Just Bought a Mac, Need Advice

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5UPERMARIO

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#1 5UPERMARIO
Member since 2006 • 1204 Posts

Bought a mac for work, music production, I needed logic audio and a very stable computer. Here are the specs:

3.06Ghz Intel Core Duo

4GB Memory Ram

Nvidia Geforce 8800 GS, 512MB

My question is, what is "Boot Camp" and how well would I be able to run current PC games?

I am interested in Crysis and The Witcher :)

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N0han

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#2 N0han
Member since 2007 • 982 Posts

When I look at your settings I think your able to get some decent performance out of those games. The ram is enough, duo core nicely clocked and a good g-card, I guess its fine. Only thing is that it differs with Macs. Some sites tested Sony Vaio's high end laptops with Mac high end laptops, while the Vaio's had better overall rig, the Mac performed better on vista and xp then the vaio. So I guess the interface/structure of Mac's is a bit better meaning you can pump out even better graphics. I might be wrong but thats what a friend told me / showed me on a reviewerswebsite.

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jasperrussell

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#3 jasperrussell
Member since 2005 • 1960 Posts

before I hit send, you would of already got the PC heads flaming you.

bootcamp gives you dual boot. You need a valid windows install disc )if you're installing XP you must have a copy that includes SP2 - I can't stress that enough) Though a friend with Leopard couldn't get xp to work and bought vista and it worked fine.

I've got tiger with XP - which works fine.

It's not an emulator. When you bought into windows your computer is a PC.

The nvidia 8800GS should run crysis fine on medium, maybe even a couple of high settings.

edit: the witcher will run fine also.

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jasperrussell

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#4 jasperrussell
Member since 2005 • 1960 Posts

I tried boot camp a few times with my sony laptop. I guess boot camp does what the name suggests. It allows you to change things that are usually set while booting up your pc. Meaning you can change the startup screen. Example: Most of us know that blue windows loading screen on xp. Whilest using boot camp you can change that blue into anything youd like. And it has more features which im not really sure about how they work since I only tried it a few times. But basicly it lets you change boot (start up) info.

N0han

I think you're talking about a different boot camp????

bootcamp is only for macs

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N0han

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#5 N0han
Member since 2007 • 982 Posts
Yeah I guess I am then. I remember a program with pretty much the same name which I downloaded from Download.com about a year ago or so. Il remove it from my post, thanks:)
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codezer0

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#6 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts
Boot Camp is a way of setting the thing up for being able to run Windows that don't have EFI support. AFAIK, only XP x64 and Vista with SP1 would have EFI firmware support. It also helps along by allowing you to burn a disc image to CD that would come prepared with all the necessary drivers so that all your Apple hardware would work as it should in Windows. Boot Camp does these things: - (if necessary) install compatibility module in EFI firmware to allow it to understand and execute BIOS-type hardware calls. - prepare "drivers disc" with necessary drivers for chipset, display, audio, keyboard/mouse, etc. - repartitioning (without destroying your MacOS data) and preformatting for a Windows installation. - reconfigure boot loader to allow dual/multi booting with Windows. Also, you will positively hate this forum for asking for any kind of Mac OS specific help. Bunch of haters and **** that are Wintendo slaves and about as discriminatory to the Apple platform like white society was discriminating against blacks and hispanics wholesale even as late as the 1960s :evil:
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5UPERMARIO

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#7 5UPERMARIO
Member since 2006 • 1204 Posts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0

My mac is better than this guys, and hes playing Crysis on an Imac on HIGH lol

Thanks for the advice! ill have to go buy windows vista i think...:)

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codezer0

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#8 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0

My mac is better than this guys, and hes playing Crysis on an Imac on HIGH lol

Thanks for the advice! ill have to go buy windows vista i think...:)

5UPERMARIO
Friends don't let friends use Vista. Use Windows XP instead. Or even XP x64 so you can use the full 4GB of RAM.
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opamando

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#9 opamando
Member since 2007 • 1268 Posts
[QUOTE="5UPERMARIO"]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0

My mac is better than this guys, and hes playing Crysis on an Imac on HIGH lol

Thanks for the advice! ill have to go buy windows vista i think...:)

codezer0

Friends don't let friends use Vista. Use Windows XP instead. Or even XP x64 so you can use the full 4GB of RAM.

Says the fella that just finished complaing about people bashing MAC's. Vista is just fine right now. I am going to get it myself soon, but everyone I know personally that has used it has liked it. And most of the people on this forum seem to agree.

I just hate how people "discrimate against Vista like white society was discriminating against blacks and hispanics wholesale even as late as the 1960s" Sorry, I could not resist.

To each his own!

