50 replies to this topic

[FabricioGS]

Before the text itself, wanna make clear I'm not revolted, sad or something like that...


After a very long time testing and using Mac OS X I decided to drop it for good.

Since Mac OS X was announced (OS 9 never seduced me) I always wanted to use it but of course Macs are expensive blablabla.. Then you guys break it to run on ours pcs. I started to test it the first versions, still very difficult to install and very buggy but I was a very happy person.

But All this time, I actually never used Mac OS very much. Let me explain.

I'm a gamer and 50% of the time I spend on my home computer is playing games. About 20% running overclock/graphics benchmarks, ~25% for surfing the net and guess about 5% programming ASP.Net. This last 30% wont be a problem because I enjoy surfing the net on OS X and I can run a virtual machine to program ASP.Net, but the other ~70% is what really matters to me.

I even tried playing some games on OSx86 but honestly, my mouse Razer is not well recognized giving me a very strange sensitivity under FPS games. And even with an 8800GT (one of the best vgas that works on OSX) "CI/QE enabled" it's clear to me that it's not half as optimized for games as it is in Windows (even on Vista).

Besides, I always trusted that "Macs are the best platform for video" but I had a terrible experience with iDVD. I know I know.. it's not a professional app, but I was expecting something like Convert2DVD. This program for Windows is extremely simple, flexible and convert almost every kind of video to DVD in my computer in half hour (or less). If I try to convert anything with ffmpegX on OSX for instance (the same video) it takes almost 5 hours and the visual result is terrible. Same thing with iDVD.

I think the challenge was good (to make OS X run smoothly on my pc) but I don't think this effort will keep me tight to this project anymore. Just posting to see if there some similar cases here, don't want to start a war over Win X OSX x Linux or something like that. Just saying OS X it's not for me, unfortunately.

[adrock42]

I wish i could play video games for 50% of the time

[packrobottom]

That's why you do what I do.  Dual boot. duh  osx is better than windowss for every other computing need I have except gaming.  When I game I boot into windows.  Everything else osx.

[~pcwiz]

I totally agree about the gaming thing. Games for OS X are not nearly as many as Windows (and thats an understatement), Mac exclusive games are most likely horrible, like playing an online Flash game, and the few good ones still don't match up against their Windows equals. There are Cider ports of games for OS X but the quality just doesn't seem as good as it is on Windows.

I have to say though, I tend to only use OS X for programming and development, and just for the fun of using OS X Sometimes some light word processing and web coding but nothing more. I use Windows for gaming, web development, and whatever else For surfing the net though, I use Windows and OS X equally.

[iPirate]

Well when a MacBook Pro runs Vista better than the PC laptops tested... you know there's only one machine to cover all your computing requirements... dual booted of course (and both OSes will work to the best standard they can).

[endafy]

Honestly I miss my Linux. In OSX I ran into issues and really used a lot of my OSS apps in OSX. I still keep it around and all. Plus I think it is stupid of people to ask for money for their drivers for an ILLEGAL OS! This has ruined the taste in my mouth. I own a Mac Mini with Leo and it is the same over there, people ask for money for software which is usually available to me free of charge with Linux and even Windows. At first the Mac experience had me hooked until my wallet started to complain when I needed to buy diapers for my 9 month old daughter. When I sit to play at my PC I want to know I can play with it without pulling out my credit card for everything I need to get done. I have it but rarely use it. $15 for the rt2500 driver for my wifi usb card. Why? $75 for iLife which is available to me free by other means in Windows and Linux combined... I finally broke down and went halfsies on iLife with a friend and it turns out i didn't like it at all so I gave the program to him and listed my Mac on ebay. Will I use this in the future? Probably, if people stop being greedy. thats my 2 cents...

[juragan]

well, each OS have their own uniqueness... i use XP for my job, and i use mac/xp/vista at home. almost 80% of my computer time at home I use mac for surfing the net, playing wow games, uploading/manipulating photos, do some audio transfer.

why i still keep my xp/vista because many free apps that can do many thing also there many thing that can destroy your os too. a virus/trojan or worms. thats why i have to buy the antivirus to protect and its not cheap.

[QuadCore9650]

I started writing a pretty long response, but the short of it is that I feel there's much more freedom on a Windows platform. I use Vista and, quite frankly, I don't have to ask myself "Is this software available for Windows?" or "Can I use this hardware on Windows?"... I really don't like being limited like that. Being a computer enthusiast and professional, I like to do more then just email and web surfing (which I think either Mac or Windows is great for). For development, games, productivity and just "getting the job done fast", I find Windows much better at that.

I still get a thrill out of trying a new OS X "distro", but I pretty much gave up on the idea of using it fulltime. No war here, this is just an opinion.

System specs:
        QX9650 (not overclocked)

    GA-EP35-DS3R

    Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DD2 800

    Zalman CNPS9500 fan/heatsink

    Thermalake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 PSU

    Lite-on 20x DVD+-R DVD burner w/Lightscribe

    Lian-Li PC-7B case

    EVGA Nvidia 8800 GT 640 MB running at 1600x1200 res

[Mastodont]

This is my case too, I love Mac OS, but i feel limited and too much different. Also video problems are pain in the ass (in windows = cccp + mpc and youre done, in mac its like all night horror). But I still think that mac is good for web surfing, iweb making, emails, im and so on. Windows is for power users and developers.

[splits]

Some of you said you felt limited by MacOS, that's understandable, but I'm a bit different. I feel limited by not running ALL OSes. I have a Vista PC sitting right next to a dual boot XP/Mac, another XP box and a laptop running OSX. I don't think I could go with just one or the other, they all have great advantages, but totaly different advantages.

