8 replies to this topic

[DarkCarnival]

My 18th birthday will be sometime in February, which coincidentially seems to be the releasemonth for the Macbook Pro laptops ...

It's a lot of money. So I thought I'd poke around for the comments of mac users since it's really strange territory for me (first mac). FYI: I'm probably ending up getting the larger of the two configurations (This *will* suffice for gaming.. right ?)

1st real question)
Rosetta seems to run PowerPC apps.. Does this hold true for the games as well ? From the Linux world I've learned a bitter lesson, and that is that games usually are the most picky apps Good to know before I go pick up a few things to amuse myself with.

2nd)
The MacIntel platform is undoubtedly quite new and therefore I expect some apps to not be there right away. Can I pick up sourcecode (assuming it's available) and compile it without too much hassle ?
In other words, are there decent support for Opensource apps and the good ol' ./configure;make;make install
((The reason I ask is that although it's unix, it's quite modifed and some linux distros like Fedora are pretty much unuseable for compiling when compared to things like Slackware))

3rd) (mostly addressing people who have previously had some sort of a mac laptop)
The build is fairly ok, right ? My old DeLL laptop had squaky keys and that's a real turn-off when you're spending 90% of the time coding/writing school assignments and so

Last question: 1gig of ram will be enough for a quite ok system ready for coding/compiling duties along with some gaming... right ? I mean, I don't know how memory-hungry OS X is compared to Linux (which has GREAT memory management)

To anyone who answers any or all of my questions, thanks for taking the time !

[niteice]

1) Depends on the specific game, but in general, they won't run very well.

2) One of Apple's biggest goals for the transition was ease of porting. And yes, the typical ./configure && make && make install has always worked.

3) Never owned an Apple laptop, but I would guess it's good-quality hardware.

4) Yes.

[billman424]

DarkCarnival, on Jan 27 2006, 11:25 PM, said:

My 18th birthday will be sometime in February, which coincidentially seems to be the releasemonth for the Macbook Pro laptops ...

It's a lot of money. So I thought I'd poke around for the comments of mac users since it's really strange territory for me (first mac). FYI: I'm probably ending up getting the larger of the two configurations (This *will* suffice for gaming.. right ?)

1st real question)
Rosetta seems to run PowerPC apps.. Does this hold true for the games as well ? From the Linux world I've learned a bitter lesson, and that is that games usually are the most picky apps Good to know before I go pick up a few things to amuse myself with.

if you want a computer for gaming i think your buying the wrong brand. unless you love joust  

[DarkCarnival]

Well the intention was to play some games on it. Though I rarely have the time for any serious gaming anymore. What I want is something that just works ™ since school is taking up so much time, that I'd rather NOT be spending my spare time fixing yet another goddamn Windows computer, or doing battle with Wine and Cedega, trying to get games to run.

I know that the ultimate solution for gaming is a PC running windows. That's why I'll keep my current one
(AMD64 3500+, 1GB OCZ PC3200 ram, ~250gb /some linux, some windows, Geforce 6800GT) which should do for that.

The laptop is meant for SOME gaming which the machines specs would indicate is possible, but mainly also to have a stable system where it's actually possible to store files on (that's impossible with windows since it tends to throw up every 2 months)


Anyway.. Are you saying that it would be absolutely stupid to buy it for casual gaming, storing videos/music and doing some programming ? I'd disagree if it wasn't for the fact that I'm looking at the specs from a windows/Linux users point of view, I have NO idea of how crappy/good OSX is at handling resources

[TheoCryst]

No, there's nothing wrong with buying it for casual gaming/programming/storage. In fact, that's probably the best reason TO buy a Mac. I'm a young programmer and a Windows switcher, and I have yet to regret leaving Windows behind me. Well, I lied. I'm still pissed that I have to buy new versions of all my favorite apps and games, but that's life for ya.

As for the build quality... I have an iBook, and the quality is outstanding. The only issue I have is that the lid doesn't line up exactly with the base when its closed... and that's hardly Apple's fault (I kinda dropped it about five feet onto a hard floor right before I noticed the slight defect...   ). The best part is that the Powerbook/MacBook Pro is put together even better. The keys are absolutely silent, and it just feels solid overall. It'll be a HUGE step up from a Dell, build-wise.

The best part? It won't be long at all before you are able to install Linux and (eventually) Windows natively on the MBP. You've got nothing to lose (except a ton of cash)!

[aldimeneira]

I suggest that you wait for other Macs with Intel to be released before making a $2000+ purchase.

[A Nonny Moose]

If you want something that works for gaming in a laptop, then you need a PPC laptop, not an Intel.  Most games are written for PPC code, and while Rosetta will read it, games do tend to take every single ounce of power from top of the line systems (regardless of processor architecture)

[R. Bear Helms]

World of Warcraft currently will install an x86 Binary from its current Universal Binary release. Since I do not have sound, I've not been working at trying WoW since I know I'll have at least one problem with it until I address the sound issue.

PPC games will be picky, yes. I don't know if some classics like Diablo II would run very well on a non Apple OSx86, or for that matter all that great on the real thing.

The gotcha Apple is sweeping under the rug for their Core Duo customers is that unless an application is available as a Universal Binary, there are some legacy apps that won't run. What and how many you probably can learn by checking with Versiontracker.com - they tend to collect the most up-to-date compatibility and bug information for all mac programs, and often can find patches and updates.

I also feel Apple is hiding the ramifications of the TPM module to its customers. It gives them control (some of which they are exercizing now) over what applications can and can't run, including 10.4.5 release for Intel. There is NOTHING that can stop Apple from using that chip to lock up your applications, files, data, whole computer - if they build checks into their programs.

These checks exist in OS X today. I pity the first Apple customer whose TPM or hard drive information goes just slightly wrong and then the OS just says to them, "Do not steal Mac OS X."

Their software has code in it that punishes its user. I do not see a presumption of innocence in their OS design, so I am very disturbed at Apple becoming the first OS Nazi - even an unregistered Windows XP runs for 30 days or so before shutting down. That usually gives a person at least a chance to remove their data before it's locked up.

Your best gaming performance will be XP, honestly. You'll be able to choose from a wider variety of graphics cards and even find some 3rd party accelerators for them.

[editopen]

R. Bear Helms - you are right... isn't a real shame.... because OSX is so good, when I look at XP i sometimes can't believe the difference... But all this 'Trust Computing...' bullshit is horrible - it will mean the end for Apple's greatness.

Also, Job's Keynote address at MW2006 was pretty awful - it was all geared towards people being able to drag and drop, and how colourful the side bar of your .Mac page & iPhoto is - it was a total sell out to the iPod crowd. I wanted more talk about how great and stable and powerfull the OS is - 'cause it f***ing Kills windows everytime.

Sorry, I know this is a little   but i just liked what you said....

So, OnTopic now - DO NOT BUY A WINDOWS COMPUTER - just don't support Microsoft when there is an alternative that is more than comparable - it is completly and utterly better....

....Maybe not for gaming, but to not support microsoft should be way way more important than a few games (I am not a gamer so I may not understand, but you know what i'm getting at)

Maybe we should all refresh our memories at the GNU Project to remember why we exist.... xx