new desktop mac projections... and advice....

[whyrichard]

I need unbiased advice, (i know it exists here)


I bought a fantastic computer last summer, WITH A NOT SO FANTASTIC OPERATING SYSTEM! now I am in a position where i want to sell the pc and buy a mac, though the price i would get for it does not make up for the performance i would lose rendering.

it's an athlon x2 4800 with a quadrofx 1400 card... 10000rpm raid 0 hd's, it's quite fast for work. architecture and media... the dual screens are wonderful...


... i bought it for 3500 a year ago, seems i can ony get around 1800 or so for it now. pcs go down in value fast! if i sold it i would add a few hundred to it and buy a new mac... that doubles as a pc rendering machine... selling it would mean a big loss in a few ways...

questions:

-is there any way to (very quietly) run osx on a pc? i know of osx86 project, trying to run osx nativly, but the athlon workarounds are so labor intensive... is there a virtualization software i could use? through linux?

-how do you think, when the new desktop macs come out (later this summer...) the performance of a $2300 one would compare to this machine? i know it's impossible to tell, but just a guess... i do a comparison in price to the current powermacs and i would have to spend nearly 3500$ to have performance that is just sorta the same as my current desktop rendering machine...

thanks!


r.

 

[dynetk]

At this time there is no legal way to run OSX on anything but hardware sold by Apple.

Based on some of the Conroe benchmarks that have been floating around the Conroe (desktop chip) is about 5-20% (depending on your app) faster than a comparable Athlon X2/FX. It would be safe to presume that you will get at least a similar increase in performance if you buy a single chip powermac. I won't guess as to what the price will be though since it is still unknown what chip Apple will decide to use.

 

[yellow]

Seconded.. it's a violation of the EULA to run OS X on non-apple-branded hardware.

As for the price.. I'm sort of doubting that you can get a comparable Mac for $2300. That won't even get you a top-of-the-line G5 ("old", depricated tech!), and then add to that the 10kRPM disks (expensive!!), etc, there's just no way. Apples are still really pricey.

 

[balamw]

add to that the 10kRPM disks (expensive!!)

So why not just move them to the new Mac? (If necessary buy a new RAID controller).

B

 

[yellow]

So why not just move them to the new Mac? (If necessary buy a new RAID controller).

Doy. True enough. Don't know what the lack of selling those with the original PC will do to the bottom-line.. but great point.

 

[whyrichard]

Alright... thanks for the responses...


... someone may be buying this very fast desktop pc for 2100 bucks. a very good price, if i say so myself, for him! x2 4800 athlon, two gigs ram, twin 10,000 rpm raptors, quadoforce 1400...



--i know it's almost impossible to say, but do you all think that the speed difference between this desktop machine running xp, and a new desktop mac when it comes out for about $2500...?


i do miss my mac, i feel guilty with this machine as my primary machine....


r.

 

[Nar1117]

i do miss my mac, i feel guilty with this machine as my primary machine....


r.

You should feel guilty you ungrateful son of a bitch.

Just kiddin'

I think the macs are a great value, when you take into account all the money you would spend trying to get a PC to do the same stuff. This is what most potential Mac buyers dont see. They see a $2500 price tag and say 'forget it'.

Unfortunately for them, they are too stubborn to have someone who knows better tell them that that price tag is absolutely justified.

 

[whyrichard]

I just wanna feel like the new macs at around $2500 bucks won't be so much slower then my year old $3500 rig.


i do rendering through maya and rhino that can last all night at times, and as i understand it maya runs best with a quadroforce card, not a geoforce card, and so the lack of a quadroforce videocard in future macs is a concern of mine...


think the old pc and the new mac desktop would be on par?


r.

 

[SC68Cal]

i do rendering through maya and rhino that can last all night at times, and as i understand it maya runs best with a quadroforce card, not a geoforce card, and so the lack of a quadroforce videocard in future macs is a concern of mine...

http://www.barefeats.com/quad04.html