Really tempted!

jonthomas83

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Hi guys,

I'm really tempted by a mac but I'm worried I'll lose all ability to play my classic PC games. I know it may be time to let go of the likes of the Commandos, Worms, Tomb Raiders and Broken Swords etc but I like the fact that I can still play them on my PC whenever I want to.

Is there a guaranteed way of getting these bad boys to play on a potential new Mac?

Also I have software like DVD profiler which currently isn't available for Mac, will I be able to get stuff like this to run through Windows etc? A few other programs I am looking to run would be TMPgenc DVD Author, and a few other DVD authoring tools.

Basically, I'd love to move over to a Mac, but I'm just so reluctant cos I know my PC can do everything that I want it to do and I could probably get a better PC for cheaper than an upgrade to a Mac.

So come on guys, sell me a Mac! lol.

Cheers for any help in advance!
Jonathan
 
Macs these days are all intel hardware , same as a PC , so you have bootcamp , which will let you have windows on there as well for any programs you cant run on mac OS.

Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Boot Camp

So , no worries , get your new toy !!

By the way , a quote from that site

Leopard is the world’s most advanced operating system. So advanced, it even lets you run Windows

is that the worst advertising youve ever seen or what ?:D:rotfl:
 
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Macs these days are all intel hardware , same as a PC , so you have bootcamp , which will let you have windows on there as well for any programs you cant run on mac OS.

Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Boot Camp

So , no worries , get your new toy !!

I'd suggest that a new MacBook/MacBook Pro has sufficient power, especially with the new GPUs, to play those games via Fusion or Parallels...
 
Lol, really bad advertising!

Thanks for the feedback fellas!

I'd suggest that a new MacBook/MacBook Pro has sufficient power, especially with the new GPUs, to play those games via Fusion or Parallels...
Thing is, would I be able to play relatively new games like Tomb Raider Underworld and the likes of Age of Empires 3 which is quite graphically intense?
 
Also I have software like DVD profiler which currently isn't available for Mac, will I be able to get stuff like this to run through Windows etc? A few other programs I am looking to run would be TMPgenc DVD Author, and a few other DVD authoring tools.

9 times out of 10 I'd say you can get an equivalent application. For DVD creation you have iDVD as part of the iLife suite and for DVD burning Roxio make a number of tools....
 
Quality, well what am I waiting for?!?!

I've no doubt, I'd use the "Mac" side of things a lot more than anything else, including replacing the DVD software I mentioned for the Mac stuff but it's always nice to know that I can preserve my "PC" investments thus far (i.e. software licenses, games etc).

I know I definitely want an iMac for the sheer coolness of the "no-cables" approach. It'll definitely tidy up my workspace, would you recommend getting a tidy sized external HDD for that time machine thing? Sounds good to me. Couple that with a version of XP Pro and I'm gonna be spending out of the nose a little but I'm hoping the investment will be a good one.

Out of interest, I've always wondered what makes a Mac so different, why do most Mac users rave about them? I mean, I'm sure I'll find out, should I buy my own and start getting used to using it, but why do people generally prefer them?
 
Thats a tough question, but you will know the answer yourself after just two weeks of use!
Go get it, you wont regret it :clap:
 
Quality, well what am I waiting for?!?!

Got get it!

I've no doubt, I'd use the "Mac" side of things a lot more than anything else, including replacing the DVD software I mentioned for the Mac stuff but it's always nice to know that I can preserve my "PC" investments thus far (i.e. software licenses, games etc).

Yep, nothing lost, lots gained

I know I definitely want an iMac for the sheer coolness of the "no-cables" approach. It'll definitely tidy up my workspace, would you recommend getting a tidy sized external HDD for that time machine thing?

Yes, get an external HD for Time Machine, it is one of the best Mac features

Out of interest, I've always wondered what makes a Mac so different, why do most Mac users rave about them? I mean, I'm sure I'll find out, should I buy my own and start getting used to using it, but why do people generally prefer them?

Its hard to quantify, but there is no feeling like you will get when you pull that sparkly new iMac out of the box, plug in 2 cables and away you go. you will never look back.
 
Leopard is the world's most advanced operating system. So advanced, it even lets you run Windows
is that the worst advertising youve ever seen or what ?:D:rotfl:
Given the regularity of posts about how to run Windoze on Macs on this forum alone, I'd say they've spotted a market and are appealing to it. I'm no Harry Beckwith, but that's good marketing in my book.
 
I'm no Harry Beckwith, but that's good marketing in my book.

Dont you see it ?
The ( Im sure un-intended ) implications are that A ...Windows is quite advanced , and B , that until now macs weren't advanced enough to run it .... bad marketing!

Its almost like the line was written by a Microsoft Mole !!
 
