The time to buy a new computer is NEVER

Macs are still the industry standard over PCs for film and photography!

Originally Posted by ghulkhan

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Macs are still the industry standard over PCs for film and photography!

Correction:
Most people who do FILM editing, have no use for a Mac or a PC, as FILM is an analog medium.

If you are talking about digital video, many people use Mac/FCP, but it is NOT "industry standard". If there were to be such a thing, I would say that AVID is still the industry standard.

Most of the most commonly used programs used in both photography and video editing ie, photoshop cs3, adobe premier, etc, can be used on either OS. Its hard for me to believe Macs have any advantage to an equally/ appropriately geared PC loaded with the same applications.

Back to the question at hand. The time to buy a prebuilt system is never. Unless you are in search of a laptop, the best value for your money will always be in building a system yourself. With a little easily learned know how, one can not only purchase just what is needed, but can also get a much lower overall price.

For instance, my new system:

Mid Tower ATX Case 40$
500W PSU 50$
Intel Core 2 Duo e6750 @2.66, 1333fsb W/ ECS mobo 220$
250gb HD 70$
DVD/CD RW drive 50$
2gb DDR2 800mhz 80$
ATI x850xt PE 120$

__________
630$
for a nicer system than the average user will ever need

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

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Dude, a lot of inanimate things seem to be making you horny lately.

I'm pretty sure Angela Lansbury is not an inanimate object.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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If you are talking about digital video, many people use Mac/FCP, but it is NOT "industry standard". If there were to be such a thing, I would say that AVID is still the industry standard.
at this point, it's pretty even, but i'd say if you are just starting out, you will get more work if you know fcp as opposed to avid. also: logic is the industry standard for audio editing.

I bought a new Dell computer (nothing special, just a $500 special they had with a 3.00 GHZ Pentium D and 22" widescreen monitor among other things) as a desktop home computer. I wasn't looking for anything special as I only use it for the internet and occasionally work, and I have 2 300GB external hard drives...but it works perfectly for what I want it for. I watch movies on it as well and the monitor is really nice. Anyway, the point is, the major selling point was that I got it with XP home (I have XP pro but can't find the damn authenticity code when I bought it for my laptop..yeah I should have filed it away). I don't like Vista as the bug issue is a major problem and I had a hell of a time finding a new comp to buy that didn't have Vista installed on it. Just a thought if you don't wanna go the Vista route.

That's an actual price quote.
Doesn't include the cost of super-multi burner ( figure $75 ) ; assembly ( $125 ) ;
no wireless keyboard/mouse; no speakers; no 640GB HD; no extra 1 GB of ram;
no NTSC/Hi-Def tuner; no DVI ports; no umbrella type warranty; no system recovery DVD.
All those things come standard on a pre-built model selling for about the same money, the reason I list'em.
Now, if that's not a bullshi'ite deal - then I don't know what is

Originally Posted by Christofuh

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That's an actual price quote.
Doesn't include the cost of super-multi burner ( figure $75 ) ; assembly ( $125 ) ;
no wireless keyboard/mouse; no speakers; no 640GB HD; no extra 1 GB of ram;
no NTSC/Hi-Def tuner; no DVI ports; no umbrella type warranty; no system recovery DVD.
All those things come standard on a pre-built model selling for about the same money, the reason I list'em.
Now, if that's not a bullshi'ite deal - then I don't know what is

The prices are a bit higher than market prices, but nothing extravagant. If you really want a nice machine on a reasonable budget, just look around slickdeals for about a week. You'll get an all around kickass machine for under a grand, easily.

Originally Posted by Brian SD

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Apple laptops can run Windows. I have it on mine to play the games that aren't on OS X and it works pretty well. Not as solid as OS X still.

Yeah if I had the Apple laptop I'd install both their O/S and Windows as well. I would probably use it as my testing / travel / client preview machine.

