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If you could have any computer in the world would you get the fastest PC or the highest end Mac Pro?

  • Fastest PC

  • Best Mac Pro

  • Apple // with a MOS Technology 6502 (this is a joke)


Results are only viewable after voting.

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,336
4,726
Georgia
Well, the fastest PC would stomp the Mac Pro. It would also be more useful for me. As most of what I do now is in Windows. I still use a Mac laptop. For those times I need a laptop. The Macbook does what I need. But a Mac doesn't cover my desktop needs.
 

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
Well, the fastest PC would stomp the Mac Pro. It would also be more useful for me. As most of what I do now is in Windows. I still use a Mac laptop. For those times I need a laptop. The Macbook does what I need. But a Mac doesn't cover my desktop needs.
The PC would be faster, but I love Apple so much that I'd go with Mac Pro even if PC is way faster.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,638
28,412
The PC would be faster, but I love Apple so much that I'd go with Mac Pro even if PC is way faster.
I do not love Apple that much. My time with Apple started in 2001, but based on their current trend towards locking things down and making things difficult to repair I don't see myself with Apple in the future.

I voted PC because that's going to have the longest support. And getting Linux on a PC is easier than trying to get it on Mac.

Love for a brand is cold comfort when the brand cuts you off and all your workarounds begin to fail.
 

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
So far 9 voters, and its been 66.7% for Mac the whole time.

UPDATE: 15 votes, Mac Pro still wins! I wonder what would happen if I post the same poll on a PC forum.

Update 2: 22 votes, Mac pro still wins with about 60%!
 
Last edited:

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
@eyoungren I agree that PC might have longer support and faster, but just like my earlier post said, I'll always be a Mac guy.
 

rm5

macrumors 68040
Mar 4, 2022
3,016
3,473
United States
I have only been a Mac user, and I will NEVER fully switch to a PC, but I just had to vote for the PC... it's so much faster than the fastest Mac.
 

MacCheetah3

macrumors 68020
Nov 14, 2003
2,286
1,227
Central MN
There has only been a brief stretch, half decade or so, when I didn’t own at least one PC in addition to a Mac. Several times I strongly considered the switch, including a Hackintosh. However, there’s always the eventual (nearly routine) reminder while using Windows, when the experience is a frustrating mess. It’s at that moment I think “This is why I can never use a Windows PC as my main computer” — that is, majority of personal data and routine tasks.

In other words, I do like the customization/variety and cost value in “PC” components (for those of us willing to assemble their own system). But the software is adequate at best. Indeed, macOS is not perfect. Although, in my experience, it’s far more reliable and intuitive than Windows.
 

GrumpyCoder

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2016
2,126
2,706
Simple… if I really need the power then it’s a clear choice. I’d happily take that Nvidia DGX station over any Mac, because it runs circles at the speed of light around any Mac out there. I could then still pop $10k or so on any Mac and be much, much better off than the other way around.
 

DJLC

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2005
959
404
North Carolina
Fastest PC vs. most expensive Intel Mac Pro? PC.

Fastest PC vs. most expensive yet-to-be-unveiled Apple Silicon Mac Pro? Hard to say, but my gut is saying Mac Pro.

Bad time to ask this question, IMO. Good question, but bad timing. ;)
 
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PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
Fastest PC vs. most expensive Intel Mac Pro? PC.

Fastest PC vs. most expensive yet-to-be-unveiled Apple Silicon Mac Pro? Hard to say, but my gut is saying Mac Pro.

Bad time to ask this question, IMO. Good question, but bad timing. ;)
I agree. Apple Silicon MacPro would be insane, maybe even faster than fastest pc because it runs so cool and fast. I think you're right that if you need the speed (like for making Star Wars in a recording studio) get a PC but if you want a mac and you need the power, get an intel mac pro. If I had waited for an M2 Mac Pro, i think it would have been Best Mac Pro 99.1% and Fastest PC 0.9%.
 
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theluggage

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2011
8,015
8,449
:) If you could have any computer in the world would you get the fastest PC or the highest end Mac Pro?
You're missing a "none of the above" option. If you are picking "any computer in the world" just for bragging rights, with cost and practicality no object, then here's your shortlist:


Spoiler: the Mac Pro doesn't appear on the top 10 (if at all) and although x86 is widespread they're not what you'd really call PCs. OS-wise it's pretty much a Linux closed shop.

Of course, I'd have no possible use for such a system, although "donating" the runtime to something like folding@home would give me a nice warm feeling... wait... no, that's the air conditioning overloading again!

If you want a sensible answer to the dichotomy as posed then it all depends on what you want to do with it. Right now I have a couple of perfectly good Macs but I don't really have a decent gaming system, so I'd take the PC.
 