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TrooperManaic

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#11 TrooperManaic
Member since 2004 • 3863 Posts
[QUOTE="5UPERMARIO"]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0

My mac is better than this guys, and hes playing Crysis on an Imac on HIGH lol

Thanks for the advice! ill have to go buy windows vista i think...:)

codezer0
Friends don't let friends use Vista. Use Windows XP instead. Or even XP x64 so you can use the full 4GB of RAM.

vista isnt that bad, I used if for a little wile and my friends use it. We have absolutly no problems with it.
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codezer0

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#12 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts

Says the fella that just finished complaing about people bashing MAC's. Vista is just fine right now. I am going to get it myself soon, but everyone I know personally that has used it has liked it. And most of the people on this forum seem to agree.

I just hate how people "discrimate against Vista like white society was discriminating against blacks and hispanics wholesale even as late as the 1960s" Sorry, I could not resist.

To each his own!

opamando
Vista does not work. It is overly retarded in many of its design choices. And many of its "new features" were done earlier and better in various other OS's, API's, etc. I think it is completely unacceptable how even though my monitor does support DVI-HDCP, Vista refuses to even so much as give it a signal on DVI. And then while it does let me use native res on VGA, it then refuses to let me watch my HD-DVD movies because then it whines about not having HDCP compliance. Considering it's now been ONE YEAR and a service pack later, this is completely unacceptable from Windows Vista. Vista has done nothing but outright deserve all of its negative criticisms. There is no reason for a new version of an OS to take up 750% the install size of its prior edition (XP: 2GB install. Vista: 15GB install. What the **** for?!). There is no reason for Vista to drop OpenGL support altogether, since nearly everything that goes into being a "new feature" to rave about for a new update of DirectX was likely tested beforehand on OpenGL first. Vista's Aero was done earlier and better in OS X's Aqua and Core Extreme elements. There is no reason for Internet Explorer to be so inextricably integrated into Windows like Microsoft wants people to believe. There is no valid reason for DirectX 10 to have cut compatibility for DirectX 9.* the way it did. And nowadays, there is no technical reason anymore for why DX10 should be Vista-only. It's been proven time and again with every new computer game released on Windows that just about everything that has been harped on as a good thing of DX10 can be done in DX 9, and in many cases, with improved performance. And despite their Games for Windows initiative, I find it positively hilarious that there are many GfW titles that still do not work in Vista, either. And if you want to talk serious enterprise and corporate **** forget it. Vista's even more hated and demonized in the corporate space than ever with SP1 breaking many of the commercial apps that only finally started working with non-SP'd Vista. :| Oh, sure, your receptionists and clerks won't give a **** if they use Office all day, but anyone using Point-of-sale, 3dsmax/Maya3D, autoCAD, etc. hate Vista more than the enthusiasts who go about breaking overclocking world records, for instance. The amount of things that end up hobbled, lobotomized or broken by going to Vista go beyond absurd. Anyone who's not completely ****ing blind should see that Vista should have been scrapped and Microsoft should instead focus its efforts on Windows 7 to save face in the consumer and corporate worlds.
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opamando

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#13 opamando
Member since 2007 • 1268 Posts
[QUOTE="opamando"]

Says the fella that just finished complaing about people bashing MAC's. Vista is just fine right now. I am going to get it myself soon, but everyone I know personally that has used it has liked it. And most of the people on this forum seem to agree.

I just hate how people "discrimate against Vista like white society was discriminating against blacks and hispanics wholesale even as late as the 1960s" Sorry, I could not resist.

To each his own!

codezer0

Vista does not work. It is overly retarded in many of its design choices. And many of its "new features" were done earlier and better in various other OS's, API's, etc. I think it is completely unacceptable how even though my monitor does support DVI-HDCP, Vista refuses to even so much as give it a signal on DVI. And then while it does let me use native res on VGA, it then refuses to let me watch my HD-DVD movies because then it whines about not having HDCP compliance. Considering it's now been ONE YEAR and a service pack later, this is completely unacceptable from Windows Vista. Vista has done nothing but outright deserve all of its negative criticisms. There is no reason for a new version of an OS to take up 750% the install size of its prior edition (XP: 2GB install. Vista: 15GB install. What the **** for?!). There is no reason for Vista to drop OpenGL support altogether, since nearly everything that goes into being a "new feature" to rave about for a new update of DirectX was likely tested beforehand on OpenGL first. Vista's Aero was done earlier and better in OS X's Aqua and Core Extreme elements. There is no reason for Internet Explorer to be so inextricably integrated into Windows like Microsoft wants people to believe. There is no valid reason for DirectX 10 to have cut compatibility for DirectX 9.* the way it did. And nowadays, there is no technical reason anymore for why DX10 should be Vista-only. It's been proven time and again with every new computer game released on Windows that just about everything that has been harped on as a good thing of DX10 can be done in DX 9, and in many cases, with improved performance. And despite their Games for Windows initiative, I find it positively hilarious that there are many GfW titles that still do not work in Vista, either. And if you want to talk serious enterprise and corporate **** forget it. Vista's even more hated and demonized in the corporate space than ever with SP1 breaking many of the commercial apps that only finally started working with non-SP'd Vista. :| Oh, sure, your receptionists and clerks won't give a **** if they use Office all day, but anyone using Point-of-sale, 3dsmax/Maya3D, autoCAD, etc. hate Vista more than the enthusiasts who go about breaking overclocking world records, for instance. The amount of things that end up hobbled, lobotomized or broken by going to Vista go beyond absurd. Anyone who's not completely ****ing blind should see that Vista should have been scrapped and Microsoft should instead focus its efforts on Windows 7 to save face in the consumer and corporate worlds.