I would still have a PC desktop at home. I have way too much money invested in PC software and I am more comfortable with the options I can get with a PC to give it up.

I find all the Mac love and Kiton hate on this forum strange. Mac is the Kiton (insert vastly overpriced items here) of the computer world. http://macvswindows.com/index.php?ti...ws_Comparisons Macs aren't superior in any way but suffer from some disadvantages (and they're so much more expensive). All in all, they're really not very different. As for the mac's and their security remember that the Iphone was cracked quickly and: http://www.techworld.com/security/ne...fm?newsid=1798 http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1695 I asked a co-worker of mine who had recently bought a Mac Book if anti-virus software came with her mac. She said no. I asked her if she planned on getting anti-virus. She said no. Why would she? Macs don't get viruses, right? (there's a difference between no getting and not knowing.. out of sight out of mind) Note that people unable to assemble their own computers & install their own software/update it/authenticate it may have a different point of view as someone already pointed out - Macs were made to be easy. Windows is much more customizable. You don't even have to use the windows shell (you can try http://www.astonshell.com/) ! What seals the deal for me is that Macs are unreasonably marked up. Higher end PCs are faster and cheaper than what Macs propose. ex: I'll choose what I find is not in excess of an expensive computer (IE: you don't need 750gigs x 4 HDs, you don't need 16 gigs of ram - seriously, you don't) From Apple's website: Mac Pro Part Number: Z0D8 Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse - U.S. English (free) One 16x SuperDrive Accessory kit Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s 4GB (4 x 1GB) Mac OS X - U.S. English Mac Pro RAID Card ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) $6,272.00 no monitor b/c I'm not 100% sure if apples are forced to use apple LCDs (if they are, apple loses) Dell Intel Core™2 Extreme QX6850 (8MB,3.33GHz Factory overclocked)\t Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD\t 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz OC'd to 1066MHz-4 DIMMs 750GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache\t Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability\t 20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel\t 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX\t Sound Blaster X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card\t Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard\t Razer Copperhead Tempest Blue Gaming Mouse (ships separately)\t No Floppy Drive or Media Reader Included\t No Modem Requested\t $4,739 the Dell comes with a monitor.. and I could build it cheaper myself with ncix (the 8800 >> ATI card x1950 which > x1900) http://review.zdnet.com/graphics-car...-32143069.html

Originally Posted by Viktri

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[...]

Originally Posted by Viktri

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I find all the Mac love and Kiton hate on this forum strange.

Mac is the Kiton (insert vastly overpriced items here) of the computer world.


Viktri,

Macs are fairly priced if you have experience using one for a long time. The after-sales customer service is A+, the quality of the service department is top notch, and the computers are bulletproof. But the best thing is the O/S...here is what you get that you don't get with XP or Vists:

1. Fast boot up.
2. Fast shutdown.
3. Better file searching with spotlight including pdf content!
4. A free suite of top quality media apps in iLife.
5. A part of a more dynamic, innovative user community.
6. A better office application suite in Numbers and Keynote and Pages, all fully compatible with MS.

Plus, the prices go down and features go up on most Mac products, especially the iMac, every single year.

Originally Posted by Viktri

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Mac Pro RAID Card

OK, I'm staying out of the forthcoming pissing match but...dude. You just added a thousand dollar option for a feature you said was pointless (4x750GB HDD). C'mon now. Buy your RAM from a third party and all of the sudden your comparison makes you look...less than correct.

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

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Better file searching with spotlight including pdf content!

+1

By the time you're done file searching on Windows, bell bottoms are gonna return
Mac support dept. is NOT based in a Waziristan cave but Texas, USA.
Based on what I've witnessed their 10-hours-a-day running floor models barely heat up or make a sound. While conducting 5-6 tasks in one go, mind.
Anyhow, I'm sold. I think. Almost. Just waiting to take the new Leopard OS for a spin before I take the plunge

Macs Are Tops in Customer Satisfaction:

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/we...omments/14928/