Windows & Mac!

[Lenna]

Okay, so I have always been a Windows user, and always pretty much known the ins and outs of them. Cause I'm a computer nerd! But after purchasing 3 top of the line gaming laptops (I'm a very hardcore gamer, Psy can vouch for that :P) and all of them giving me the blue screen of death from overheating within a measly 30 mins of playing a game, I began to get fed up of the poor production of them.

Seriously, a gaming laptop died after playing 30 mins of sims 2, WoW and it even overheated while watching youtube videos!

When I started using my other half's Macbook, I put Sims 3 on it and found that it handled itself really well when it came to the heating.

I then decided to get a Macbook for college and for gaming purposes. At the moment I only have MacOSX on here, but my intention is to put Windows on it next week to run through bootcamp.

Basically, I want to know peoples opinions on Windows, Mac, and Macbooks with Windows on them!

The debate begins! Keep it nice :P

[Old Manus]

I used to shun all the UNIX I cried aloud with mirth and merriment smurf MICRO$OFT idiots, but since using Windows Vista I've changed my mind. It truly is the most bloated, over-security-conscious, incompatible piece of crap in the known universe. Downgrade to XP.

It's unlikely you'll be able to play a lot of games on a Mac though.

[Lenna]

Yeah, that's why I'm getting windows put on here as a secondary OS. I've heard that it runs games really well through bootcamp cause then it uses it as a native OS rather than if you were using Parallels or VMWare.

The Macbook has quite good specs, especially for gaming, and it handles itself really well compared to the other laptops that I've had that were only windows based. Which is purely why I got a macbook. If I wasn't able to have windows on it, I wouldn't have bothered.

Windows 7 is what I'm gonna have on here, I've heard its more stable than vista I cried aloud with mirth and merriment =p

[Slothy]

Out of curiosity, what gaming laptops did you buy? I don't think I'd buy a gaming laptop at all myself. They're not nearly as portable and if they even come close to matching their desktop counterparts in terms of power, they have a 10 minute battery life as a result. Might as well have a desktop for games and a netbook for portability at that point.

I wouldn't go for a Mac myself because even with the recent price drop, they're way over priced for the specs you get (the regular old 13" isn't as bad as the others for that though last time I checked).

Also, unlike Old Manus, my experience with Vista has been fine. It's gotten a lot better since it came out. I also don't tend to notice a system hog of an OS when I have a 3.16 GHz Core 2 Duo and 8GBs of RAM.

[Lenna]

The first one I bought was an ASUS one I remember that but I can't remember what model it was but this was in 2006, It overheated badly and completely wiped out the whole computer. Cant remember make or model for second one cause I only had that one for about 3 weeks. My latest laptop that I purchased was the MSI GX600-84UK. I purchased that one last year in August, was about 900 - 1000 pounds

It's created with a Turbo button to allow you to overclock the processors so you have a better performance. I didn't use this feature at all. The graphics card was a NVidia GeForce 8400GT M, 3GB Ram. with Crystal Vision screen >.< This one lasted 3 months. I only used it to play WoW at that time but it overheated so badly it constantly gave me blue screen of death every 20 mins of playing it or so. I had to stick to browsing until I sent it in for repair.

MSI's support was appauling, they didn't even notify me when the laptop had been sent back out, so I was unaware that they had sent it, and that the van was out for delivery until about 2 weeks later when I questioned. The laptop had been stolen off the back of the lorry literally 2 streets down from where I lived. Then it took a few months to get a new one off them cause they kept claiming that it was the couriers fault when they didn't put any insurance on it.

I received my brand new laptop (same specs/model etc just brand new) and the exact same problems happen when I tried to play Sims 3. It was so bad, that when I was browsing one night, the laptop just died...No life whatsoever. So had to send this one back for repair but cba with it as they refused to give me a refund because of already receiving a replacement, so bought a macbook after about 2 months of using my other halfs one. The funny thing is, they still haven't even got to the repairing stage of my laptop on the tracking site. I cried aloud with mirth and merriment

[Akaria]

I agree with Vivi in that if you want something for gaming that's gonna be really good, I'd have a desktop specifically for that and then have a laptop for other stuff. Many laptops just aren't suited for gaming -- as mentioned before, overheating and the short battery life are major issues. Heck, I'd just make my own desktop, at that point.

