Computer Science Canada another "i'm thinking of buying a comp" topic! |
| Author: | SuperGenius [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | another "i'm thinking of buying a comp" topic! |
Well, I'm thinking of buying a computer for a number of reasons, and I would appreciate some advice. 1. I want a computer that i can have my way with: ex. install linux 2. I could use some more hard drive space I want to do this fairly low budget, but I would hope to be able to play some games, although not top of the line ones such as doom3. I would also love to get a SFF case (small form factor, like a mac mini, which I would like to have, but a pc would be better for me. I digress...) I looked quickly about sff pc's and I didn't see too much about them. I found one site, but I'd like to find some more to compare. any suggestions? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:29 pm ] |
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what advantages would a pc have over a mac in your case? |
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| Author: | wtd [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:50 pm ] |
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A Mac, in fact, would be a great way to go for someone who likes to experiment. Every Mac sold comes with the full OS and software on CD. Many Windows PCs just come with some lame recovery CD, so you're hard pressed to do a Windows install from scratch without resorting to a pirated copy. Plus, it's a Unix system from the start, and you can install a number of different Linux distributions. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Fri Mar 18, 2005 11:29 pm ] |
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mainly i wanted to get something that I could learn/use linux on before. I've never used or even seen it, but I hear nothing but good things. i was wondering about installing linux on a mac mini.... i was thinking about a pc with an ati radeon all in wonder card. I've wanted one of those for a long time... anyone actually have one? One of the things that I wanted to do with this computer is use it as a PVR, sort of, and to my knowledge the mini does not have the applicable ports. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:09 am ] |
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SuperGenius wrote: One of the things that I wanted to do with this computer is use it as a PVR, sort of, and to my knowledge the mini does not have the applicable ports.
It has a Firewire port, and external devices which accomplish this can be purchased. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:45 am ] |
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wtd wrote: SuperGenius wrote: One of the things that I wanted to do with this computer is use it as a PVR, sort of, and to my knowledge the mini does not have the applicable ports.
It has a Firewire port, and external devices which accomplish this can be purchased. great. i'll look that up.... but what of installing linux, or (drool) a dual boot setup? |
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| Author: | Bacchus [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:49 am ] |
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can you do that on any computer as long as you partition your harddrive? accually thats wat i did and ive been meaning to instal linux... which version.. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:51 am ] |
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wtd wrote: A Mac, in fact, would be a great way to go for someone who likes to experiment. Every Mac sold comes with the full OS and software on CD. Many Windows PCs just come with some lame recovery CD, so you're hard pressed to do a Windows install from scratch without resorting to a pirated copy.
Plus, it's a Unix system from the start, and you can install a number of different Linux distributions. That's no longer the case. By law, PC manufacturers have to package an install CD for the OS. Also, I really think that it's a good experience for you to build your own computer. The suprisingly simple task will make you learn a lot about computers. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 2:29 am ] |
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I read about some guy setting up a debian/OSX system... which worked, sort of. But, looking over the specs, to get it somewhere near what I want will be costly. I was hoping to get a HD in the range of 200GB, but it only supports 40/80GB, which means that I have to buy an external drive in addition to the gizmo that wtd told me I needed. I'm also not too excited about 32MB of video memory... can anyone comment on that? I've always wanted to build my own pc, specifically taking a micro-atx board and stuffing it into a NES case, but that's way over my head. |
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| Author: | Blade [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 4:25 am ] |
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haha mini itx - those are crazy. but, if you are planning on experimenting with linux, try to get an nvidia card because ati has virtually no support for ati drivers... i spent like 2 months trying to get my radeon 9800pro to work with slackware 10 - i ended up giving up. didnt want to buy another card cuz i spent about $375 on my radeon. people are also saying that athon 64's are remarkable in linux, might wanna give that a look over. there aren't nearly as expensive as they used to be, and get more bang for the buck compared to p4. ive seen a S754 2800+ for 150. which is about 15$ cheaper than a p4 2.4 prescott, but the 2800+ is supposed to be comparable to the p4 2.8 (hence the serial number for it). |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:25 am ] |
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SuperGenius wrote: i was wondering about installing linux on a mac mini.... i was thinking about a pc with an ati radeon all in wonder card. I've wanted one of those for a long time... anyone actually have one?
