What better place to ask this type of question than with all of you guys as computer experts?
This summer, I will be buying a new laptop. I have been using PC's all my life, and would generally go for Dell.
I have been thinking of if I should switch to a Mac or not. One of my worries is that it'll be frustrating to do the switch, with new keybinds, etc etc. I wanted to know what you guys think in terms of a few things.
Firstly...Don't macs have one mouse button? How the hell do you play WoW with one mouse button? Or can you connect a mouse and still use both buttons?
Battery - My current battery is dead, but I hear macs are better? I know my iPad sure has a damn good one!
Price - Not THAT worried about it, but I'm budgeting $2k or under. How far does money go for a good computer for both these days? Haven't bought one in almost 3 years.
Performance - Gaming - PC Vs Mac - What is faster (cost same) and fancier graphics, etc?
Wifi - Does one have stronger connectivity or is that just a myth?
Anything else you can think of?
This would be my main computer and probably be touring a lot. I want performance able to dualbox WoW (if I do that) while running other things, at reasonably good graphics, and of course with all those things like movie watching and whatnot.
Please let me know what you think!
-Andrew/Drabus
Firstly - you can connect a mouse and it will work fine. Apple has right click functionality, but only one button. If you're only using the trackpad, hold Ctrl while you click and it will serve as a right click. In WoW, Command+click is right click.
Battery - my Apple's battery life is touchy. I would lean toward the "unreliable" side of the spectrum, though, having owned three different Apple laptops and several different iPods. Hate the batteries... at first they're great, but as your computer ages they lose their longevity. That's just my experience.
Price - Macs are overpriced. Period.
Performance - it's tough to give a clear answer on this. All I can really say is that you'll have more customizability with a PC. You can get a beastly Apple laptop that will perform great, but if you ever need to upgrade/replace components you will have far fewer options. In some cases, no options.
WiFi - I've always felt that my Apple received a superior wireless signal but I could be crazy/biased/idiotic.
Overall I would recommend getting a PC.
I went looking for this great price/performance comparison chart I used to link. It basically broke down each component in an Apple laptop versus a typical gaming laptop. You pay much more for the OS and the style of an Apple, pretty much, and performance is more or less equal in the end. If all you really want to do is game, meaning graphically intensive 3D situations, then a PC is your best bet. But if you won't game as much as say, web browsing or I dunno, whatever else you do on a computer (with gaming on the side)... an Apple is fine, albeit still quite expensive.
To recap my experience with my Macbook Pro (mid 2010 model, 15" 2.53ghz 4gb ram, 500gb HD):
Mouse - Trackpad takes getting used to if you use the two touch modes, but it can also function normally, using the apple/command key to trigger right clicks, and all USB mouse buttons will work, with any trigger you want assigned to each.
Battery - Until this computer, batteries were exactly as Mer described. This one is un-fucking-believable. I can have the processor encoding video at full blast for almost 2 hours on a full charge, or ~3 hours of SC2 / WoW, or ~ 7 hours of watching video with the sound up fairly high. Or 15 hours sitting idle with the display on. I've had it for 9 months and the battery is at 96% of its original lifespan. It's fucking fantastic.
Price - Yup, up there.
Performance - The funny thing about games on a Mac is that you can install and run in Windows, and you'll get substantially higher framerate than in the Mac OS because of poor graphics card drivers, especially with NVidia. That said, the performance for WoW and SC2 is fine on moderate settings, lean low for raiding and 4v4 in SC2 to keep FPS stable.
Internet is internet, and the wireless cards in the Macbook Pros are quite reliable, quick, and have no problem connecting to networks designed for PC's.
The body is carved from a single block of aluminum so they're quite sturdy, and have no fan exhaust/intake ports; air comes in and out through the open ports, the IR sensor and the keyboard gaps. If it needs cleaning, it will be a bitch, but rest assured it has adequate cooling even at 400% CPU load, if you download SMCFanControl and keep it on, adjusting fan speed based on what you're doing (notes: 2000 is default, 6000 is max; 3000 is still quiet and good for casual use, 3600 for WoW/SC2 on low, 4800 on high, 5400-5800 for video encoding)
I think the ridiculous battery is the biggest bonus ATM; for optimal performance you'd wind up booting in windows, if you cared that much. I'm happy at 30 FPS on medium settings in SC2.
Oh - DO NOT get one with a low end piece of shit video card without dedicated VRAM.
