Mac + Console = casual gamer lifestyle?

[fnddf2]

I'm just seeking a little advice.

I used to play a lot of games back when.  I had a lot of free time when I was schooling.  Strangely enough, now that I am employed and could probably buy every console out there and a killer gaming rig, I just don't want to anymore.  My lifestyle has completely changed.  I used to want to be a hardcore gamer, but I don't have time anymore.  My focus is on other things besides gaming nowadays, I suppose.

I don't want to abandon games though.  Which is why I have been thinking about how to get set up as more of a casual gamer, from a hardware standpoint.

1) Mac.  I think I should by a Mac.  Mac seems to put the focus away from gaming.  Instead, they focus on how their products fit into or change your lifestyle, being more of an all-purpose computer.  So I was thinking of getting a Mac (and an LCD screen if need be) so I can stop having giant, noisy, beige gaming PC's in my room, and have the computer retain a very small profile.  Desk space is precious to me, as is overall room space.  This would effectively prevent me from playing the majority of games out there, as well as my old games.  So that's why I was also thinking of...

2) Revolution.  Nintendo is trying to appeal to non-gamers, but at the same time their philosophy also feels right to me as a casual gamer.  I got my DS for this reason, actually.  I wanted games that I could play for 5-30 minutes at a time, and no longer than that.  I think the Revolution may be a step towards this direction.  Also, the Revolution is all "revolutionary" and stuff, and I am getting a bit jaded from the current genres of games.  Since I can't play games on a PC anymore, this could be my "casual gamer" replacement.

Currently I have an AMD system for PC games, and a PS2.  The games nowadays are so geared towards giving you the most hours of gameplay and requiring you to sit down for an extended period of time.  PS2 is especially demanding for me because many of the games that I like also have loading times (Contra: Shattered Soldier, Gradius V, etc.).

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to know if anyone knows of any casual gamers out there and what their hardware setup was.  In the end, I just don't want to spend money anymore on something that I'll rarely use.

[voodoolily]

Mac - yes. They fucking upgrade themselves, and you don't hafta be a genius to run one. Not necessarily the best tool for gaming though from my experience.

Consoles - I'm gonna hold out on the next gen stuff and keep playing the GC and PS2. Consoles seem the best for the casual gamer, especially since you can't rent a PC game anywhere that I know of.

[stray]

I was mainly a Mac user for years.....It never worked out. You'll feel envy sooner or later. Whether you have a console or not.

[voodoolily]

Me too, and I was completely content with the GC as my sole gaming outlet. But you all know how I am.

[stray]

I couldn't just have one platform like that. Even if every single Game Cube game was great, I still couldn't. There's always going to be those type of games that never make it to consoles, and I'm going to want to play them.

Does that make me hardcore? I'm not sure. It's not like I spend hours and hours playing "a lot of games" per se. I just play a lot of types of games.

If all I had was a console, then I'd never having the option of playing the vast majority of strategy games, simulators, non japanese rpgs, or adventure games that release on the PC.

If all I had was a PC, then I'd be shit out of luck with good platformers, jap rpgs, fighting games, sports games, racing games, puzzle games, and the like.

[fnddf2]

I couldn't just have one platform like that. Even if every single Game Cube game was great, I still couldn't. There's always going to be those type of games that never make it to consoles, and I'm going to want to play them.

I see your point.  For me, it was always that I would see a game I wanted, and then because I never had any money, I didn't end up buying the game until the next big title showed up.  Then I would just forget about that older game.  At some point, I realized that I never really missed all these games that I never got to try out.

In fact, I think it would be good if I had less titles in my life.  I would never have to think "Gee, I haven't even played this game since I bought it, so I'd better put in some hours into it in order to justify the purchase."  I used to think like that at one time.

My true dream is to find those few titles that I can play over and over again and not get bored of.  Maybe then I would buy less games.  I don't know if that logic is flawed, though.

[schild]

Those titles you can play over and over again don't exist as you get older. There are maybe 7 from the last generation that I could name off the top of my head. But even then, you'll eventually run out of content.