ATI cards have poor support for linux. i suggest u stick to nVidia for compatibility sake. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:30 am ] |
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SuperGenius wrote: great. i'll look that up.... but what of installing linux, or (drool) a dual boot setup?
Not many distros currently support the ppc arch completly or at all. There's usually some software or the other missing, or not ported. Why? compared to x86 the ppc is almost never used. Yellow Dog Linux is a linux distro that was designed for a mac. It has full support for the mac hardware etc. You might want to check it out. And yes you can dual boot. Debian is also good, but i dont think debian by it's self is very usable (well it's usable, just that you'll have a bad experience). You might want to take a look at Ubuntu or something, that extends debian a bit here and there. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:34 am ] |
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Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandrake, the aforementioned Yellow Dog. What more do you want? |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:08 pm ] |
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Yes, the real problem with apple isn't its lack of support, it's just the very limited potential for upgrades. |
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| Author: | [Gandalf] [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 3:03 pm ] |
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Quote: Also, I really think that it's a good experience for you to build your own computer. The suprisingly simple task will make you learn a lot about computers.
If you're going to build your own computer, make sure good documentation comes with everything. It's probably going to result in a better computer if you buy all the parts and make it yourself, but you could run into a few problems. I came across two in my recent experience: 1. If there is one small thing wrong with the computer - it could not even boot up once you're done. I had a random CD ROM that caused my comp to not start up for some random reason - so I had to remove it. 2. In my case, I was missing 1 pin on my soundcard (brand new), so I only have speakers plugged in when I should be able to have mic too. <== example that you need good documentation, if some problem arises. |
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| Author: | Blade [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 3:47 pm ] |
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rizzix wrote: ATI cards have poor support for linux. i suggest u stick to nVidia for compatibility sake.
Blade wrote: but, if you are planning on experimenting with linux, try to get an nvidia card because ati has virtually no support for ati drivers in linux
thats what i meant to say... but ya you got it |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 6:23 pm ] |
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Basically what it boils down to is: Build your own computer or buy one from a Wintel PC manufacturer and then add stuff to it and the pressure is entirely on your to make it all work together. If it doesn't then there's a pretty good chance that you're out of luck and no one's gonna help you. Buy a Mac and Apple has taken responsibility for making sure everything in it works together nicely. If it doesn't, then it falls on Apple to fix the problem. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 7:15 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Yes, the real problem with apple isn't its lack of support, it's just the very limited potential for upgrades. ha? define limited potential for upgrades? (aside form the fact u can't change ur cpu or motherboard) |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:04 pm ] |
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Well, not being able to upgrade the CPU is a pretty big kick in the pants. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:14 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Well, not being able to upgrade the CPU is a pretty big kick in the pants.
Not really. How often do you upgrade your CPU without also upgrading the motherboard? And when you do that, you probably figure, "might as well upgrade the RAM, HD, and GPU." 
Yeah, you can upgrade CPUs more easily on the x86 side of things. Problem is, then you typically end up with an unbalanced system (lots of CPU, but performance bottlenecks elsewhere). |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:09 pm ] |
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wtd wrote: martin wrote: Well, not being able to upgrade the CPU is a pretty big kick in the pants.
Not really. How often do you upgrade your CPU without also upgrading the motherboard? And when you do that, you probably figure, "might as well upgrade the RAM, HD, and GPU."
Yeah, you can upgrade CPUs more easily on the x86 side of things. Problem is, then you typically end up with an unbalanced system (lots of CPU, but performance bottlenecks elsewhere). Only if you don't know what you're doing. I personally would never get a mac because I really hate not having complete control over what goes into my computer. Once we get Mac OS for other archetecture (it'll happen), I'll definately check it out. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:22 pm ] |
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Thats rather a foolish statement IMO. You are missing out a lot just because of your belief. You can have a mac and a PC. Thus you enjoy everything. Since most ppl already have PCs (and so most of us assumed here) hence we suggested a mac. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:30 pm ] |
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rizzix wrote: You can have a mac and a PC.