I am not fan of Mac im not saying they are bad, but performance wise as my boyfriend is telling me Dell is still best choice, or costumized your own pc. I will give you more answers to this specifically once my bf is home, because he knows best he is a computer programmer analyst, he builds computers too and as far as laptop I suggest Alienware too is best for gaming at the moment he is using this right now he costumized it based on some high grade options such us memory card from hard wares to softwares.
He is currently using the same Red Alienware at the moment. check this site http://www.alienware.com/ for more information he did spent about 2000$ because he added few features to it. I know my boyfriend he is very picky when it comes to these things, and know which is best that will last longerrrrrrrrrrrrrr and will cherish foreverrrrrrrrrr lolx... its the quality and the performance and what software and hardware is use is what is important. and also not that you only know what is best hardwares or software and programs used. you also have to consider things like you can upgrade it or not... anyway, ill ask more details with him later.
Best of Luck in choosing which is the best for you. =D
I'm a pretty bias person, as I'm a long long devoted PC builder and enthusiast.
I've played with mac os over the years, and while I personally feel that the Mac OS is perfect at what it does and the Mac package is aimed at people that would rather take their computer to one of their so called "Genius" at their stores, then open it up and take a look for yourself, it's just not my cup of coffee, I'm more of a tea guy anyways.
If it wasn't for my overly unhealy obsession of Iphone and jailbreaking (and my future ipad), i would probably denounce Apple as exsiting and punch Steve Jobs in the ball(s) (not sure if the testicular cancer rumors were true or not)
I would say go with a laptop, and go with an Alienware, here enlies the problem...
I think LapTop-ers are getting royally raked over the coals, the prices you pay for them, just suck all around.
laptops are financially the worst thing ever, since they already rely (mostly) on equipment that was awesome on tower pc's last generation, it's like having an older brother thats always better then you, no matter how hard you try. The end effect is, you pay more, and it goes obsolete quicker... who'da thunk it, PR people sure must get paid alot... I regress
Alienware is an easy choice to throw out, they perform well, they are the shit, they are all glowy and probably have a jetpack attached that if it gets too hot, it takes a spin around your living room to cool off, but in the end you are paying the military price for having fighter jet technology in your laptop...that your gonna play wow with... overpriced is probably a very major understatement...
I will also look around and ask a couple of friends that are big time portable players and see what they say, but I would probably do alot of comparasion shopping before I hit the trigger, which seems like your doing already...
In so many words, i'm glad I could give you a wall of text answer without really giving you a solution, but the answer to your question funamentally remains
PC > Mac
Suck it jobs
yea my bf can afford toys like Alienware all he wants he can pay it >.< not me, he is not only using it for gaming but for some work related as well because it is incredibly fast for sure (eventhough i know he has diff laptop from work that he use >.<). I only suggest Alienware because my bf is user and based on his reviews it is very good, and trust me my bf is picky and knows whats best its not about the looks, its whats inside and how it performs, but like i said Dell is stil always good choice too, and Mac for sure.
Dell
Mac
Hp
In my opinion, its up to you to decide, if you have the money go for whatever you choose that has the quality worth paying for. because if you are spending 2000$ then might as well get the best of the best pc/laptop out there. dont stick to one product brand, research more! and costumized sometimes you can save doing so. anyway goodluck to whatever! =)
Just looking for some opinions, and I've got quite a few already, so thank you very much.
I'm still biased towards PC, but I'll be doing a bit of shopping anyways.
Gard - I've been a portable player for years - I haven't played WoW on a desktop in a good 4-5 years. Yes, all those dualbox raids were from this computer - very reliable!
Anyways, I still have a few months before I have to decide (3!) but it's great to get some input and throughts and brainstorming going. Thanks!
i've been a mac guy for a while, but when it comes to performance/price, mac just completely fails. it's expensive - and for good reason. it's the best operating system you can reasonably use for a home computer (unless your'e crazy and want to use solaris). but the vast majority of computer users have no need for an enterprise-class operating system.
long story short, unless you have a valid use for the unix underbelly of mac os X, there's no reason you need a mac, other than to look trendy (and possibly gay).
I like the apple store Mac Pro configuration options. You can make it cost $22,000.
That said the Mac Pro is pretty badass if you have a lot of cash to throw away. 8TB hard drive (2TB in solid state), 12 cores @ 2.93ghz, 32GB ram, /drool
Did I mention macbook pro battery life is INSAAAANE?
Their prices are almost as low as Alienware now, but worse for gaming in many respects.
My advice: stick with PC, and hotwire a mac battery to it.