That said, I have the new 15" MacBook Pro. It has a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GBs of memory, and a 320 GB hard drive. Also, backlit keyboard ftw. Got it all for around three grand. Oh, Apple.

Now. I have both the Sims 3 and WoW on here, running on OSX.5. The battery life isn't terribly horrendous, but it doesn't much matter to me since I always plug in while gaming anyway. Overheating used to be an issue to where I would start seeing changes in graphics, freak out, turn the game off and let it cool for a while. Then I did a little research and found a program called "SMC Fan Control". It's basically my savior. It runs in the background, and you can set up different unique settings for how fast the fans are running depending on what you're doing. It keeps everything in check nicely, from my experience. Also, I have one of those lap fan things that plug into your USB port. That helps quite a bit too, since I like to curl up on my couch and play on my lap or on the cushions. (Yeah, yeah, stupid, I know.)

I haven't had Windows since XP, and I do miss it and plan on dual booting soon, perhaps trying out Windows 7. Too many of my friends have had bad experiences with Vista to where I'm just skipping over it (although with them, I do admit it's probably 98% user errors).

So, For those with attention deficiency disorders, here is a summarized snippet of the general ramblings for you to ponder over -, I like Windows. I like Mac. I like Windows on a Mac. And as long as you can tweak your settings, gaming isn't too bad on a Mac no matter which OS you run.

[Rye]

I really want a Mac for my non-gaming. But now that I think of it, all I play on this computer is WoW, and I seldom even do that. I don't have much of a problem with my Dell laptop though. Honeybee is a sweetie.

[Lenna]

I really want a Mac for my non-gaming. But now that I think of it, all I play on this computer is WoW, and I seldom even do that. I don't have much of a problem with my Dell laptop though. Honeybee is a sweetie.

I love the Mac for the college stuff I'm gonna be doing. It's got really good support for students.

The gaming stuff I do is mostly sims, emulators, pangya and steam applications like half life etc. The only real demanding game is the Sims 3 and that seems to be running full out brilliantly with no problems and that's what I'm looking for, so the Mac has certainly shown it compatibility with it. Now all I need is Windows on here to use the programs that aren't compatible with the MacOSX.

As for having a desktop, I already have one, but its at my parent's house, and unless I can bring it here myself I don't trust sending it here because I don't want to risk it getting stolen I cried aloud with mirth and merriment. Besides, I only ever really used my Desktop for storage or when my laptops were inaccessable.

I travel a lot so my gaming is mainly around that. As long as I have a plug I'm happy. =p

Also, one thing I am extremely pleased with is the Apple Customer Support. Compared to Asus and MSI they are angels =p. I like knowing that if something goes wrong, I will get the service I need.

[Meat Puppet]

I say if you enjoy it good for you.

[rubah]

Macs are awesome, and if you run Parallels, nothing in the world is out of your grasp.

seriously you guys, parallels is a sweet piece of software. Opening windows as its own application whereyou can alt+tab from it? ownage.

[Lenna]

hehe, I was considering getting parallels but aparantly games don't run that smoothly on it. But for other stuff I've heard its absolutely brill =D

[SomethingBig]

I've used Windows my whole life, so I'm too scared to venture into the unknown Mac OS. I went into an Apple store and tried to use a Mac and I felt like an old man trying to fiddle with some sort of new fangled gadget!

[Momiji]

I just don't like using Macs, and I never have. I've always preferred Windows, and I've already preordered Windows 7 when it comes out.

[Del Murder]

Macs are too expensive, and I'm used to PC so I just stick with that.

[Ki Ki]

I don't know. I kind of hate mac, but I'm stuck with one at the moment.
I'd prefer windows just because it's easier to fix if anything breaks. Well atleast I've been told that (technologically impaired).

In any case, I have an imac that seems to overheat ALOT. And I think the graphics card in it is shot. Took it to the mac store and asked if I could get it replaced or anything like that and they said I'd have to replace the WHOLE motherboard or whatever that's called in a mac.
So yes, if I had a normal windows computer, I would simply have to replace the graphics card and NOT the whole motherboard.
A lot easier to fix and besides those silly mac store people are never really helpful...