Is it time to go Mac?

[Noel 4,531]

Seems FSX has been, on the whole, a pretty big disappointment for many buyers. Now that PC gaming is deteriorating in large part (compared to even 5 years ago) in favor of game consoles, perhaps it's time to break away from Microsoft and venture into something different, like Mac OS. Don't know a whole lot of Mac users who complain about their OS, and I do know a few.I have so loved having a one-stop computing/gaming interface, that I have vehemently resisted the idea of game consoles. Well, now as FSX comes along, and Vista, with its scary DRM issues and who knows what else, the reason for trying to remain dedicated to a one-station solution for my entertainment and "work" needs, seems way less compelling. I mean take FS out of the mix, and all of the sudden, why bother with MS at all? Well, FS9 doesn't run on a Mac I guess. I guess the best soln for now is to keep a fully loaded, fully up-to-date install of XP (or in my case, Win2K Pro) at the ready on a new HDD, so that it can be used as long as hardware can support it. At some point XP/Win2K will no longer be supported, but as long as your hardware will run the old code, you are good to go with it.I can see a time though when it's Mac OS/Linux for the basics, and a game console for games. It could be MS's drive to write for XBOX more than PC games will in part be a trigger to get people like me looking at a different computing platform. It is certainly much more the case today than it was 5 years ago, for me.Noel

[Murmur 3,944]

I wholeheartedly agree. Until 6 months ago, I'd never thought to consider an alternative platform to Microsoft (Linux, Mac), now I'm seriously thinking about it.Marco

[Guest bfindlay]

>>I mean take FS out of the mix, and all of the sudden, why bother with MS at all? Well, FS9 doesn't run on a Mac I guess. Actually, you don't HAVE to take FS out of the mix when you go to Mac. Current intel Macs run WinXP and hence both FS9 and FSX just fine.Be aware though - the imacs are great machines but not very expandable. The tower macs are fully expandable, and have bleeding edge hardware (and a bleeding edge price).I have two macs, and a windows box. The windows box is only for flight sims (my macs are older, non-intel ones). My next computer purchase will be a tower mac - best of both world!

[FTD1949 0]

>Seems FSX has been, on the whole, a pretty big disappointment>for many buyers. Now that PC gaming is deteriorating in large>part (compared to even 5 years ago) in favor of game consoles,>perhaps it's time to break away from Microsoft and venture>into something different, like Mac OS. Don't know a whole lot>of Mac users who complain about their OS, and I do know a>few.>>I have so loved having a one-stop computing/gaming interface,>that I have vehemently resisted the idea of game consoles. >Well, now as FSX comes along, and Vista, with its scary DRM>issues and who knows what else, the reason for trying to>remain dedicated to a one-station solution for my>entertainment and "work" needs, seems way less compelling. I>mean take FS out of the mix, and all of the sudden, why bother>with MS at all? Well, FS9 doesn't run on a Mac I guess. >>I guess the best soln for now is to keep a fully loaded, fully>up-to-date install of XP (or in my case, Win2K Pro) at the>ready on a new HDD, so that it can be used as long as hardware>can support it. At some point XP/Win2K will no longer be>supported, but as long as your hardware will run the old code,>you are good to go with it.>>I can see a time though when it's Mac OS/Linux for the basics,>and a game console for games. It could be MS's drive to write>for XBOX more than PC games will in part be a trigger to get>people like me looking at a different computing platform. It>is certainly much more the case today than it was 5 years ago,>for me.>>NoelIf Mac hardware prices weren't so outrageous I would consider itespecially with the dual boot option.It seems to me that if Steve Jobs now has the Mac OS running on Intelhe could do the same with AMD. I often wondered why Apple won't codetheir OS to run on any hardware and give MS a run for their money.Maybe it's because MS sunk $ 150,000,000 into Apple back in '97.Craig ASUS A8N- nForce SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIe MOBOAMD ATHLON64 3500+ CPU w/ HT TechLG GWA-4161 DVD/CDSeagate ST3160811AS 160GB Barracuda 9 7200RPM 8MB SATA II 3Gb/s NCQSeagate ST3160811AS 250GB Barracuda 9 7200RPM 8MB SATA II 3Gb/s NCQEVGA 7950 GT KO PCIe 512mb nvodngov19147-[Guru3D.com] drivers SB Audigy 22G Corsair PC 3200 400MHZ Dual Channel DDR Super Alien 500W P/STrack IR3 w/vectorCH Yolk & RuddersFS Genesis Terrain MeshActive SkyRC4

[Guest Elvi5]

I've never cared much for anti microsoft sentiment. MS software has always been great for me. Until now.Microsoft just don't seem to be able to do any thing right anymore. FSX is a disaster, Vista is loaded with bloatware & spyware, offering only minimal production benefitsIf the MAC had a decent Flight Sim, I'd be gone in a shot.So, who knows the scoop on X-plane 9?Until then....enjoy..http://images.apple.com/movies/us/apple/ge...ity_480x376.mov

[Noel 4,531]

Cool. I think I will definitely look into this in great detail. Had MS/ACES done a proper job with FSX I would never have even considered this option, but now with this good news, I think it's time!OK, now . . .Just how "fine" does FS9 run on an Intel Mac?