I don't play PC games, so I just use parallels which lets me run windows in a window on my macbook pro.

I was really only using it for newsleecher + mkv2vob for converting vids to PS3 format. But now I have Plex on a mac mini I don't need that anymore, and am using sabnzbd+ for newsgroups stuff.

I used to love DVD profiler, but after trying the two main mac equivalents - Delicious Library and DVDpedia, I settled on dvdpedia. It can import your DVD profiler library, you can add new DVDs by scanning the barcode on your isight camera, and its dead easy to upload your collection to your webspace (I have mine so its easy to browse on my phone so I can check what I have while looking through sales in HMV etc)
 
Out of interest, I've always wondered what makes a Mac so different, why do most Mac users rave about them? I mean, I'm sure I'll find out, should I buy my own and start getting used to using it, but why do people generally prefer them?

As a Windows user since 1995, I moved to a Mac just a couple of months ago and the difference really is amazing. The Mac just WORKS. Simple as that. It does things in a way that makes using the computer a pleasure again. When you plug in external devices they simply work. Installing and uninstalling software is quick and easy. The I-Life software is clever and intuitive and works. The machine itself looks great, is quiet and doesn't have loads of cables and plugs to run it.

It's how computing should always have been - a pleasure not a pain.
 
Ah wow, that's really cool, thanks a lot for your input guys, it's really appreciated. Especially on the DVD profiler, the parallels and "why mac" front. Hopefully I'll purchase a mac in the next month or so and will let you know how I get on! :)

Cheers and if you guys think anything else would be of interest feel free to update this thread.

Cheers,
Jonathan
 
yes, save your money on bootcamps and windows for mac. just use leopard for awhile, and then you will notice fairly quickly that the last thing you want to do is have windows spoiling your beautiful machine.

as for games, get a console instead!
 
yes, save your money on bootcamps and windows for mac. just use leopard for awhile, and then you will notice fairly quickly that the last thing you want to do is have windows spoiling your beautiful machine.

as for games, get a console instead!
Heh, I know you're right!

I have a PS3 but still sometimes find myself wanting to play my PC games, especially the old ones, I just don't want to lose that luxury you know.
 
old stuff might work in crossover games - that lets you run windows stuff directly as an app you can click on in leopard. Doesn't work witheverything though
 
I installed XP on my macbook to see how games run and Bioshock for example ran perfectly but like you i have a PS3 and use that for games. Don't know why i still have XP installed really
 
Sorry to hijack the op's thread but I too am really tempted. I'm tired of Vista's problems (the latest is that if I leave the PC alone for any length of time when I return none of the programmes will execute and I can't access taskmanager meaning a forced reboot is necessary). So I'm interested in a Mac Mini. That would mean I could keep my monitor and other pieces of equipment. One question though... My PC is running an Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4600 with 2 gigs of ram. If I go for the 2gz dual core Mac Mini with 2 gigs of ram how will the performance be comparatively speaking? Which would have the edge performance wise?
 
As it stands , the intel core2duo is way ahead of any AMD dual core in terms of performance. A rough figure is approx 30% improvement.

Before the core processors AMD had the edge , now AMD have a lot of catching up to do.
 
As it stands , the intel core2duo is way ahead of any AMD dual core in terms of performance. A rough figure is approx 30% improvement.

Before the core processors AMD had the edge , now AMD have a lot of catching up to do.

So will I be gaining in performance by switching from my Vista based Athlon 64 dual core 4600 to the 2Ghz Mac Mini? I presume that the Mac Os runs more efficiently anyway than Vista (it'd be hard not to!)?
 
if your on about playing classic games check out macmame....
 
Thats a tough question, but you will know the answer yourself after just two weeks of use!
Go get it, you wont regret it :clap:

I used a Mac for the first time in the summer after 12 years of using Windows almost every weekday of every week.

The things that struck me first were the fast boot-up speed, ease of use (was an absolute doddle to get the Internet set up) and the stability of OS X (no crashing when you close a window and being able to force quit an application and return to the desktop).

Another good thing about the Mac is the free games and programs you can download from Apple's web site.

You can install Windows on it but I think you need the full 4GB RAM for it to run smoothly.

One last thing I'll mention is the drivers being already installed - I plugged in my Windows mouse and an external hard drive and the Mac recognised it almost instantly with no faffing around for the installation disc. :thumbsup:
 
So will I be gaining in performance by switching from my Vista based Athlon 64 dual core 4600 to the 2Ghz Mac Mini? I presume that the Mac Os runs more efficiently anyway than Vista (it'd be hard not to!)?

the graphics card in the current mini is a rubbish intel GMA950 though. Fine for general OS stuff (and runs 1080p video nicely) but not good for games if thats what you want to do
 

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