PC or Mac?

[Kzach]

In the general population, the Mac numbers are much smaller. Depending how you count, Mac seems to have about 8% to 10% of the US market, and much less of the world market.

Which is why I posted the thread. I was curious to see if RPG'ers had a higher percentage of Mac users than the general population. Which it seems there is

I have nothing against Macs, except the price. They are overpriced for the components you are getting, in my opinion. I find often that, if people are wealthy enough to buy a Mac, they tend to have enough money to buy the software and/or hardware upgrades needed to be able to also run Windows on a Mac. And those that cannot afford said upgrades I think are in the minority of Mac users, which is already a vast minority of computer users.

On the overpriced issue, one thing you have to consider with a Mac is the package as a whole. Break down individual components and yes, you could buy cheaper, but where can you find all those components in the same package as a Mac Mini or iMac or Macbook Pro?

Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean by, "...enough money to buy the software and/or hardware upgrades needed to be able to also run Windows on a Mac." You can run Windows through Bootcamp on any Mac sold today. There are no 'minimum requirements'. And there are free VM's to run it within OS X.

Shouldn't this be in another forum?

Well, originally I was going to put in the OP that it was related back to the Character Builder but I realised that would end the thread before it even began and just spaced on which forum I was posting to.

*shrug*

 

[Thanee]

On a side note, since 2005 or so you can install and run Windows on macs, making them in effect PC's as well. So the old PC vs. Mac paradigm may be more accurately reflected as OS X vs. Windows - although there are nuances there as well.

Well, I don't know, if it's that simple.

To me at least, a PC is a lot more than a Windows-machine. The advantages PCs have over Macs are as much based on hardware-flexibility as software-availability.

Macs are built on a narrow range of components deliberately to ensure better reliability, but that also lowers the flexibility of the whole system.

Yes, you can run Windows on a Mac (and you can run Mac OS X on a PC, too, it's just not allowed by Apple ), but that doesn't make a Mac a PC or vice versa.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mercutio01]

Which is why I posted the thread. I was curious to see if RPG'ers had a higher percentage of Mac users than the general population. Which it seems there is

No offense, but that's not really a sound measure. Extrapolating "RPG'ers have a higher percentage of Mac users" out of this one thread is sketchy at best. You're polling one internet website, which is a subset of "role-playing gamers who post on the web" which is a subset of "role-playing gamers." And that's leaving out the "self-selection" of people who post regularly and the even smaller number of people who posted in this particular thread.

 

[Kzach]

No offense, but that's not really a sound measure. Extrapolating "RPG'ers have a higher percentage of Mac users" out of this one thread is sketchy at best. You're polling one internet website, which is a subset of "role-playing gamers who post on the web" which is a subset of "role-playing gamers." And that's leaving out the "self-selection" of people who post regularly and the even smaller number of people who posted in this particular thread.

There's always one in a crowd

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There's always one in a crowd

...statistically speaking.

 

[Thanee]

He's completely right, though. Those figures are not nearly big enough. At most they can show you a very vague tendency.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Lidgar]

Well, I don't know, if it's that simple.

To me at least, a PC is a lot more than a Windows-machine. The advantages PCs have over Macs are as much based on hardware-flexibility as software-availability.

Macs are built on a narrow range of components deliberately to ensure better reliability, but that also lowers the flexibility of the whole system.

Yes, you can run Windows on a Mac (and you can run Mac OS X on a PC, too, it's just not allowed by Apple ), but that doesn't make a Mac a PC or vice versa.

Bye
Thanee

Possibly, depends a bit on what you are chasing in terms of "hardware flexibility". In terms of hardware upgrade options/expandability, a Mac Pro allows plenty of that, but you do pay a premium over a typical PC tower set up. You also can't build a mac from scratch (well, not as easily at least) like a PC. I understand your point, but to me the hardware "issues" are much more secondary to the OS experience. In any case, D&D works fine for me on any platform: pen or pencil!

 

[Aus_Snow]

On the topic of building PCs, yeah, that's what I do, for myself and others (if they ask; no fees).

It's fantastic, the freedom that alliows me, and also, occasionally, those lucky enough to ask me to build them something. So many CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards, sometimes sound cards, hard drives, cases, cooling, silencing, power supplies, aesthetic stuff, monitors, mouses, keyboards. . . and so on. You can spend as little or as much as you like, and tailor it as precisely as you wish. Love it.

And as for hardware or software issues, I just don't have them. For example, Windows XP has *never* blue screened, frozen or otherwise crashed on this computer, or my last (this is a total of years, here). So, reliable too. That's with *tons* of applications installed and often running, security measures in place, network activity nearly all the time, games being played at highest specs, and so on. Likewise, linux. Though I don't play many games in that OS.

And such problems are non-existent for the vast majority of people I talk to about their PCs, as well.

By the way, I do know that issues do come up, for PCs and Macs. Luckily, it's not something I have to deal with often at all, despite still having a fair bit to do with computers.

 

[Thanee]

Possibly, depends a bit on what you are chasing in terms of "hardware flexibility".

Mostly having the choice between thousands of options.

In any case, D&D works fine for me on any platform: pen or pencil!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Maggan]

So, two camps, some small number of each of which are vociferous and belligerent. And folks on each side see the ones on the other side as being nastier than themselves.

Methinks we have seen that particular dynamic before.

That's what I keep thinking, keeping up with the "banter" between Mac fans and Windows fans. Which I do, but which I should stop doing, for my sanity if nothing else.

The Mac vs. Windows argument is like the Blood War of edition wars. It just goes on, and on, and on, and on.

/M