A lot of people would say MACs are retatrded, but I am not gonna say that myself.

But I am tired of hearing your "my monitor won't work in Vista" argument. That is a problem with your monitor manufacturer, NOT Vista, no one else has had that problem, so talk to Gateway I believe.

What space did XP take over 98, not 2000 as that was basically XP? I mean that is horrible, I mean 15GB, holy crap, that almost takes up my entire 500GB HD :roll:

Who care about IE, most people that know the difference use FF or something else anyways.

Most bussniess just started using XP, Vista is for the home user now, IMHO.

I love how people bring up Windows 7. But I guess when it is getting ready to come out, you will be saying the exact same thing, just replace XP with Vista, and Vista with Windows 7. Windows is only good when it is way out over the horizon, or about to done away with, whatever.

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codezer0

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#14 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts
Gateway won't even talk to me because they just want to veil out of providing any support because the monitor is "out of warranty." And Gateway provides NO monitor drivers whatsoever. And since all of this works perfectly in both XP 32-bit and 64, which is supposedly infamous for even worse compatibility problems than Vista... who else do i have to blame other than Vista?
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Roland123_basic

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#15 Roland123_basic
Member since 2002 • 3841 Posts
[QUOTE="5UPERMARIO"]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0

My mac is better than this guys, and hes playing Crysis on an Imac on HIGH lol

Thanks for the advice! ill have to go buy windows vista i think...:)

codezer0

Friends don't let friends use Vista. Use Windows XP instead. Or even XP x64 so you can use the full 4GB of RAM.

for freaks sake.... there is nothing wrong with vista. i have been using it on my laptop for a year now (i was using the beta version for a while as well) and have had absolutely no problems. works fast, never locks up... looks WAY better than XP thanks to aero.

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ryan0129

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#16 ryan0129
Member since 2006 • 25 Posts

if you dont mind me asking,

how much did u pay for that computer?

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darkmagician06

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#17 darkmagician06
Member since 2003 • 6060 Posts

"Just Bought a Mac, Need Advice"

Return it.

sadikovic
bad advice macs are pretty good if you dont game a lot but they can still run windows if you do. I just wish Apple would let you install OSX on any machine (hacks dont count) so game makes would actually make games for it. i can only dream
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threepac81

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#18 threepac81
Member since 2003 • 3459 Posts
[QUOTE="opamando"]

Says the fella that just finished complaing about people bashing MAC's. Vista is just fine right now. I am going to get it myself soon, but everyone I know personally that has used it has liked it. And most of the people on this forum seem to agree.

I just hate how people "discrimate against Vista like white society was discriminating against blacks and hispanics wholesale even as late as the 1960s" Sorry, I could not resist.

To each his own!

