I have joined the dark side

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by Alex

But in looking at it in person at the Apple store I don't care for it visually in person. Something about it just looks toylike to me.

Curious about what led you to think that, as it was quite the opposite for me. The real aluminum fascia, aluminum stand and glass screen with piano black bezel made it look more solid and industrial than any other consumer PC product. The cheap-o plastic cases that IBM-clone makers are still using really eventually drove me away.

It was the visual quality of the iMac, especially the new Al one that really sold me. That and the aluminum keyboard is pretty trick too. A couple PC makers (Sony & Gateway) have tried to develop a similar solution, but they don't match the performance of the iMac and still lack the elegance of the Apple design.

And I am certainly no fanboy of apple. I am one of the few that god forbid thinks the iPod has flaws.

Cherny - Yeah. Apple for some reason, even with an Intel-based chip, can't seem to manage decent game performance. I don't get it. But, I haven't played a computer game since college so it didn't weigh heavily into my decision.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

Cherny - Yeah. Apple for some reason, even with an Intel-based chip, can't seem to manage decent game performance. I don't get it. But, I haven't played a computer game since college so it didn't weigh heavily into my decision.

Chicken and egg scenario. Because it's historically not a game system, no one is spending much time, money, effort to develop for it, even if the system architecture might be catching up/have caught up to PC.

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Chicken and egg scenario. Because it's historically not a game system, no one is spending much time, money, effort to develop for it, even if the system architecture might be catching up/have caught up to PC.

Well that's the odd thing. Now that you can run Windows on a Mac, you can run PC games. But they don't perform well. And the system architecture is actually stronger for less money than comparable all-in-one pc systems nowadays.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

Well that's the odd thing. Now that you can run Windows on a Mac, you can run PC games. But they don't perform well.

That much isn't surprising at all. It may be more similar to PC architecture, but it's still got plenty of proprietary stuff that is not optimized to run PC-programmed software (or, from a different view, PC-programmed software is designed to take advantage of different efficiencies than are available in Mac hardware).

[ozron]

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that this discussion left me in the dust long ago. (He said, confidently typing away at his ten-year-old, Windows 98-equipped Gateway PC) My experience in this debate is purely anecdotal.

The decay of my marriage can be traced to the day my wife bought her first Mac. Suddenly, I found myself in a mixed marriage, like a Mormon married to a druid. Her new circle of friends was strange to me - insular, elitist, superior and not a little stand-offish. Their commitment to this equipment bordered on fanaticism. I was baffled. It was just a computer!

Suddenly she and I spoke different languages. She had extensions. She was unimpressed by my ability to right-click. We rarely interfaced. The whole experience left me with an undeniable axiom.

A PC is a tool. A Mac is a lifestyle choice.

Damn cult.

(I now remove my tongue from my cheek before I hurt myself )

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Chicken and egg scenario. Because it's historically not a game system, no one is spending much time, money, effort to develop for it

I disagree with the poultry assessment. Back in the old days, Apple was deliberately game un-friendly. They were directly responsible for the lack of Apple games and it's only snowballed since then.

I too am a gamer and have no use for a Mac. In addition, I absolutely despise the way Macs handle mice/cursor acceleration. Yes, I know it can be adjusted, but no amount of tinkering has ever helped.

But what I really hate about Macs are Macolytes. The religious-like fervor too many Mac users display makes me want to gag!

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

...makes me want to gag!

And you want to gag on Wally.



ETA: Interesting thought: what if Wally was a Macolyte?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

I disagree with the poultry assessment. Back in the old days, Apple was deliberately game un-friendly. They were directly responsible for the lack of Apple games and it's only snowballed since then.

Hmm, that's an interesting perspective to put it in. I'm not sure I agree that choosing to gear all graphic hardware and software optimization towards the design end of things necessarily constitutes a deliberately hostile move towards gamers. Certainly deliberately not catering to them, but it was no more "deliberately game unfriendly" than PCs are "deliberately graphic artist unfriendly". Simply a business decision to target different markets.

Maybe "chicken and egg" isn't a perfect analogy, but I can't think of one any closer. I conceded that it's precipitated by Apple's non-game focus in the architecture, but, as NM points out, with the introduction of the Intel chipsets, that becomes a far less concrete barrier. So at this point, it's a matter of software developers saying, "There's no market on Mac for games, so we're not going to rewrite everything to optimize for the new Mac architecture...besides, it may be closer to a PC, but it's still not a PC." While Apple says, "No one's writing game software for Mac because no one wants it, so we're not going to bother taking advantage of the gaming optimization available with the Intel chipset because it's not worth our time."

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

And you want to gag on Wally.

Well duh!

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

ETA: Interesting thought: what if Wally was a Macolyte?

If Wally was a Macolyte I would just have to deal with it. Much the same way I deal with Metallica being His favorite band.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Maybe "chicken and egg" isn't a perfect analogy, but I can't think of one any closer.

I would agree that now C vs. E is a reasonable metaphor because of the market saturation for PCs and game(r)s. I really just meant to call to light the fact that this situation was a result of decisions Apple made in the past, not random chance.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

Curious about what led you to think that, as it was quite the opposite for me.

I don't know, it is just a general response. But I generally don't respond well to the Apple design aesthetic anyway. We were in an Apple store the other day and saw that new small wireless keyboard and simultaneously Lani said "wow, doesn't that look great" and I said "wow, that is ugly."

Mac design, in my view, just looks like it is trying to hard to be hip.