PC vs Mac for games

I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a solid justification for buying an iMac for desktop gaming over buying or building a PC.

Here's my reasons for not:

The highest end iMac in terms of graphics is 2000 dollars and only has a Radeon 4850, whereas I could build a PC with a Radeon 5870 for about 1000. For those who aren't familiar, the 5870 is over twice as good as the 4850.

No one here is going to encourage you to buy a Mac for gaming over a PC rig. Justifiably :P.

If your building a rig for gaming then the word Mac shouldn't be in your vocabulary.

Yeah, mmm pretty much what everyone has said here, PC = GAMING

I think the percentage of game developers that support Mac is less than 5%. There is no way to justify buying a Mac for gaming over a PC.

for gaming alone, i would stay away from mac.

but if your doing heavy video editing, or music editing (recording) if your doing alot of this, then mac beats pc. (sorry but true)

but for gaming, mac cannot hold its own against pc...

I think the percentage of game developers that support Mac is less than 5%. There is no way to justify buying a Mac for gaming over a PC.

DJ419

Theres enough programs that allow you to run almost any Windows app. As other have said its price / preformance which mac will never win.

Apple doesn't believe in games, they believe in apps.:roll:

Macs suck. I have to use a MacBook Pro at work, and it's killing me. Somehow, Apple branded its stuff as the hardware for "creative" people, and now everybody who wants to be a writer or an art director or whatever uses a Mac so people can see how creative they are. If you want to play games, there's no reason why you should even be thinking about spending the extra money to get a Mac, unless you want people to think that you're creative and hip and you plan on hanging out at coffee shops pretending to write your ground breaking coming of age novel.

this is a joke right?GazaAli

Go into an Apple store if you're still thinking about getting a Mac. Take a look at the part of the store with all the Mac games. It should be a shelf, probably about half the length of one wall.

That's all the games that exist for Mac. And you can get all those same games (and an untold number more) on PC.

Really, this shouldn't even be a topic. When it comes to games, Windows >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> every other OS. When it comes to other applications Apple still doesn't win out thanks to the Linux based operating systems out there. There's really no reason to even consider getting a Mac unless you're easily intimidated by technology and want a computer that looks pretty. I don't even understand why people say that Macs are better for creative applications. You can still get those very same programs (ie Adobe's programs) on Windows.

this is a joke right?GazaAli

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]this is a joke right?mrbojangles25

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

You can play Call of Duty 4 on a Mac... Who says Macs can't game?

You can play Call of Duty 4 on a Mac... Who says Macs can't game?

The_Capitalist

mac hardware is usually a generation or 2 behind that of pc and even that hardware is not as well optimized on mac software so there really is no reason to ever buy a mac

Mac is so much better than PC I just love the games it offers, o wait. Best thing Apple has to offer is Itunes, and that's just because I like renting movies.millerlight89

MACs don't support most games since Apple isn't too developer friendly. There are some games for mac but they are few and fr between. If developers didn't have to go through a bunch of un-needed steps to get their games on mac there would be more games on mac. Plus you can't beat the pc for power/price ratio.

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]Mac is so much better than PC I just love the games it offers, o wait. Best thing Apple has to offer is Itunes, and that's just because I like renting movies.SF_KiLLaMaN

MACs don't support most games since Apple isn't too developer friendly. There are some games for mac but they are few and fr between. If developers didn't have to go through a bunch of un-needed steps to get their games on mac there would be more games on mac. Plus you can't beat the pc for power/price ratio.

You don't buy a Mac for Gaming, You buy it for Artistic Design, Video Editing, and Programming.

Gaming is just a "Side Factor" for a Mac, they are not meant for gaming.

I use a Mac Professionally and have a Gaming PC at Home,

If your just trying to Game, Mac should never be in the Equasion, Unless you plan on doing Advanced Design, Video Editing ect.. but even then, You can still do it on a PC. Mac is better, but you can stil learn all the same things on a PC and move to mac later.

Example: Im buying an Imac for my Home soon so I can work from Home on ocassion for personal reasons, I have no intention of gaming on that Mac in the mainstream. I might install WoW on it cause they can easily handle it, but outside of that. there really is no point when you get a PC that is much better and last many years whereas that Mac probably wont run anything new outside 2 years from now at even low settings if your lucky.

Remember the Mac cost is insane, You can buy a PC and Parts to make it last 6 years for the Price of a Mac and a Lifespan of 2.