codezer0

Vista does not work. It is overly retarded in many of its design choices. And many of its "new features" were done earlier and better in various other OS's, API's, etc. I think it is completely unacceptable how even though my monitor does support DVI-HDCP, Vista refuses to even so much as give it a signal on DVI. And then while it does let me use native res on VGA, it then refuses to let me watch my HD-DVD movies because then it whines about not having HDCP compliance. Considering it's now been ONE YEAR and a service pack later, this is completely unacceptable from Windows Vista. Vista has done nothing but outright deserve all of its negative criticisms. 1. This is a feature that prevents HD-DVD or BluRay playback unless its being viewed through a HDCP compliant monitor, either on a DVI or HDMI interface. There is no reason for a new version of an OS to take up 750% the install size of its prior edition (XP: 2GB install. Vista: 15GB install. What the **** for?!). 2. Come on now, I would have figured you smarter then that. Each version of Windows has been larger then the last. There is no reason for Vista to drop OpenGL support altogether, since nearly everything that goes into being a "new feature" to rave about for a new update of DirectX was likely tested beforehand on OpenGL first. 3. Umm, as far as I know XP didn't support OpenGL within the code as well. I don't know if you know this but OpenGL API has been part of the game release itself and not that of the OS. Vista's Aero was done earlier and better in OS X's Aqua and Core Extreme elements. 4. I think you missed the point of Aero... It was created to offer more highend feature within the Desktop with out sacrificing CPU resources. Has nothing to do with looking good or looking as good as Aqua. There is no reason for Internet Explorer to be so inextricably integrated into Windows like Microsoft wants people to believe. 5. Actually there was, the main reason being that it loaded up faster. As of right now it is no longer integrated with Windows. There is no valid reason for DirectX 10 to have cut compatibility for DirectX 9.* 6. Come again...? DirectX 10 compatible accelerators have full backwards compatibility with DX9. the way it did. And nowadays, there is no technical reason anymore for why DX10 should be Vista-only. 7. I agree with you there, But thats like saying features from Max OSX Tiger features could be incorporated into older versions of the Mac. It's been proven time and again with every new computer game released on Windows that just about everything that has been harped on as a good thing of DX10 can be done in DX 9, and in many cases, with improved performance. And despite their Games for Windows initiative, I find it positively hilarious that there are many GfW titles that still do not work in Vista, either. 8. Huh, I have GoW for Vista and it works fine? Am I wrong...? And if you want to talk serious enterprise and corporate **** forget it. Vista's even more hated and demonized in the corporate space than ever with SP1 breaking many of the commercial apps that only finally started working with non-SP'd Vista. :| 9. Yea a new OS tends to do that. Hence the software gets upgraded. If we actually followed what you have just described we would probably still be using DOS or some Mac equivalent. Oh, sure, your receptionists and clerks won't give a **** if they use Office all day, but anyone using Point-of-sale, 3dsmax/Maya3D, autoCAD, etc. hate Vista more than the enthusiasts who go about breaking overclocking world records, for instance. 10. who are these people you speak of...? Stop making things up. The amount of things that end up hobbled, lobotomized or broken by going to Vista go beyond absurd. Anyone who's not completely ****ing blind should see that Vista should have been scrapped 11. Like I said before that tends to happen with a new release. Especially ones that try to break support for 20+ year old tech that puts holes in your OS. Some people wish that Microsoft would eliminate the 32-Bit Windows all together. and Microsoft should instead focus its efforts on Windows 7 to save face in the consumer and corporate worlds. 12. Yea, funny thing is I heard they will use most of Vista's code as a base and expand from there. Any compatibilities you speak of will stil be there when it come.

This POST is full of fan-boy BS, that I had to respond to you ignorance.

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codezer0

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#19 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts

My POST is full of fan-boy BS, that I had to respond to you.

threepac81
Fixed. ;)
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bumsoil

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#20 bumsoil
Member since 2006 • 924 Posts
"Just Bought a Mac, Need Advice" sell it ;)
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imprezawrx500

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#21 imprezawrx500
Member since 2004 • 19187 Posts

the 8800gs is a great card, bootcamp allows you to run windows. those games should run great unless you are running a huge resolution. 1440 x 900 and they will run great.

macs being more stable is a myth, I don't think much of them after a file deleting itself last night on one at uni and then running out of vitural ram today doing stuff with photoshop.

macs are great but its more a preference thing liking macs rather than them working better

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imprezawrx500

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#22 imprezawrx500
Member since 2004 • 19187 Posts
[QUOTE="threepac81"]

My POST is full of knowledge, that I had to respond to you.

codezer0

Fixed. ;)

fixed

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codezer0

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#23 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts
My POST is full of FAIL, that I had to quote you.imprezawrx500
Hands-on experience is greater than just some MSKB article telling you how it should work.
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Zoso-8

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#24 Zoso-8
Member since 2008 • 2047 Posts
I've had Vista on my laptop for a little over 7 months and I've never had a single problem.
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imprezawrx500

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#25 imprezawrx500
Member since 2004 • 19187 Posts

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]My POST is full of FAIL, that I had to quote you.codezer0
Hands-on experience is greater than just some MSKB article telling you how it should work.

I have vista and it works great, you just had to say something after your fixed backfired on you

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luamhtrad

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#26 luamhtrad
Member since 2003 • 1997 Posts

Like others have said, Bootcamp gives you the ability to install Windows XP or Vista on a partition on Mac's harddrive so you can run PC programs natively. Keep in mind, that you have to reboot to change OS's. Kind of pointless in my opinion since I mostly game on my PC. I don't really think that I would ever be bothered to use OSX. I don't have anything against it and I don't really like Windows all that much either. It's just a necessary evil because I don't care for linux at all. Hope you get it all working the way you want and enjoy gaming with that 8800m. I did the laptop gaming thing for about 5 years, but ever since they limited the SP's in the 8800m cards I came back to the desktop. Just too much power to ignore... anyways, /rant.

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codezer0

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#27 codezer0
Member since 2004 • 15898 Posts
Another thing I just remembered. If you have VMware Fusion installed on the Mac OS side, you could then have it "boot" the Boot Camp partition due to its usage of VT functionality in the intel Macs. So in a way it's one way of having both be able to get more-or-less native performance.