Steamd

There are people in the world who think they are right and no matter how many times you tell them, no matter how much evidence you put in front of them, they are never wrong. Kind of like the people who think the holocaust never happened. Or that dinosaurs never existed. Or that global warming is a hoax. Even with all evidence pointing to the contrary, some people won’t budge and will point blank tell you that you’re wrong.

Yesterday I posted a rebuttal to a blog post made on Calloftheday.net. His reaction, shall we say, was expected and only proves my point…that no matter how you point out to someone they are wrong, they still insist they are right:

Now, as some of you already know, I screen all comments before they’re posted. This is mainly because about 30% of the comments I get in are just people trying to advertise their own sites. About 69% is dedicated to porn spam. (69, geddit? I’ll get my coat). About 1% are actually comments.

I have no doubt that you get spam and that a lot of the comments you receive are complete shit. However, I have no doubt in my mind that my initial comment was within the 1% you claim are actually comments…which goes back to my initial question on why it wasn’t posted in the first place.

What your original post actually contained was along the lines of “HAI GUISE, WHATS GOIN ON IN THIS THREAD!”?, and then threw a link back to your own website.

No, my original post was along the lines of “GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!”. I didn’t throw a link to my site until after the fact. I took some time to write a solid, well thought out response to your post and, well, it didn’t get posted. What did you think my response would be? If you were screening posts and saw
my first initial post, why didn’t you go ahead and post it? What was it
about my initial post you didn’t like?

Like I said, your “response”? was simply a direct link back to your own website. If you want to argue, feel free to do it directly. Now, I’m only going to say this once - to all further mac hatemail, please examine the following closely;

Otherwise, your comment wont get posted. And the Almighty Jeff will hate me. And the whole world will come to a fucking standstill.

Umm…right…so stupid is as stupid does, right?

Look, I don’t care whether you agree or disagree with my opinions or anyone else’s for that matter. Whether you’re a Mac user, a PC user, a gamer, you hate Macs, you think Microsoft is the devil, or whatever the
hell you believe…it doesn’t matter one iota! However, what does matter is that you get the facts straight. I’m not a MacIdiot, a Mac fanboy, or any like that. This is not a PC vs. Mac thing. This is a “Get your facts straight”? thing. If you’re going to argue and create a flame war, you better have your facts straight.

So I saw this Digg post yesterday that linked to a blog post of a system comparison between a Mac Pro and a high-end gaming PC. Here’s the specs of the PC he was talking about:

Asus P5E3 Deluxe Socket-775 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @ 3GHz
2GB DDR3 Ram @ 1333mhz
2x 1TB Hard Drives @ 7200rpm
EVGA GeForce 8800Ultra (768MB) Graphics Card
Samsung 24″ LCD Syncmaster Display
Creative SB X-Fi Elite Pro sound card
D-Link draft-802.11n Wireless Adapter
Windows Vista Premium
700W Power supply & NorthQ 2500 Chasis
Subtotal: $6019.18

Not bad, right? Looks like a pretty solid configuration for any gaming PC. Now, let’s look at the specs he presented for the Mac Pro:

“Bundled”? iLife software
Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor @ 3.0ghz
2GB DDR2 Ram
500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Nvidia Quatro FX 4500 (512meg) Graphics Card
20″ LCD Display
16x CD/DVD-RW Drive
AirPort Wireless Card
Mac OSX Leopard
Standard Chassis
Subtotal: $6,102.00

The author went on to say this:

There, you still save just over $80, and the Windows PC is now about three times more powerful than the Macintosh. Thus leading back to my original point, iThings cost 300% more than normal things. Or are 300% less powerful than normal things. Take your pick.

Umm…300% Right. Do you see any flaws in the comparison of these two systems? I do! And when I did, I tried to post a very honest, very open counter-point to his argument. One commenter felt that the author’s points are bastardized. So here’s what my response was:

Bastardized? Not just that, but irresponsible as well! Here’s the problem…your comparison is waaaaay off and not fair by a longshot.

Let’s take the processors for example. A dual-care Intel Xeon is a different processor from a Intel Core 2 Extreme, one is designed for servers and workstations and the other for gamers. Yeah, they cost the same…but here’s the catch…Apple gives you two dual-core Xeon processors for the price of your single Core 2 Extreme! In fact, you don’t have a choice…Apple won’t sell you a Mac Pro with just one Xeon processor! How’s that for value?

Next, the video cards. Another one that is waaay off! In no way can an nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra compare to a Quadro FX 4500! The GeForce is a gaming card and the Quadro is a precision graphics card. Just like the processors, two video cards for two completely different applications. Hell, the Quadro card in and off itself is over $1600! Yeah, they’re expensive…and there’s a reason for it. You don’t want to use a card that is built for gaming and risk it screwing up a very important rendering job on a CAD project.

If you buy a Mac Pro without the Quadro card and stick with the default NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB card, you can get it for about $4400. At that price, I can go out and buy a 8800 Ultra off the shelf and still save over $1000!

Now, go to HP’s website and configure a xw6400 or xw8400 workstation with the same specs as a Mac Pro. Why the workstation? Because you can’t buy a consumer-line computer with a Xeon! What you’ll find is that Apple undercuts the competition a bit. Yeah…believe it or not, they are actually cheaper than the competition! Dell may or may not be more expensive but, even then, it won’t be by much.

The point is this isn’t a fair comparison and you need to get your facts straight. Can a Mac Pro be a good gaming computer? Absolutely…but you may have to customize it a bit to get what you want out of it. But that’s not why people buy Mac Pros. People buy Mac Pros because they want the fastest, most powerful Mac to do high- end stuff like video editing and graphics.

And on that note, the other thing is that with a Mac I can still run Windows. You can talk about the high points of Windows Vista all you want but I will still prefer Mac OS X Leopard over it any day. And the cool thing is that I have my own copy of Windows XP and can boot natively into it any time I want and play a game or two. With a PC, you’re stuck…you have no choice unless you use a Linux distro as your primary OS…which, ironically, isn’t so bad! I use both SuSE and Ubuntu on a few PC’s myself.

I’ve been a Windows user for the better part of 12 years since Windows 95 came out. For me to say I prefer a Mac over a Windows-based PC is saying a lot. I used to be an ASP/ASP.NET developer and got very frustrated with all the problems I was having. Switched to PHP and a Mac and am a lot happier.

To end my comments, just remember this…the Mac is a platform. You can’t compare it to a PC on hardware alone. What makes a Mac a Mac is the combination of the hardware AND the software. That’s a very important distinction and one that will give a much fairer comparison between the two.

Hope these comments are enlightening.

Jeff

My response was not posted at all. In fact, just about any opposing viewpoints were deleted from the comments as well. It seems that the author does not want to hear it which is foolish. The fact that the author does not allow for this proves that he is ignorant and stupid, the two very things I abhor.

The whole point I was trying to make is that before you go and make the kind of claims you are trying to make, do yourself a favor and make sure that you get your facts straight. If you’re going to make a bold statement about something like this, you better have the facts to back it up.

I’ve used every major operating system that is out there: Windows, Linux, and Mac. I’ve built a few of my own gaming PCs and I’m an IT Administrator. I do know a thing or two about hardware and the cost of it. I order workstations all the time for the architectural firm I work for. My opinion is a highly educated opinion based on real-world experience.

The gentleman who made this blog post is a moron. Until he has spent a significant amount of time using a Mac, he and any of the other visitors who have made bogus comments have no right to criticize something they know nothing about. If you are a gamer then great…stick to a gaming PC. But don’t try to make comparisons like this and then dismiss any hardcore facts…you only make yourself look like a f$%ing idiot!