I’ll be honest, I’ve been a PC user for the longest time, since the 286 days. Those were great ! I even had a yellow monochrome monitor. My favorite years with the PC however, is no doubt the "Windows XP" years. This version of Windows was one of the best, if not the best — so far — of any consumer operating system from Microsoft.
When Windows Vista launched, I hesitated to upgrade because there were really very few new drivers available. That and I customized my XP setup so much that it was just daunting to think about wiping my computer and restarting from scratch. After getting to use several Windows Vista-based PCs, I just couldn’t see the need to go through the trouble. There wasn’t anything in Vista that I couldn’t do faster on my XP box.
I built my machine nearly two years ago and it’s still going pretty strong today. Here’s my current Windows XP PC.
| Processor | AMD Dual Core Opteron @ 2.93 GHz |
| Motherboard | MSI K8N Neo nForce 4 |
| Memory | Corsair XMS DDR 2GBx2 |
| Storage | WD Raptor 36 GB x 2 and Seagate Barracuda 320 GB |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX x 2 |
| Sound | M-Audio Revolution 7.1 |
| Resolution | 2560x1600 |
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP SP2 |
Now this PC runs pretty much everything I want — except... I haven’t touched it in nearly six months. I’ve gone Mac.
Just in case some believe that I’m not really a hardcore PC guy, here’s my system before the one listed above :
| Processor | Dual AMD Athlon MPs 1.5GHz |
| Motherboard | Tyan Thunder 2462NG |
| Memory | Corsair Registered ECC PC2100 1 GB x 4 |
| Storage | Seagate Cheetah FC X15 18 GB x 5 and a DPT SmartRAID FC-AL 2 Gbit RAID controller with 162 MB cache |
| Graphics | Tyan Tachyon 9700 Pro |
| Sound | Creative Labs SB Audigy |
| Resolution | 1920x1200 |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional |
It was an extensive RAID setup, with hardware usually not found in a consumer-level system. FC-AL, or fibre-channel arbitrated loop, was something I thoroughly enjoyed using. Prior to it, my desktop used hardware RAID Ultra-320 SCSI. Everything ran on SCSI, even my optical drives. I used Plextor drives exclusively since it was the best makers of CD drives and its drives were well known for being reliable and top performers.
In fact, I was so into extreme hardware, I even had a Sun StorEdge A1000 array. With drives runninng attached to an Adaptec SPEC 2 quad-channel SCSI RAID controller, we are talking about some serious performance. Excessive ? Yeah, pretty excessive, but hey this is Tom’s Hardware we’re talking about here.
The above computer is now roughly six years old, but it was a screamer at the time. But as time went by I ended up simplifying everything. All the upkeep was a chore. I had two Linux servers running 24/7 backed up by twin APC Smart-UPS 1500. Yeah — I definitely miss those days.
- Hardcore PC Days
- Fibre-Channel Arbitrated Loop and a 12-inch PowerBook
- The Transition
- Switching Back and Forth
- It All Just Works, Most of the Time
- Give Users Some Competitive Changes
- I Went Mac, with Windows on Standby
- The Fibre Setup
- The Ridiculously Fast Drives
- Tyan's One Hit Wonder
- The Entire Setup From the Old Days
- Apple's First Version of OS X


Just what exactly is it? Why is it better? (besides the expose, but can you at least compare it to the modern Vista technology, and not the crappy XP; even with XP, there's a power toy which is much better than the default solution).
JESUS. Horrible editorial. Seriously, it's articles like this that reinforce Tom's bad rep as of late.
OS X may be nice, but do you really want to pay a 100% premium on a machine just for the OS? For a €3000 price difference I'll stick with Vista x64 or Ubuntu 8.04 x64. (Wich is free btw)
What Mac can do, that Windows can't?
What Windows can, that Mac can't?
You are getting really excited with this, and wrote a really long article, but I couldn't see a big point, that could move me from Windows to a Mac.
Maybe Mac is really something. But I don't think it's some breaking news, that make me have to say WOW!
I noticed your hardwares, most of them for server purposes, so, Is that mean Mac is a good way for servers? I thought i would learn the different between Mac and Windows from this article, but I mistaked....
Maybe I did, mostly about the interface? (The way how it looks).
Someone knows more about Mac please explain?
Well, essentially what I wanted to get at was that I just found myself getting a lot more done on a Mac, everything is well unified, and Apple does a great job of integrating hardware, software and services. I mentioned about the Remote app on the iPhone allowing you to use your phone as a remote control for iTunes, which is pretty darn cool. As well, the apps that ship with iLife has a great synergy too.
I'll cover more about how it all ties in together in a follow up article. This article was for me to set the ground work really. I didn't want to publish an article that was insanely long and had too many pages to click.
