neighbor lost a day's worth of work to an email virus, via Outlook Express likely.

Probably just careless as he has McAfee anti-virus.

Macs are big in schools, just can't convert that to retail markets.  A miracle they are still kicking but likely Bill Gates sees them as useful competitors (useful to keep the monopolist claims from being even more believable)

2 Mac owner.

[b]This thing looks like a toaster![/b]

I already want one. It would look nice next to my iBook. [8D]

Standard programs? Yeah, whatever. I can get anything I want to do done on my Mac, and exchanging files with PC users is almost never a problem. Who cares if the Mac has 2 or 3 programs to do something, and the PC has 20? You only need one.

If I recall my ancient history correctly, the decision to go with CISC vs. RISC was a business decision. To hedge their bet, IBM went with the 8086 because there were existing operating systems that ran on that CPU. CP/M was one of them. There are others, but my mind is too foggy at this time to recall.

There are advantages to CISC. In those days, for any given program, the a CISC program will probably be smaller than a program written for a RISC processor. This is because RISC programs were always aligned to 32-bits, which meant if you had a single instruction, such as INC AX, that instruction required 4 bytes in memory. You may be able to code it in one byte, but you had to pad the instruction with 3 extra bytes to maintain the alignment of the code in memory. Since memory was scarce in dem days, you didn't go around wasting 2-3 bytes per instruction. On a CISC CPU, that same instruction may occupy one byte, and one byte only.

Of course, there is a price to pay. CISC processors probably have more complicated microcode, are slower due to the alignment issue mentioned above, etc. I was under the impression Intel was slowing moving everything to RISC, but I don't know how they can and maintain binary compatability with all the iAP86 programs out there. Gee, I'll have to break out my old Intel Assembly language books one of these days.

only reasons i dont have a mac is i like to play computer games and dont want to waith the many months/years before its ported over to MAC!

Apple is still in business?

WTF is standard software? The PC is great if you want to play games or use those cheap shit home design applications that you can buy at the dollar store. Almost all of the major applications available for the PC are available for the MAC.

And explain to me again why I'd want to pay twice the money for a 'puter that has the "same" applicationswith no appreciable   performance difference? The simple fact is a puter w/o software is like a gun without ammo. I'll take my "evil" AR with the Hicap over the really pimped out looking 5 rounder any day. Same with my XP over a Mac. YMMV.

Yep, products like this will really help Apple hang on to their 3% market share.

Thanks.[:(]

I thought Pixar used SGI computers

Warlord: Yes, there is more total software packages for the PC. But that is only because they dominate the market. But, there is more than enough software for the Mac. The only place that you couldn't find software for is the engineer market.

Frank: Yeah! I like to be different. Like Apple says: Think Different! [:D]
Oh, I'm not the only Gun-owning Mac user. I well known and respected Mac journalist is one too. See here about a quarter down the page(or search for gun)
[url]http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/02/01/07/index.html[/url]

Fight: You can't get a Geforce4 yet! It isn't even out! And 2 1GHz PPC's handily beat a single 2 GHz Pentium, because the PPC gets more work down for each clock cycle. Also, it does run STANDARD software. You can easily find whatever software you want to run for the Mac.

Observer: On all the Macs I have owned, I have never had to reinstall the OS software because it was getting flaky. That's 7 years of running Macs too. Also, Apple would NEVER port OSX to Intel hardware, because that would mean a loss of Apple's primary source of revenue, hardware sales, and it would mean there would be no software for it. All Mac software would have to be recompiled for x86. And in any case, Apple is the only computer maker still making a profit. You see, Apple sells quality, not price. When a recession hits, the price seekers go elsewhere, but the quality people stay.

Hard-case: Doubt it. DVD writers weren't available then, and neither was the Geforce4. Plus, you lose the Mac Operating System and the powerful PPC chip.

1GUNRUNNER: Hell yeah! And the are PROFITING! Unlike PC makers.

PitViper: Why get a Mac? Because it is easier to use, better efficiency, better performace, and more. Check out Apple's Myth page:

Macs are better than PCs.  Betamax was better than VHS when they were both fighting for market share. How many people still have betamaxs?
There is lots of software you cannot get for Macs, Games being the most notable.  But even with apple software there is still a lot you cannot run on OsX.  You have to switch over to their 9.whatever to run a lot of the programs. Its like Mac users have to tell the world constantly how great their Macs are compared to PCs. The software I want isnt readily available so it really doesnt matter to me how great a Mac is.

A GeForce4MX?  Where is that coming from?  I can't find a damn thing about it on nvidia's web site.  Why would you spend $3000 on a Mac that comes with a cut down video card?  For that matter one that hasnt even been announced by nvidia!  

And only 4 usb ports!  

ahh yes the newest most functional doorstop on the computer market!

years? mine used to go batty at around 6 months. course it didnt help i was playing with it and changing its hardware every week..

ehhh what schools have you been going to? most are PC schools now. teach with what the world uses. plus much more software for it. mac only has a strong foothold still in the desktop pub area and some in the movie FX dept. most FX are SGI systems. they beat a mac silly with their power and ability.

last apple i saw at a school was in middleschool, Apple IIe (yep thats right a real true to life DOORSTOP, if i ever saw one. right on par with the old 8086/XT sytems.)

What school?

Artesia High School in Lakewook CA.  All teachers including my wife had MACs.  The lab was all MACs.  All the custodians friends had MACs, if you get my drift.;)

I cannot personally vouch for any other school but I know this was Apple strategy for a long time and still is.  

Did you see where Gates plan to pay his "anti-trust" dues by donating computers to schools was shot down.  Maybe they saw this as disingenuous.

They should use the higher end cards (I found info) such as the:
(GeForce4 or NV-25)Ti4600 - supports 8xAGP, 300 MHz Core, 350 MHz Memory, 128MB DDR SDRAM
or the
(GeForce4 or NV-25)Ti4400 - only supports 4xAGP 275MHz Core, 300 MHz Memory, 128MB DDR SDRAM