Two words: KVM. Switch. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:26 pm ] |
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Well, the other thing is really that if I got a mac I'd just put linux on it. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:32 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Well, the other thing is really that if I got a mac I'd just put linux on it.
Why? Mac OS X is fantastic, and there's nothing saying you can't dual-boot. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:39 pm ] |
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i was in a store today looking at a cube pc it was so noisy... the guy said because it has a new pentium that runs so hot the fan has to spin constantly at high speed even when the computer is idle 
anyways, i don't really want a cube pc anymore because the one i saw looked pretty big, was expensive, and didn't have a whole lot of features. but... as for building my own computer.... how do i figure out if all the pieces are going to be compatible? also.... reading up on (k)ubuntu, my impression is that they are pretty much the same except one uses KDE and one uses GNOME, but the differences between the two are sort of lost on me. Can anyone get me started on this so I can do some reading about it? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:48 pm ] |
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wtd wrote: martin wrote: Well, the other thing is really that if I got a mac I'd just put linux on it.
Why? Mac OS X is fantastic, and there's nothing saying you can't dual-boot. OS X is fantastic! Having experienced Windows and a number of Linux distributions, I clearly prefer OS X over them all. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:03 am ] |
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[quote="SuperGenius"]but... as for building my own computer.... how do i figure out if all the pieces are going to be compatible? SuperGenius wrote: read.
[quote="SuperGenius"]also.... reading up on (k)ubuntu, my impression is that they are pretty much the same except one uses KDE and one uses GNOME, but the differences between the two are sort of lost on me. Can anyone get me started on this so I can do some reading about it? Point 1: The K is not simply added because of KDE. Kubuntu is a word, just like Ubuntu. Point 2: They are the same. They draw from the same application base, and use the same underlying system. One simply uses Gnome and the other KDE. You can install the Kubuntu desktop on Ubuntu with a simple (but hefty in terms of download) apt-get install. My preference is Gnome by far. The Ubuntu color scheme is far and away more soothing than the harsh blue of Kubuntu. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:07 am ] |
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oh Kubuntu acutually means something? cool so ehm. did they change thier philosophy while developeing kubuntu. heh. i mean considering ubuntu means "humaneness" and stuff. 
yea and ehm... gnome is closer to the mac feel than kde (which is more windows-ish). |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:51 am ] |
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rizzix wrote: oh Kubuntu acutually means something? cool so ehm. did they change thier philosophy while developeing kubuntu. heh. i mean considering ubuntu means "humaneness" and stuff.
yea and ehm... gnome is closer to the mac feel than kde (which is more windows-ish). No... same philosophy. I think kubuntu is just a twist on ubuntu, in terms of it's meaning. Kind of like attaching an article to a word in a European language. |
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| Author: | Naveg [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:39 am ] |
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wtd wrote: rizzix wrote: You can have a mac and a PC.
Two words: KVM. Switch. hmmmm....how can i do that? sounds interesting, i've heard of virtual PC, but this seems more intelligent to do |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:45 am ] |
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I don't know, I've never been really impressed with OS X. It's too flashy in my opinion, and I don't see any benefit to it over a linux install. Then again, I usually don't even start x when I'm using linux, unless I want to talk on msn. |
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| Author: | Bacchus [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:09 am ] |
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hm... never tried a mac or linux... can someone suggest a good Linux OS for a noob? |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:38 am ] |
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Linux from scratch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:46 am ] |
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martin wrote: I don't know, I've never been really impressed with OS X. It's too flashy in my opinion, and I don't see any benefit to it over a linux install. You can't judge an os if you haven't used it. I and a few other here on the other hand tell you how good an OS is based on experience. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:03 pm ] |
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Vladimir wrote: wtd wrote: rizzix wrote: You can have a mac and a PC.
