Talk

[PrimaGaga 1025]

First day at my new job. Blaaaaaaaaaaaah. But no, it's not as bad as I anticipated. So far.

[Young Link Addict 67]

So a few days ago I went to a local gaming thing. I played an Atari for the first time. You'll never believe what my first game was. It was nothing big, just a little game called E.T.

 

I even have a pic of me playing it which I'll upload when I'm not too busy.

 

I also played a four player Atari game called Warlords. It's like Break Out. You have 4 people on each corner and the goal is to hit something behind them to make them die. It was a blast.

[Jareddude 62]

Wow, less than two weeks left. I'm freeeeaking out!

[PrimaGaga 1025]

are you gonna announce my birthday?

[Teto 2609]

He's ordered a Russian bride I think.

[pheonix561 2080]

So I've saved up some money and I'm starting to look at building a computer, but I have no godly idea what to do for that. I know macs are widely used in art practices but I also hate being so limited on my mac (I wanna play games), so I think maybe, I dunno, getting a PC that runs bootcamp or something? Just having both OS's on whatever computer i build? I'm currently looking for resources for teaching people who are hardware illiterate like myself to build a computer, or at least how to buy smart, but if any of you know anything about what you're doing and have any advice to give, I'm willing to hear it. Yes I am googling this, muffin.

Here's the best I've got so far: http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide

[Sahaqiel 1232]

I could hook you up with my friend Steve. He helped me build a good computer that emphasizes cost effectiveness for performance. What kind of build you get of course, relies mostly on your budget. For now get something universal and simple, like a static wrist strap; they're p. cheap. You'll want that just in case.

[pheonix561 2080]

I'd love talking with steve about it. Right now I'm browsing through a few guides on how to build a "Hackintosh," though apparently that relies on pirating mac OSX's because Apple doesn't give theirs out. Which is I guess fine? I'm mainly concerned about what that would mean if I were producing and selling things with pirated software. If that doesn't work then I'm going to look into just building a PC.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

Macs are widely used in art practices because art guys are art guys.

I bought a Mac Pro, the tower, not the laptop or the all-in-one monitor. It was fine, except it was like $2400 or so. I actually returned it a few days later and even paid a $400 restocking fee. Then I ordered a PC to be made for $900. And it's God. And still is God. Four times better than the "best" Apple product available.

[Teto 2609]

I was playing 2048 here in Poland, and this 7 year old Polish boy I'm staying with (who lived 6 years in Scotland before moving here proper) leaned over and watched me, and he read out. "five hundred and twelve... one hundred and twenty eight." in full English, which was impressive enough considering his age and that English is his second language. And then he said again, in English "if you put those two together it will be... six hundred and... forty."

 

So that was impressive, considering some people in their 20s can't do that kind of addition in their head, nevermind in a second language.

 

Clever kid.

[pheonix561 2080]

Yeah, the more I read about macs and PC's and things like the adobe suite, it's starting to look like a PC is going to be fine. I just want to make sure I'm not going to lose much of anything I could have had on a mac. I mean, there's got to be a reason every art computer lab I've ever seen is always stocked with macs, right? That's whats been giving me hesitation, and every source I read on the issue gives a different reason for why macs do it instead.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

That's because apple goes to the school or university and says "hey let me take you out to lunch". Also, a school isn't going to personally build its thousands of computers.

Also there was a time, before all of use were alive, when certain art-related programs were only available on a Mac. It's the start of the dumb myth that Macs are better for art purposes.

[Chase 390]

Based on my experience, having grown up using Windows for the majority of my life (95, XP, Vista, 7, and now 8) and using Macs from age 18 on (Macbook pro 13 inch 2011, Macbook Pro 15 inch 2012, Macbook Pro Retina 2013), I can honestly say that I prefer the Apple side of things.

 

I will agree that, with Windows, you are a lot less limited. Though, if limitations are your primary concern, you might as well go Linux. However, with a more closed ecosystem, Apple products work well. Much more reliable, from my experience, than Windows machines. That's not to say Windows machines aren't reliable. They are, and they're getting better each year. But Macs seem to function better overall.

 

Keep in my I'm mostly talking about laptops and tablets. 

 

For a desktop, I wouldn't purchase one at all if I wasn't planning on gaming on it. What's the point, otherwise? Get a laptop. But if you want to game, and game well, you need a decent desktop, or an expensive laptop. 

 

I bought an Alienware X51 that was half-off on Amazon a year or so back. I was very, very happy with how the machine functioned, especially with my past experiences with Dell (not good). It played games at 1080p 60 fps with relative ease, and I bought it for only 600 dollars (regularly $1200). It was small and quiet enough to fit in my living room, and I hooked it up to my HDTV. It was a more powerful system than either my Xbox One or my PS4. 

 

I sold it awhile back. A few issues I think I should bring up that most PC gamers either ignore, or talk down in order to make PC gaming appear better than it is. There are compatibility issues. My Nvidia graphics card performed extremely well 95% of the time. Certain games, such as Sonic Generations, did not play well with my card. For whatever reason. By all accounts, the system should have run the game flawlessly, but it didn't. This is just one example, but I ran into other issues as well. Had a couple blue screens of death, which were scary. Never got those on Macs. I'm not trying to scare you away from them or anything. Just letting you know that PC gaming isn't exactly as plug and play as consoles are. If you're used to just popping a game in and playing, don't expect that on your PC. Though your PC can also deliver you a 1080+p, 60+ fps, screen-tear free experience if you build it well enough, so there are perks. It will definitely cost you more than $399 or $499 to get the same experience as the PS4 or Xbox One, but I'd say spending ~$1000 building your PC will net you a fairly future-proof system that performs well above either next-gen console.

 

If I ever buy a PC again, which I probably will, I'm going to build my own. I think I can build a PC for ~$1000 that performs better than my alienware did. Definitely won't skimp on the graphics card. I just wonder if I can do it all while still having a small, quiet machine. Most people that build their own have huge towers, and I need something to fit under my TV, so I'll have to work on that.

 

Anyway, sorry for the long post, just wanted to share my experience with PC gaming and Macs. 

[Sahaqiel 1232]

You shouldn't keep your tower confined under/inside of anything or close to a carpet. It needs room to breathe. good luck tho chase-kun

[pheonix561 2080]

Good to hear. Thanks a lot for all the advice guys. From what I know about the industry I think it will be a good idea to keep a hold of a mac laptop like the one I've got, and a PC tower like the one I'm building. Macs for laptops and PCs for towers seems to be the best approach right now. I really gotta say, for all the griping I do, this mac is still a well put together machine. It's easy to use and it's trackpad is so great I can't even remember the last time I used my mouse. And all the PC laptops I've ever handled have always felt clunky and awkward. I'm sure when it comes time for me to get another laptop, I'll look at macbooks.

But anyways, I'm currently talking to steve (thanks allen!) who is helping me find parts for this machine. He's helped me find a good processor (Intel 4790k), a good graphics card (EVGA GTX760) and a good 23.6 inch monitor. Sadly I've already hit $700 with all this, which is making me a bit nervous, but apparently those are also all the most important and expensive parts and the rest should be cheaper. I don't mind passing $1,000 if I have to, it's just the price range I'm looking at. But yeah I thought I'd just mention that here. What do you guys think?