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]Mac is so much better than PC I just love the games it offers, o wait. Best thing Apple has to offer is Itunes, and that's just because I like renting movies.SF_KiLLaMaN

MACs don't support most games since Apple isn't too developer friendly. There are some games for mac but they are few and fr between. If developers didn't have to go through a bunch of un-needed steps to get their games on mac there would be more games on mac. Plus you can't beat the pc for power/price ratio.

Bootcamp solves that problem completly. The issue is as I said in my post above, the Cost/Hardware Ratio is idiotic in comparasin.

Itunes does not run like crap, You sir are a 100% totally biased fool

[QUOTE="SF_KiLLaMaN"]

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]Mac is so much better than PC I just love the games it offers, o wait. Best thing Apple has to offer is Itunes, and that's just because I like renting movies.Zemus

MACs don't support most games since Apple isn't too developer friendly. There are some games for mac but they are few and fr between. If developers didn't have to go through a bunch of un-needed steps to get their games on mac there would be more games on mac. Plus you can't beat the pc for power/price ratio.

Bootcamp solves that problem completly. The issue is as I said in my post above, the Cost/Hardware Ratio is idiotic in comparasin.

Itunes does not run like crap, You sir are a 100% totally biased fool

[QUOTE="Zemus"]

[QUOTE="SF_KiLLaMaN"] even itunes runs like ****. The zune software is superior in almost every way (except apps)

MACs don't support most games since Apple isn't too developer friendly. There are some games for mac but they are few and fr between. If developers didn't have to go through a bunch of un-needed steps to get their games on mac there would be more games on mac. Plus you can't beat the pc for power/price ratio.

SF_KiLLaMaN

Bootcamp solves that problem completly. The issue is as I said in my post above, the Cost/Hardware Ratio is idiotic in comparasin.

Itunes does not run like crap, You sir are a 100% totally biased fool

I have no problems with Itunes or my Ipod and ive been using it for years across PC and Mac,

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]this is a joke right?CellAnimation

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

Adobe CS4 is pretty industry standard, and works across both Windows and Mac, in the exact same way. That's all you need to edit video and sound.

[QUOTE="CellAnimation"][QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

1carus

Adobe CS4 is pretty industry standard, and works across both Windows and Mac, in the exact same way. That's all you need to edit video and sound.

and as an Adobe User I would never touch it with a PC after experiencing how badly it can corrupt files in conversions to Printing Formats.

PC to Mac = Problems, Not always but it happens enough to get annoyed by fools who use PC professionally for Design.

Macto PC = Not once in my many years of doing Design Has a file ever gotten corrupted with a simple conversion

Its why Mac's are Industry Standard in almost every single type of Design. Even manyGame Developers use Macs to Code then convert it to PC because it does it flawlessly.

PC can do it. It just doesn't do it well, it requires extra work. Its Ironic that a boat load of games we play are coded on macs and converted. so many people never know this fact.

But, I don't want to sit here and debate Mac vs PC outside of gaming because its not a contest. Mac wins everytime, anyone who tries to fight that fact is just PC biased because macs are so expensive.

the fact at debate is Macs and Gaming, and yes its a waste of time and money.

except the fact that I own an ipod. You can't even take your music from your ipod and put it on your itunes. Maybe I'm the only one that experienced slow load ups and freezing on itunes.

SF_KiLLaMaN

This guy's right.

iTunes is very clunky for what it does, and the way it handles iPod is completely terrible.

Since the upgrade to iTunes 9 it also keeps crashing when I plug my iPod, with no way to open it unless I unplug the iPod, that after the crash for some reason does not allow access to the music folders and it has to be manually put in recovery mode and then restored for things to work properly again. Utter crap tbh.

I'm not sure you can't take things from your iPod to your PC, though. I always take them by copying them directly from the music folder in it because I can't be bothered to search for the function that does this.

Talking about general computing, I understand editors and designers use Mac because having had the first OS to widely adopt a GUI they learned its applications and how to use them, and switching to unbranded PCs would be a waste of time to adapt to the new GUI, although I've seen graphic editing programs used on Windows much more efficiently to output much better finished products.

The price is not even comparable. Given a price, a PC can run a Mac computer through virtual machines and the likes almost as efficiently as a Mac in the same price range would, plus you get the native machine's applications.