You'll see me go through some of the magic that makes all these apps work well together on a Mac in an article coming soon.
/ Tuan
Looking forward to the Ubuntu setup guide. I can never get my NVIDIA drivers working because my chair to keyboard interface is constantly malfunctioning.
@jaragon13: Some people actually have a job
heres what hardware i was using two years ago:
Intel Idontgiveacrap-eron 4 with HT
16 giveacraps of ram
bla bla bla
on a totally different note, the computer i use the most in my house is a ~8 year old windows 98 based pc - Tutalain Celeron 1100a @ 1.46, 512 SDR, Voodoo2 SLI, SB AWE32 etc - more fun in old classic games then the newer modern games i think, CARAMAGEDDON NUT!!!!!!
I know for a fact that nether MAC's nor XP/Vista machines can play these games!
Dos box gives some relief but in the end, the 9x machine is easier when its native etc.
Just what exactly is it? Why is it better? (besides the expose, but can you at least compare it to the modern Vista technology, and not the crappy XP; even with XP, there's a power toy which is much better than the default solution).
JESUS. Horrible editorial. Seriously, it's articles like this that reinforce Tom's bad rep as of late.
OS X may be nice, but do you really want to pay a 100% premium on a machine just for the OS? For a €3000 price difference I'll stick with Vista x64 or Ubuntu 8.04 x64. (Wich is free btw)
lmao I haven't thought of Pebcak in years. (even though it applies more often these days)
From what I see, this article really touts Apple's integrated solution - from personal computer to digital multimedia to cellular phone platforms. There are three reasons why Apple can succeed at this rather than any company related to Windows computers: first, they are a single company controlling both hardware and software; second, their products' market image and design is 'hip' and 'sexy'; and third, their minor market share.
The only company that could hope to do what Apple is doing would be Microsoft. However, what would consumer reactions be to such an attempt? First, they would have to partner with multiple hardware vendors to present a unified line of products. Second, their products would not have the same market image - think of iPod competitors and how these devices are often characterized as "ugly". Third, "M$" (as they are often unlovingly called) is immediately labeled as an evil monopolistic corporation motivated solely by greed.
Thus, when Apple does they are called "innovative" and "visionary" - but when Microsoft does there are implications of coercion of others and attempts to monopolize your digital life. Microsoft is not trying to present an integrated solution to make your life easier (such as standardizing windows layouts so users of a new program know where to find common features).
The point? Image and perception is everything - and Apple knows how to build image.
Of course, this image is shaped by strictly controlling hardware and software. This means less customization, longer cycles to bring innovative hardware to market, and less software available. When Apple says a product works, you pay a premium for the product. Compare this to the Vista Compatible/Capable fiasco that occurred.
PC hardware is more prolific and lower cost, but the burden is on the end user or the branded system manufacturer to ensure that the components work nicely together. Even then, updated drivers from 3rd party manufacturers may cause issues.
For example, I use the ECS A780GM-A with Vista Ultimate 64 bit as my home system. Since the integrated graphics had HD DVD playback issues with my LG HD DVD/Blu-ray drive, I put in my spare 8500GT nVidia card. It worked fine until a recent driver update from nVidia, which then conflicted with my integrated sound. It would cause my system to lock up after 3-15 minutes of use. Of course, there was an updated ATI driver, so I chose to go back to using the IGP (but have yet to test HD DVDs yet).
Obviously Apple systems do not have quite the same issues currently. However, if they opened up their system to "after market" upgrades, they undoubtedly would. Thus it would be a big mistake for Apple to open up their system. As to getting more modern hardware choices immediately available, this would require rapid and thorough testing and possibly quick software coding - which would not only increase the cost of the components but increase the probability of coding errors. People wish for more hardware choices, but often they do not realize the risks and costs associated with them.
Overall, I find the comparison of Mac and PC computers a bit questionable. Although both are computers for home and business use, the way they are designed and marketed are totally different. The perceptions of the companies (underdog Apple with only a tiny market share versus the big evil overlord Microsoft and their legion of PC hardware henchmen) also make comparisons impractical... its kinda like, well, comparing apples to oranges. They may be the in the same category, but they are not the same thing.
Personally, I find that good - Apple should not let itself become just another PC styled market. Instead, lets keep giving consumers a choice between design philosophies. Heck, lets even let them choose to buy into and enjoy both ways of doing business!
You said it. If I wanted a *nix-based, tech-friendly, solid, mature (the article uses this word WAY too much) OS, I'll take Ubuntu. Snowball's chance in hell I'm paying extra because of a feature that makes it easier scrolling through open apps.
That is like the best analogy I've seen about Macs and PC - Prostitute and Wife. Lol!!!!! PC should make this as an ad!!!