T i m <news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Sat, 17 May 2008 14:10:32 +0100, wildrover.andy@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (Andy Hewitt) wrote:
>
> >I was thinking of future proofing myself for as long as possible at the
> >time.
>
> I've never bothered doing that for several reasons .. two of which are
> that doing so is normally dispro****tionately expensive and that you
> never know what's round the corner that may suit your needs better?
True, although at the time I had the op****tunity to do so.
[..]
> >Yes, although I've probably added another £100 of kit to the cheap PC I
> >do have here too.
>
> But not a £100 PSU I bet (and I know you can spend that on a PC PSU
> etc etc). ;-)
No.
[..]
> >The cheap PC is a 2.8GHz box, with a GeForce 5500 card in it (which is
> >supposedly better than the one in my Mac), but it doesn't come anywhere
> >near performing as well as the G5 Mac at 1.8GHz (OK, so there's 2
> >processors, but they don't always both get used by all apps).
>
> Ok. But the OS will still use both won't it?
The OS will yes, but hopefully that isn't something that is processor
intensive.
[..]
> >Building a Mac isn't easy, at least not using new components, so a
> >self-build option was not used for comparison.
>
> Understood, but as you are a clever chap you could have easily built
> your own PC at the time (not that you wanted to etc) and it could have
> been cheaper so could have been considered as a comparison couldn't
> it? Maybe you could have done 3 price comparisons?
I could have, and have done recently (although only using salvaged PC
parts).
> > Even then, I suspect it
> >wouldn't have been cheaper, taking into account the standard of
> >motherboard needed (twin processor, AGP 8X graphics and PCI-X slots)
> >plus Buying two processors to match a pair og 1.8GHz G5s. Remember this
> >was four years ago.
>
> Understood, but if anything I understand Apple have reduced the price
> differential over that period?
That could be. By all accounts, high end PCs, and laptops are still as
much, or more, than the equivalent Mac. If you want *real* performance,
you have to pay for it. It's all relative anyway.
[..]
> >Indeed, so already be have a comparison that doesn't match, as I said,
> >'as near as possible'.
>
> Eh, that wasn't intended to 'match exactly' <waves, it's *me* Andy!>,
> it was just some general questions / observations. And you started it
> by bringing PC's into the conversation!
<waves> yes, but I made it clear I was talking about *equivalent*
hardware.
> I was asking in the last bit what you mean by 'build quality' and I
> don't think you have answered that bit yet? I wouldn't add any value
> to Apples 'build quality' because I believe I can achieve the same
> (functional) standard without paying the Apple premium?
My own observations would suggest that isn't so. Just look at the build
quality of a G5 case against a good ATX case for a start, there's no way
an ATX box is ever made that well. For sure Apple has had the odd
manufacture issue, the capacitors in the PSU for one, but similar
failures in Dell machines are far more common, and at a much shorter
service life.
For sure, by careful selection of components I could make myself a very
good quality computer, but I'd still have to run an OS that doesn't suit
what I do, and already have available. Replacing all my software would
probably almost double the cost - *if* I could even find the same
functionality that *I* like to work with. I have used Vista lately, in
helping others, and I find it bloody awful, I'd got used to XP, but
Vista seems to have 'fixed' lots of things that were never broken, and
broke lots of things that worked OK.
And OK, some components are limited in availability, but this is because
most are custom made to work with the Macs, the limited selection means
it's much easier to supply reliable drivers. Having a limited
combination of possible configurations means it's easier to develop the
OS to work with it, and less chance of conflicts occuring.
I was working with a relatively new To****ba laptop a few days ago, a few
months old, and it's Nortion trial period had expired. I went there to
uninstall it and install AVG. It took the thing nearly an hour and a
half just to uninstall the Norton stuff!
--
Andy Hewitt
<http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/>
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