Two words: KVM. Switch. hmmmm....how can i do that? sounds interesting, i've heard of virtual PC, but this seems more intelligent to do You buy a little piece of hardware. Into this you plug your keyboard, mouse and monitor. You then connect both computers to the same device. With the press of a button you can then use the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor for both computers. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:05 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Linux from scratch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
Why not just save time and tell him/her to bang their head on their desk repeatedly. There's no reason not to choose a user-friendly distro the first time around. It's like telling a newbie programmer that the first programming language they should learn is assembly. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:57 pm ] |
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wtd wrote: martin wrote: Linux from scratch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
Why not just save time and tell him/her to bang their head on their desk repeatedly. There's no reason not to choose a user-friendly distro the first time around. It's like telling a newbie programmer that the first programming language they should learn is assembly. Haha, I woulda said brainf*ck 
And Rizzix, what do you get out of OS X that you don't get out of linux? |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 7:52 pm ] |
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well. why don't we just start a topic called "mild chatter about non Windows OSes" but, seeing how THIS topic is about buying computers, which websites (or stores in the waterloo area) do you guys reccomend? |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 8:39 pm ] |
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www.tigerdirect.ca |
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| Author: | Tony [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:24 pm ] |
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martin wrote: what do you get out of OS X that you don't get out of linux?
eh... Capability? here's my case study comparing how OS' handle new hardware (my HP printer) After connecting my fairly modern printer to the USB port, here's how various OS' handled the situation: Windows XP - promps for a driver CD - bitches about faulty connection. Play with wires - reboot computer Linux (RHEL4) - promps to select closest driver from an available list OS X - just works |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:27 pm ] |
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That's hardly worth the switch... |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:36 pm ] |
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i can;t say its just the ease of use.. its the whole new experience thats soo much different.. which is worth the switch... whats so great about linux anyway? that it is open? yea well osx is completly open its only the gui that is proprietary and some very sleek hi-tech technologies. You can run KDE, GNOME, anything u name it, on osx. and it all runs natively. you loose nothing. but u gain something. if u wish u can run it completly console based. which would be stupid and redundant. cuz ur missing out on the whole osx experience. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:04 pm ] |
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i looked at tigerdirect.ca and they seem to be among the best deals so far. But i've never dealt with them... would anyone care to comment on their experiences with tigerdirect? also i see ads in the paper for MDG, and they look pretty good on paper, but i get the idea that company is kind of shady. Anyone care to comment on those guys as well? |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:06 pm ] |
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The point isn't what's so great about linux. I'm more than happy using linux, and I see no need to search for another operating system. Portage is absolutely incredible for package management (does OSX have anything that compares to that?) and I really love programming in a linux environment. What am I missing out on? Why should I change? |
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| Author: | Bacchus [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:08 pm ] |
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hey i have a MDG and my uncle has two, they're pretty good (but i kno like nothing about the insides of a comp lol) |
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| Author: | wtd [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:11 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Portage is absolutely incredible for package management (does OSX have anything that compares to that?) and I really love programming in a linux environment.
Mac OS X has a number of package management tools ported to it, prominently including apt. And it has pretty much everything Linux as, programming-wise, plus more. Apple's dev tools are simply beautiful. |
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| Author: | Mazer [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:13 pm ] |
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SuperGenius wrote: i looked at tigerdirect.ca and they seem to be among the best deals so far.
But i've never dealt with them... would anyone care to comment on their experiences with tigerdirect? They've got great prices for great products. And their customer service is excellent. Yeah, you can trust them. Super Genius wrote: also i see ads in the paper for MDG, and they look pretty good on paper, but i get the idea that company is kind of shady. Anyone care to comment on those guys as well?
Oh look, it's the plague. Honestly, my dad kept trying to push me to get one of their computers. Why? Well, just check out the great deals! - comes with Windows XP for free! (oh, good, because I was planning on using it) - comes with a free digital camera! (my favourite part is when I email them on multiple occassions for details and they never responded) - comes with a free printer! (which rocks, because I like buying 50 different kinds of ink cartridges, and my garage and basement are looking kind of empty printer-wise) There were other issues that kept me from getting interested in what MDG had to offer, but I can't remember offhand. Really, I think it was just the "free" stuff that my dad liked. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:23 pm ] |
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how does a mac mini do for games? |
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| Author: | Martin [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:26 pm ] |
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By default, I'd say not too well. I don't know how a powerpc compares to a P4 or an AMD64, but it comes with a really dated video card (9200 with 32mb of vram) and, by default, only has 256mb of ram. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:32 pm ] |
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yea the mac-mini pfft good enough. although i suggest u at the least upgrade the ram. yea get a 1 gig. that will help you a lot. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:12 am ] |
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martin wrote: By default, I'd say not too well.