Webcat86

macrumors 6502a
Jun 7, 2022
849
792
Some of the answers confuse me. The question wasn't "Which would be faster?" It was "which would you own?" - THE fastest Mac Pro is still going to be phenomenally fast. Even if a PC could be faster, how much is that speed actually needed?

And even with all that speed, Windows would still have the various aspects that slow you down and cause frustrations.
 

Ruggy

macrumors 65816
Jan 11, 2017
1,024
665
I really don't have an interest in having the fastest computer in the world or the fastest Mac. I have no need for that.
I have an M1 Macbook air which satisfies my everyday needs and a watercooled Alienware with a Ryzen processor for playing games (which isn't really for me to be honest).
I wouldn't buy a mac for playing games so really you need to think about what you want to use it for rather than just having the fastest.
 
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PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
I really don't have an interest in having the fastest computer in the world or the fastest Mac. I have no need for that.
I have an M1 Macbook air which satisfies my everyday needs and a watercooled Alienware with a Ryzen processor for playing games (which isn't really for me to be honest).
I wouldn't buy a mac for playing games so really you need to think about what you want to use it for rather than just having the fastest.
I agree, all the power I need is the power of an M1 Pro chip or Intel i7 or i9 at most. Just thought it would be a fun question to ask. Even this 2015 iMac I am using is fast enough for everything I do (iMovie, GarageBand, Pretty basic internet tasks) I sometimes wish I had a little bit more power but this 7-year-old Intel chip is still working very well.
 

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
I can't see myself ditching macOS. But that's also the only thing keeping me here.
I love macOS. Tried Windows in a VM once and didn't even know how to navigate the OS! Windows is a big complicated mess, whereas macOS is a clean-looking easy to use masterpiece.
 

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
Some of the answers confuse me. The question wasn't "Which would be faster?" It was "which would you own?" - THE fastest Mac Pro is still going to be phenomenally fast. Even if a PC could be faster, how much is that speed actually needed?

And even with all that speed, Windows would still have the various aspects that slow you down and cause frustrations.
As I read the replies I thought the same thing. I never said which one would be faster, which would most likely be PC. The question was "which would you own if you need a lot of speed" and it was based off of if you are a PC or Mac person but some people misinterpreted it as "which is faster, I need the fastest computer ever."
 
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PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
You're missing a "none of the above" option. If you are picking "any computer in the world" just for bragging rights, with cost and practicality no object, then here's your shortlist:


Spoiler: the Mac Pro doesn't appear on the top 10 (if at all) and although x86 is widespread they're not what you'd really call PCs. OS-wise it's pretty much a Linux closed shop.

Of course, I'd have no possible use for such a system, although "donating" the runtime to something like folding@home would give me a nice warm feeling... wait... no, that's the air conditioning overloading again!

If you want a sensible answer to the dichotomy as posed then it all depends on what you want to do with it. Right now I have a couple of perfectly good Macs but I don't really have a decent gaming system, so I'd take the PC.
Thanks for the list. It was very cool, but the question wasn't "any computer in the world", it was Most Expensive Mac Pro vs Fastest PC, and it definitely wasn't Most Expensive Mac Pro vs Fastest PC vs the 591,872 core Frontier HPE Cray EX235a.
 

Webcat86

macrumors 6502a
Jun 7, 2022
849
792
As I read the replies I thought the same thing. I never said which one would be faster, which would most likely be PC. The question was "which would you own if you need a lot of speed" and it was based off of if you are a PC or Mac person but some people misinterpreted it as "which is faster, I need the fastest computer ever."
Heh, yeah. Always happens - I’ve been publishing articles to Medium lately and some of the replies astound me, with people getting annoyed with me for things I didn’t even say!

Anyway for me it would be Mac. If I had the unlimited budget, I’d have a Mac Pro at home (because why not?) and a fully maxed out 16” MBP and a maxed out iPad Pro. Zero risk of them being too slow for me!
 

PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
The question literally started "If you could have any computer in the world".

"If you could have any food in the world for dinner, would you choose spam or boiled cabbage?"
That must have been a mistake. I did say any computer in the world but I then listed only two options to choose from, so even if I say any computer, you still have to pick from the options I listed.
 
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PowerPCFan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 5, 2022
308
106
Heh, yeah. Always happens - I’ve been publishing articles to Medium lately and some of the replies astound me, with people getting annoyed with me for things I didn’t even say!

Anyway for me it would be Mac. If I had the unlimited budget, I’d have a Mac Pro at home (because why not?) and a fully maxed out 16” MBP and a maxed out iPad Pro. Zero risk of them being too slow for me!
I'd love to have a Mac Pro, it's just so much money and I don't need the power.
 
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