Elysian Shadows

I am going to be in college next year and my degree is in computer science. I was wondedring if I should get a mac or a pc I also want to design video games. Also PC gaming isn't a big issue for me. Let me know plz

Might be an idea to find out what platforms your gonna be developing on at college, what languages too. If it's mainly C++, your probably better off just getting a PC laptop - but if it's ObjectiveC, then a Mac would be pretty handy. Besides that though, what sort of development do you want to end up doing?. There are lots of smaller companies making iPhone games and apps, and I imagine that these are much easier to get into than bigger developers.

I want to do probably animation just a lot of the designing I'm not exactly sure. Ill check out the platform also. I really wanted my laptop to be a a mac and then buy a desktop later

TheDocta wrote:I really wanted my laptop to be a a mac

Just answered your own question.

just quoted your own answer

k1net1k wrote:just quoted your own answer

What?

hmm i suspect a bit of forum magical post removing douchery

NOTE: This post contains oodles of bias, but never the less may help you in your decision.

Apart from the programming bit, I feel that a Mac/OSX offers a better environment, its more intrinsic. Now this is just my opinion, but many that have used Mac/OSX will agree.

As for the programming bit, you can do virtually anything on a mac that you can on a PC, and literally if you install Windows on it if need be.

Apple has xcode, a very nice IDE, probably the best free one out there.

Also, the support you'll get is amazing.

PC == Personal Computer; Mac == Personal Computer;
∴ Mac == PC

That being said, I suggest investing millions of dollars to purchase a new IBM Roadrunner.

Do not fall into the Apple's marketing, get a generic PC. You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac. Maybe better tech support, but I would not go for that. Macs are overpriced, simple as that. Proprietary is never a good thing IMHO. Hell even the Mac OS is a derivative of the UNIX system. They claim to be a revolutionary OS, but they are not.

IDK about you, but I will go for Linux.

davidthefat wrote:PC == Personal Computer; Mac == Personal Computer;
∴ Mac == PC

That being said, I suggest investing millions of dollars to purchase a new IBM Roadrunner.

Do not fall into the Apple's marketing, get a generic PC. You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac. Maybe better tech support, but I would not go for that. Macs are overpriced, simple as that. Proprietary is never a good thing IMHO. Hell even the Mac OS is a derivative of the UNIX system. They claim to be a revolutionary OS, but they are not.

ugh... Yes PC is a personal computer, but its also a type of nomenclature indicating a stock usually windows machine, and clearly that is what he was referring to, so no need to get all semantical.

How can you make VERY bold statements as, "You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac." and "They claim to be a revolutionary OS, but they are not"

"Proprietary is never a good thing IMHO", well why is it not a good thing? 99 percent of the shit you touch daily have proprietary written all over them. Oh and btw... that IBM Roadrunner is chock and block full of proprietary technologies... *facepalm*

Could you clarify any of your statements?

davidthefat wrote: Do not fall into the Apple's marketing, get a generic PC. You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac.

iPhone/iPad development? Pardon me but last time I checked those were both very viable mediums for the budding software developer.

davidthefat wrote: Do not fall into the Apple's marketing, get a generic PC. You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac.

In the past (PowerPC days) I might have considered myself as a die-hard Mac hater, but not without knowing my facts first. These days I find it quite difficult to hate on Macs, and am actually quite impressed with where Apple has gone in the past 5 years or so. Honestly the only two reasons I can think of not to get a Mac is a) cost and b) proprietary hardware all jumbled into a tiny ass space that's impossible to work on (which goes the same for any other laptop, so this really only makes a difference when considering a desktop computer).

If you can afford it, and think owning a MacBook is kick-ass, I say go for it.

dandymcgee wrote:

davidthefat wrote: Do not fall into the Apple's marketing, get a generic PC. You do not need Mac for any reason, there are no advantages of getting a mac.

In the past (PowerPC days) I might have considered myself as a die-hard Mac hater, but not without knowing my facts first. These days I find it quite difficult to hate on Macs, and am actually quite impressed with where Apple has gone in the past 5 years or so. Honestly the only two reasons I can think of not to get a Mac is a) cost and b) proprietary hardware all jumbled into a tiny ass space that's impossible to work on (which goes the same for any other laptop, so this really only makes a difference when considering a desktop computer).

If you can afford it, and think owning a MacBook is kick-ass, I say go for it.

That's just it though, why does is need to cost 1.5-2.5x as much because it's a mac? If the Mac OSX interface is really 1.5-2.5x as good as any interface you're going to get on a PC or you absolutely need a Mac for compatibility reasons, then sure, I can see it. But comparing interfaces, it really doesn't strike me as being so great by comparison and there's so few things you really need a Mac to do - especially now that they're losing their competitive edge in areas like graphical design, which I think is less Mac oriented than it used to be.

EDIT: And to ask this with a fair perspective, it is fair to assume that a computer's price (in most cases) is trivial compared to the productivity gains that it offers a programmer when you're developing professionally. If your efforts are worth 5-6 figures a year, then the price of the platform matters less compared to the productivity it affords you. Still though, what does the Mac offer that trumps the PC in this regard?

I can only tell me story.

When I first purchased my mac, i was rather hesitant. It was a lot of money. And even for the first month or so I was regretting getting it.
But I can say with a fair amount of confidence, that it is the best (for me) computer/OS i have used. and I have used all of em. Now I know this is just my opinion, but this should still at least tell you something. Unless apple change their formula, or I cant afford it, I probably will not buy a "PC" again.

I think the issue here that you are strictly looking at a computer as a tool, when clearly it has become something waaaay bigger than that. Its not just something to crunch numbers, its a "living space". I feel that apple pays great detail to the intrinsic nature of their products as a whole.

Read up on Christopher Alexanders work, you'll find it rather interesting.

Oh, as for media, in terms of what EccentricDuck said, was watching myth-busters last night, they used a mac. (Not that im saying that means they are top dog or anything, just they they are still visible in the arena)

In the end its a personal thing, and you should not be so much focused on price, you should just be happy with what you are using.

avansc wrote:In the end its a personal thing, and you should not be so much focused on price, you should just be happy with what you are using.

Agreed, if you can afford getting something you really like, get it, it's a lot more motivating on a learning curve. For instance I really liked the first guitar I bought and that kept me playing more and more, although it wasn't expensive but it was *mine*.