And yet, it's gonna wipe the floor with any budget PC that comes with shared video memory. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:03 am ] |
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Yes, but I think you could make a better gaming PC for the same price of the mac mini. See, my problem with the mac mini is the price: 256mb of ddr ram: $34 32mb video card: $40 40GB HD: $70 Case & PSU: No idea. I'd say around $50. So we've now spent $194. Where is the other $450 going? For that price, you could also throw in an AMD64 3200+ and mother board, or a P4 3.2GHz and a motherboard. Dispite my lack of knowledge about the powerpc, I'd say that there's little chance it does a great job standing up to that. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:12 am ] |
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dunno about the amd. but the g5 out beats the 3.4 already in various fields including vector arithmetic (i'm talking scientific applications and games here.. not to mention video and image editing). and the g5 is a powerpc. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:57 am ] |
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Of course it can, but I'm talking about the 1.2GHz one that comes with the Mac Mini. |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:13 am ] |
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Mac Mini comes with a G4 processor. And while on topic of gaming -- OSX had a clear advantage over Linux since while not many, some companies do develop big title games to run under OSX nativly. Take World of Warcraft for example. My Mac Mini by the way easily passes WoW system requirements. I'll tell you how well it actually runs in a week. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:14 am ] |
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Probably not too well. Radeon 9200 doesn't even have DirectX 9 support... |
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| Author: | Mazer [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:05 am ] |
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wtd wrote: rizzix wrote: You can have a mac and a PC.
Two words: KVM. Switch. Pretty old post, but given something I just found out about today I couldn't resist. First: I'm sure that would have to count as four words, wtd. 
Second: Synergy. Although it would require a second display for the other computer... still, could be pretty neat. Especially with some laptop(s) on a wireless network. I'd like to try it out someday. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:12 pm ] |
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martin wrote: Probably not too well. Radeon 9200 doesn't even have DirectX 9 support... huh? directX is proprietary. since ur such a linux fan i would have thought u'd stick to the open standards: opengl.
btw. tony: aspyr does a lot of the "porting" to mac osx. now its a good idea to benchmark wc3 (i think) but dont do it for the ported games. why? these games are optimized for the intel or (x86 in general) platform(s). the porting basically include getting the game to run on a ppc. Thus the actual performance is not the same. But its good enough, or so i've heard. also another thing about wc3, it has to be patched quite a bit to get it working under osx. all those patches, makes me wonder whether its tweaked for X |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:43 pm ] |
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rizzix: I was talking about World of Warcraft, not WC3
Ether way -- both games are mac compatable (As are the rest of Blizzard games) as of their GA releases and are made so by the developer. Now I don't know how exactly Blizzard gets their games to run under OSX.. but the point was that they don't do so for Linux  |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:47 pm ] |
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rizzix wrote: martin wrote: Probably not too well. Radeon 9200 doesn't even have DirectX 9 support... huh? directX is proprietary. since ur such a linux fan i would have thought u'd stick to the open standards: opengl.
btw. tony: aspyr does a lot of the "porting" to mac osx. now its a good idea to benchmark wc3 (i think) but dont do it for the ported games. why? these games are optimized for the intel or (x86 in general) platform(s). the porting basically include getting the game to run on a ppc. Thus the actual performance is not the same. But its good enough, or so i've heard. also another thing about wc3, it has to be patched quite a bit to get it working under osx. all those patches, makes me wonder whether its tweaked for X The question was about gaming, and DirectX is very important to the gaming world. And I don't use Linux because I'm pro open standards, I use Linux because I believe that it is the best operating system that is available. |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:57 pm ] |
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martin wrote: I use Linux because I believe that it is the best operating system that is available.