[LAdamson 240]

>FSX is a disaster, >>>So, who knows the scoope on X-plane 9?>I still prefer FSX far and above X-Plane 8.50+, and I don't believe that X-Plane 9 will be some great leap forward.But then I don't believe that FSX is a disaster either. L.Adamson ---- FSX,FS9,X-Plane 8.50 w/global scenery

[Guest SilverCircle]

The hardware is indeed nice. These Mac Pro's with 2 x Core 2 Xeon @ 3GHz are insanely fast and they can run both Mac OS X and XP (via bootcamp). They should run FS9 and FSX nicely, although I did not yet try it.Together with one of Apples widescreen cinema displays, its an impressive piece of hardware, but the price tag is impressive too :)

[Guest SoarPics]

Alex, being a Mac newb (and looking ahead and away from Windows OS) can you give an idea of the cost of your Mac?Thanks,

[Guest Hocking]

I hope your sadly mistaken about PC gaming coming to an end, and consoles becoming the only gaming platform available. If this were to happen, you would not have any "Simulation" games to play at all. Console games simply are not capable of running such huge realistic simulations such as Flight Simualtor, Silent Hunter III, Operation Flashpoint, IL2 series, Falcon 4, ect......). If all we had were consoles, all we would get would be arcade style games that none of us would be interested in playing. Lets face it, console games are dumbed down games that are more arcadish than realistic. Have you ever seen a realistic PC game get transported to a console and maintain the same level of realism as on the PC. Never!!!!!!!As far as Microsoft is concerned, they are becoming there own worst enemy. They are completely ignoring which direction the overall industry is going in. I guess they think they got it all figured out, and they assume that everyone will come along with them. Instead, they create a huge industry market that is out to get them, and alienate their best friends in the process, their customers. Microsoft does not know how to handle competition because they grew up without any competition.Everything they touch anymore turns to disaster. Most everybody hates them, and that includes the people who still buys their products. Does this matter even though they still buy their products. You bet it does. Look how many people are starting to make the swith over to Macs in the past few years. I just wish the gaming industry would wake up and smell the coffee and start developing more games for the MAC. If this were to happen, most all hard-core gamers and PC'ers would make the jump over to MAC.I think Microsoft is screaming down the highway that IBM went down back in the 1980's. They have created a world that despises them, and they continue to do the things that made that world despise them with more gusto each and every time. How stupid!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest bj00rn]

>I've never cared much for anti microsoft sentiment. MS>software has always been great for me. Until now.>>Microsoft just don't seem to be able to do any thing right>anymore. >FSX is a disaster, Vista is loaded with bloatware & spyware,>offering only minimal production benefits>>If the MAC had a decent Flight Sim, I'd be gone in a shot.>>So, who knows the scoop on X-plane 9?>>Until then....enjoy..>http://images.apple.com/movies/us/apple/ge...ity_480x376.mov>I'm writing this post on one of my two "beloved" Macs (I'll post pics of them if you don't believe me) and I still say you (And a few other people in this thread) are full of crap here.Anyway, exaggerated FUD regarding whatever is not good for anything useful, and usually it doesn't really fool anyone either.

[byork 2,259]

I hope Mac continues doing well just because Microsoft needs competition (or someone to steal ideas from :-) )However, for Mac to succeed and attract more users, they're going to need develop more software for it as has been mentioned, and secondly they're going to have to drop the 'chip on their shoulder' they have toward Microsoft.It seems every time I go into a Mac Store, the salesperson has to start putting down Microsoft... Mac's are nice computers, granted, but the general Macintosh 'culture' so to speak is not appealing; it almost has a certain bitterness to it, which doesn't help the Macintosh cause one bit.-Bryan

[Guest wyoming]

I also sometines wonder if Indian big heads, who are the best, are not going to come up with a bomb, There's room for more than 2, really.

[Noel 4,531]

>I hope your sadly mistaken about PC gaming coming to an end,>and consoles becoming the only gaming platform available. If>this were to happen, you would not have any "Simulation" games>to play at all. Console games simply are not capable of>running such huge realistic simulations such as Flight>Simualtor, Silent Hunter III, Operation Flashpoint, IL2>series, Falcon 4, ect......). If all we had were consoles,>all we would get would be arcade style games that none of us>would be interested in playing. Lets face it, console games>are dumbed down games that are more arcadish than realistic. >Have you ever seen a realistic PC game get transported to a>console and maintain the same level of realism as on the PC. >Never!!!!!!!Well, as I say I have vehemently resisted having to use a console, but really, look how few titles now come out for PC compared to a few years ago. BestBuy and others have shrunk down what used to be isles of PC games now to just a single small area. It's been dwindling steadily for years. To me, the only thing that could challenge this would be robust recommittment to developing games on the PC, and with DRM and other bloat it seems unrealistic to think the industry will go back in the that direction since lots of progress has been made in the console arena. Now what I always wanted was a slip-in, full height, game console that would allow me to use my PC for everything, INCLUDING console games. Seems like a natural for Microsoft to have developed: a full fledged XBOX 360 in a slip-in box like your CD drive. They could have developed, with Vista or XP Media this capability to utilize your HDDs, screen, and maybe controllers to give users access to XBOX 360 thru their PC taking full advantage of their nice LCD PC display and already existing HDD's. If MS had done this, I for one would have already bought my XBOX 360 slip-in unit. Now how cool is that?Apple, are you listening? Apple should make an interface with PS3 or Wii, or PS4 or whatever, and make a device that simply connects to Apple so that those nice Cinema Displays can be used.

[Guest diajohn2]

I think Steve Jobs will be very happy to sell another Mac.Bill Gates on the other hand has 90+% of the market and normal people are not scared of Microsoft and what it may or may not know about us. I doubt they care as long as my software is legal.The Macs look very nice and do their basic stuff very well. And why not after all there isn't much written for them and there are no "special" computers like most of ours that need to function with it. All Macs are vanilla. There is no chocolate, no strawberry and no Cherries Garcia. My world tends toward the latter so I will stay away from the Oldsmobile of computers and continue to go along this path of the PC.