Tempted by the dark side

[EmptyMellon]

Originally Posted by dandelioneater

MAC= Honda, PC = American Muscle (HEMI)

I think it should be more like MAC = Tesla/Fisker (electric/hybrid), PC = any combustion vehicle (including Batmobile)

[bissa]

Originally Posted by dandelioneater

MAC= Honda, PC = American Muscle (HEMI)

of those options, I would actually say PC is the Honda due to the number of available add-ons and modifications you can get for it.

[lcdguy]

thanks for the pointers. I will be looking into them. I also have been entertaining getting a shuttle case. What are peoples opinions on these as well.

[Varroa]

Originally Posted by ilya

I thought those are illegal now.

In the states (no idea about Canada but probably the same) it is illegal to buy a prebuilt hackintosh with OSX installed on it. The link I posted is for building your own hackintosh. You still have to legally buy a copy of OSX and install it yourself using the tools they provided (EFI emulator, boot loader, etc). The hardware they list is just examples of hardware that are guaranteed to work.

[lcdguy]

Ok so i have been doing some more digging and there is some issues with the first recommendation (the video card won't fit in the case as that case needs a low profile card. So here is what i have come up with. I compared the imac to a Lenovo M90z and a custom built pc.

Lenovo is the cheapest. However it makes the following sacrifices.

1. Graphics is Integrated Intel
2. HDD is only 500 GB insteadd of 1 TB
3. No indication if the lcd is an IPS or TN Panel

Difference $250 less

Custom Built has the following sacrifices

1. Only a 6570 instead of a 6770m (not sure if it's going to be a big difference.
2. Realtek Network cards instead of intel

Difference $238 less

Custom Built using Shuttle Sacrifices

1. 10/100/1000 Gigabit by shuttle. probably realtek
2. No Wireless
3. No Bluetooth

Difference $218 less

[Arinoth]

I've honestly never noticed much difference between Realtek and Intel network cards over the fast years that I've used the two, so to me I don't really consider it a sacrifice. I was just purely linking the 6770 for the sake of keeping it the same. You could easily get away with a low profile card that can still meet the performance you want

[lcdguy]

is there a big difference between the 6570 and the 6770

[Razamatraz]

6570 = 480 SPs at 650Mhz
6770 = 800 SPs at 775 MHz that is about twice as powerful.

6770M is a mobile version based on 6700 series using 480 SPs at 725MHz so a tiny bit faster than 6570 probably...This is not based on benchmarks just specs.

[draemn]

Just to repeat this point... you don't buy a mac for gaming performance/$. You buy a mac for the 'experience.' iMacs are very competitively priced vs other major retailers, but give you a completely different experience by the ecosystem apple has created with their software/operating system. It's like the difference between buying origin/alienware/ibuypower custom gaming rigs for $500-$3000 price premiums over building your own computer. People spend that extra $$ to not have to deal with problems.