[Mastodont]

Yep, thats true, but i dont to to dual boot everytime i want to do some serious work in windows. When i had installed Hackintosh, I dont even know how to play movies with subtitles without glitches. Where is codec pack, Media Players, H264 CoreVideo codecs? Well, they stuck at windows platform, that is what limits me. I want to do everything on my rig, not just one kind of apps, the transfer it to another and finish the work. It will be lovely if some developers will move to apple side and make similar apps for it. I would apreciate that and ill go buy mac. P.S.: I already owned one white macbook, but i was forced to sell it in two months because of stupid problems i have described above...

[durkadurka]

I am a Windows Systems Administrator by trade.  I have to use Windows to make my money.  My main computer is a MacBook Pro.  I will never go back to Windows being my main OS ever.  OS X is leaps and bounds better in every way.  I bootcamp to Vista for gaming and that is the only time I use Windows.  I can do anything I could do in Windows plus more with OS X.  There are tons of free software out there that is legit, you just don't know where to look.

Give me Leopard any day over that garbage you call Vista.

[Mastodont]

Yep, there is so many apps (adium, transmission, etc.) which are not on windoze. But when i want to play MKV (H.264) files in mplayer extended... = its slow and jerky. In windows everything working fine. Mac OS X is good OS for user with basic needs, in this way is OS X far better than windoze. Anyway, people are different, someone love football, someone love hockey. People are just different and I dont want to judge whats better, I am not god or Steve Jobs.

Enjoy your OSes win or mac, doesnt matter! :-)

[Schwinn555]

Just read this topic to get a feel for why Windows users don't like the Mac OS . With one or two exceptions I think all the complaints are mostly due to users being newbies to the Mac . It takes a while to learn another OS and you pretty much have to live in it for an extended period of time . I built my own PC and used Windows pretty much everyday for at least a short while often for hours . After a year or so I felt I really knew it's pros & cons and how to fix pretty much any issues , just like on my Mac . I realized it worked fine and while it was ok I loved my Mac . I gave the PC to my brother and he was happy to get it .
The two exceptions where Windows  beats ( ?) the Mac. Games you've got me there. Most Mac users have never expected them to be a games machine. Most Mac users play games on a games machine , Playstation, Xbox etc. Sure there have always been simple games for the Mac . Card games ,Chess and some simple shoot em up stuff even Myst all fine for diversion from time to time.
The second exception is WMV files with DRM protection . WMV files play fine on the Mac. Microsoft refuses to license WMV DRM software for the Mac. So can't really blame this on the Mac .
Pretty much any other file etc works great on a Mac if you know how to do it. To be honest it does sometimes take a bit longer for new file types like "MKV" to have a Mac solution but this keeps improving. Which means on the Mac just like the PC some software works better then others. "VLC" media player is the King of Video players on the Mac and it's free.  
It also has versions for pretty much any OS (Windows , Mac , UNIX , Linux , BEOS etc. ) It plays nearly any Video file on a Mac and plays well . Including the files complained about in this topic ( MKV & subtitles ) . Good software & taking the time to learn how to best use it will solve most of the complaints just like in Windows .

[SDRacer48]

You think it is a Schwinn, ha...

[starobrno1]

For me it´s the other way around I more or less gave up everything PC related well I still need one for my webcam I´m using to make vid recordings when I play my songs. That´s about it cause I find gaming extremely booring a complete waist of time I only use computers for musicmaking and surfing the net places like this. Well I use it to pay my bills and on rare ocasions the Neo Office wordprocessor and for Neo Office  Exell stuff. Sounds kind of cool someone working with video leaving mac for PC I thought mac ruled in that field cool maby I should take a look on PC apps for video thanks man good info. I have two Q6600 hacks so maby it´s a good idea to run one Win XP and one OSX.

[splits]

That's what I do, I run the OSs side by side on separate machines. That way I can pretty much accomplish anything I want. Variety is the spice of life !

[SDRacer48]

splits, on Sep 13 2008, 03:08 PM, said:

That's what I do, I run the OSs side by side on separate machines. That way I can pretty much accomplish anything I want. Variety is the spice of life !

I would love to have the money to do that...

I envy you!

[Riley Freeman]

Gaming was never an Apple strongpoint. And when I bought my iBook six years ago I also discovered that neither was video. Particularly DVD ripping/editing etc. I have free video tools on Windows that are without equal in OS X, free or commercial. Endafy also hit on one of my major annoyances with Apple software developers. They write the most basic of tools (maybe nothing more than a cocoa gui around some cli linux tools) and then slap on a shareware fee. Some of the things they expect you to pay for is just crazy. Now I know why Serial Box is so popular.

My dual-boot with Leo came about after two recent developments in the OSx86 scene: boot-123 and Creative drivers. I could never (and will never) run a desktop with onboard audio. It's fine for laptops, but not a desktop. So the Creative drivers (not just there yet but moving along fast) were the main factor. Boot-123 promised (and delivered) an easy way of getting Leo installed without downloading gigs of hacked-up install discs.

Another factor is that I'm feeling the writing on the wall for Windows here. I have no interest in moving to Vista, but while XP is still serving me well, I'm getting tired of it. Seven years is a long time. I've tried Ubuntu and PCLOS. Both were good but not enough to woo me to the penguin camp. I've been using Mac OS of one flavour or another for years, so I'm comfortable with Leo. Now that I almost have it running 100% on hardware of my choice, the next step will be to see how easy I can migrate my few remaining Windows-only apps to it (Crossover, Wine or virtualisation) and how long I can run a Leo session without having to boot into Windows to do something.

[Conroe Mac]

I spend more time in Windows and Ubuntu than OS X.  It was more of a fun side project than anything else.