out of the two you have tried? You haven't used OSX, you haven't used Solaris. I don't think you've used freeBSD, nor a number of other OS' out there. My point being, is that Martin -- you can't say much about OSX until your opinion is based on something more than an iPod commercial you saw. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:58 pm ] |
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martin: It's actually the worst for desktop use. |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:06 pm ] |
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since everyone can't seem to stop talking about OSes, lets at least make it relevant to the topic! Is there any rules that one should follow designung/building/buying a computer intended to have linux on it? EDIT: F*ck you, I'm a mod, I can talk about whatever I want. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:11 pm ] |
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Graphics card should be: nVidia (have opensource support) Printer should be: HP (have opensource support) Audio card should be: creative (have opensource support) Dont get a very fancy keyboard or mouse (cuz the added features seem quite redundant in linux anyways, unless of course ur using GNOME) Try and stick to the popular things, but not necessarily the latest. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:08 pm ] |
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tony wrote: martin wrote: I use Linux because I believe that it is the best operating system that is available.
out of the two you have tried? You haven't used OSX, you haven't used Solaris. I don't think you've used freeBSD, nor a number of other OS' out there. My point being, is that Martin -- you can't say much about OSX until your opinion is based on something more than an iPod commercial you saw. I've used freeBSD, UNIX, and I've also used OSX in various places. I keep asking what the benefit of it is, but nobody's telling me. And I really don't see how linux is the worst for desktop use. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:53 pm ] |
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cuz its as good as saying whts the point of the fancy gui os when your not interested in the gui side of it. besides, osx is the best platform for development. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:18 pm ] |
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rizzix wrote: besides, osx is the best platform for development.
And programmers take advantage of that fact to deliver fantastic apps very quickly. There's your reason, Martin. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 9:46 pm ] |
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What's so great about developing on a mac? I mean, more specifics. |
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| Author: | wtd [ Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:05 pm ] |
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martin wrote: What's so great about developing on a mac? I mean, more specifics.
The amount of functionality programmers get "for free" with Cocoa and Carbon. Consider that a fully functional word processor can be written in ~12 lines of code. System-wide services are a great example. Inside the application menu is a Services sub-menu. That lists system-wide functionality. Want to look up the meaning of a word? Highlight it and go to the services menu and use a dictionary service. There's no need to specifically build that functionality into the application. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:42 pm ] |
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That is pretty nifty, I'll have to check that out. |
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| Author: | Mazer [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:40 am ] |
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Because you want to get a new computer and you guys might enjoy the laugh: clicky. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:42 am ] |
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The 30 terabytes of hard drive space nicely fits with the 10GHz processor... And weighing in at 0.14 lbs is pretty nice too...That's lighter than an iPod I think :p |
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| Author: | wtd [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:02 pm ] |
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I like that the OS is DOS. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:37 pm ] |
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Especially considering that DOS can only recognize 8 GB of disk space. That's 0.02666...% of the total disk space available. Oh noes!!1! |
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| Author: | [Gandalf] [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:20 pm ] |
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Very nice... too bad it's not available, I'd give all my money for that (too bad I'm pretty poor). This would make do for a very good super light portable workstation. Nice 30TB HD would cost a fotune alone, although looking at that data it might say "get it for $10" . Too bad it only has 2000mb of RAM, It would be more convenient for 2000gb RAM.  |
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| Author: | Andy [ Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:21 pm ] |
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haha.. psh.. just upgrade it to 5 gigs.. hmm i wonder when thats gona be avaialible.. i think they're gona be out for a while... i wouldnt be suprised if ppl ordered 100s of these and returned it in a day |
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| Author: | Mazer [ Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:14 am ] |
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It seems they've fixed the mistakes. But reading the reviews, I guess maybe everyone takes amazon.com as a joke anyways? |
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| Author: | SuperGenius [ Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:19 pm ] |
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focus guys, focus. What about buying a used computer and formatting it? Has anyone around here ever done such a thing or know a place which deals in used computers? |
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| Author: | Mazer [ Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:23 pm ] |
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Ah... I really wouldn't do that unless you were getting the parts for a great deal. If something goes wrong with one of the parts, you likely won't have the warranty covering it so you'll need to be able to afford a replacement. Or, if you're buying from a friend who doesn't need it anymore, that's good too (assuming you can trust him/her). |
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