Even when comparing laptops. A few time ago, I was asked suggestions for purchasing a laptop by a classmate. I'm not really into laptops, but a very quick browse turned up interesting results. His budget was about 1400€, and he thought of buying the first one from this list. An Alienware in the same price range would have obliterated it, and it's not even a cost efficient brand.

The games aren't comparable either. I mean, the PC has what, fifty or sixty times Macs' library strength and dimension, and most developers don't even bother porting them to Mac OSs. Not to say they "can't do gaming", but Apple's attitude towards the outside world made sure Macs wouldn't be loved by developers.

and as an Adobe User I would never touch it with a PC after experiencing how badly it can corrupt files in conversions to Printing Formats.

PC to Mac = Problems, Not always but it happens enough to get annoyed by fools who use PC professionally for Design.

Macto PC = Not once in my many years of doing Design Has a file ever gotten corrupted with a simple conversion

Its why Mac's are Industry Standard in almost every single type of Design. Even manyGame Developers use Macs to Code then convert it to PC because it does it flawlessly.

PC can do it. It just doesn't do it well, it requires extra work. Its Ironic that a boat load of games we play are coded on macs and converted. so many people never know this fact. Zemus

I bet the conversion would not be a problem if everyone stickied to one type of machine.

Also, where did you get that "fact"? I'd love to read more about it.

But, I don't want to sit here and debate Mac vs PC outside of gaming because its not a contest. Mac wins everytime, anyone who tries to fight that fact is just PC biased because macs are so expensive.

the fact at debate is Macs and Gaming, and yes its a waste of time and money.

Zemus

I see only one person biased here.

Mac wins every time, anything else is bias? How refreshing.

But, I don't want to sit here and debate Mac vs PC outside of gaming because its not a contest. Mac wins everytime, anyone who tries to fight that fact is just PC biased because macs are so expensive.Zemus

What? What about the fact that if a piece of hardware in your PC screws up, you can check it out, find out what specific piece isn't working, and replace it without taking the entire computer to get a recheck? Or you know, upgrading certain pieces of hardware instead of purchasing an entirely new computer?

PC to Mac = Problems, Not always but it happens enough to get annoyed by fools who use PC professionally for Design.

Macto PC = Not once in my many years of doing Design Has a file ever gotten corrupted with a simple conversionZemus

So because you've run into numerous problems it's fact? I've video edited across Windows and Mac quite intensely over the past year, and I can safely say I've had numerous problems on both ends. I don't like Windows, but I don't understand why Mac is the all powerful video editing solution when Windows has just as powerful software.

Since your question is for gaming. PC. Hands down, no contest.

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]this is a joke right?CellAnimation

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

for gaming alone, i would stay away from mac.

but if your doing heavy video editing, or music editing (recording) if your doing alot of this, then mac beats pc. (sorry but true)

but for gaming, mac cannot hold its own against pc...

[QUOTE="GazaAli"]this is a joke right?mrbojangles25

it must be

and why is the whole "Video editing thing" a solid argument for Macs? Are they really that much better than PC at that stuff?

Well, before I get flamed, I'm going to answer the topic and say that a PC does absolutely, mercilessly, obliterate Mac when it comes to gaming.

However, when it comes to everday use, media editing, and overall social networking; Mac has all of the programs that are worthwhile and some of it's own (mainly only in the networking thing, and they aren't necessarily life changing ones either). While working with pretty much every Adobe product that has been on Mac, I have found that it starts up faster, runs smoother, has just as much support, and have had less problems. When it comes to music, Mac decimates. Pro Tools, although it IS an overrated program, with the right plug-ins and the right knowledge of the program, you can create Platinum worthy sound in a garage; of course, you'd have to know what you're doing.

I prefer my MacBook Pro for everday use, but I occasionally go over to my old house and use my gaming rig...which isn't really mine, but whatever. :D

A lot of what is being said is true in regards to Macs. I wouldn't say there is an Industry "standard," as there is obviously a rather dedicated pc crowd, but this "standard" also works on far higher end machines than what's available to the typical consumer.

Buying a Mac for gaming is a bad Idea right now, its not so much that they can't play game, its that dev.s don't make a lot of good games on mac, I would definately go with a Pc for games, I own a a Pc and a Mac mini (not for gaming btw) andthe maccollects dust mostlyexcept for the rare occasion thatI wanna use aperture or the iLife suite, which isn't very often. PC all the way for games, just don't expect a lot of good PC exclusives anymore as most games are made for consoles first and devs don't really adapt them to PC portsall thatwell.