I was a Mac "user" until my second year of college. Meh. If you don't want a noisy beige PC, build your own with a kickass case. Hell, you could build the most powerful PC out there with a case that puts a Gwhatever to shame and it would still cost less than a not even top of the line Mac. My other big problem - limits. There are limits to what will run on a Mac. Simply because there isn't enough Mac software. Every now and then Apple puts out a piece of software that I, personally, think is really cool. I even sometimes entertain the notion of buying a Mac. But if there's so much as a SINGLE PC game that doesn't come out on the Mac that you really want to play, you'll be pissed.

As for consoles - picking and choosing doesn't work. Even if you're being reasonable with this generation you'd still have to own a Gamecube and PS2. Even if the PS2 was just for God of War and Soul Calibur 3. They're just that good. As for the revolution, I'll buy one. Super Smash Bros online is enough for me to buy one. But really, I'm simply not naieve enough anymore to believe in an actual console war. I knock Nintendo a lot because their outside the box thinking doesn't impress me. Hell, Sony impresses me more than Nintendo. But that's neither here nor there, each console has first party titles or exclusives that puts almost every cross-platform title to shame. Ninja Gaiden/Jade Empire/Fable, God of War/REZ/Soul Calibur 3, Eternal Darkness/Animal Crossing/Smash Bros, The Movies/Civ 4/Age of Empires 3/F.E.A.R - pick your poison. You still end up buying every console.

If you want to be a gamer that's casual but wants to play the best of the best, from now til the end of time you'll end up buying every console and own a Windows based PC. That's simply the reality of the situation. It's unfortunate that there's more than just Sega and Nintendo now (even if my completely delusional mind says that Flashback, AvP and Cannon Fodder were worth playing on the Jaguar back in the dark ages). A third platform instantly adds an unnecessary $100 minimum. For better or worse, in the next six years I think we'll be down to two major competitors again.

[Tebonas]

I bought a Mac this year in April. Later this year the Motherboard of my Win Box broke down and I didn't bother to repair it until one and a half months later. Although I had the money all of the time, the sole reason I lifted my lazy ass to do it was some new games I wanted to play.

So yes, I think if you get your gaming needs satisfied by Consoles, the Combo Mac+Console could work. Personally I am into Roleplaying Games, and for them you can't maneuver round a Win Box.

[fnddf2]

So I guess what you guys are trying to tell me is that I would have to give up a lot to go to Mac + console.  I think my purpose in all this is to have my life dictated less by gaming, which may indeed result in giving up a lot of good games.

I was also considering buying a small form factor PC instead of a Mac.  That way, you have the best of both worlds, something that can game decently without taking up lots of space.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for the advice.

[Jain Zar]

I just switched to a Mac this weekend.  I have my Athlon 64 Laptop for old Windows thingies, and my iMac for general purpose computing.

Its doable, and with PC Gaming being in the sorry shape it is, its not an unreasonable thing to do any more.
Unless you are an Schild type with EVERY system there will always be a few games you miss out on though, no matter what you do.
It just happens.

[naum]

Dumped Windows in 2003 for good and converted the entire household to macs (+ a Linux box) last year.

With the exception of games and some rare specialized software needs, anything you can do on a PC can be done on a Mac. And since OS X is *nix (BSD to be more precise) underneath, you can run all the F/OSS offerings too. Also, most of the really good games are multi-platform or are ported to Mac. Blizzard is a sterling example, WoW/WCIII/Diablo were all cross-platform. There's enough games for a Mac user, and if there isn't a Mac version, the game is most likely to be a poor game, as any serious developer will offer a Mac version. Again, see Blizzard for a successful company that gets this and has helped catapault them into the royal seat of the game sales realm.

MMO on Mac
---------------
WoW
ATitD
WWII Online
Shadowbane

Strategy Games on Mac
---------------------------
Civ3 (Civ4 coming out early 2006 for OS X)
FreeCiv
RoN
WCIII
C&C
Dominions II (and to be released Dominions III)
EU/HoI

My life doesn't revolve around games, and I barely have enough disposable time as it is to devote to video gaming.

I never touched a Mac until 2003 as it was OS X that lured me to the platform. But I will say Macs brought the joy of computing back into my life.

[Signe]

Nearly everyone in my family uses a Mac.  Righ has used them for ages.  He has a laptop with Windoze on it for games, although he rarely uses it and I have a Windoze PC for games.  He's convinced everyone in my family to buy Macs.  They've been especially useful for my sister, the professional artist and her son, the musical protegy. 

[raydeen]

I used to be a big time Mac hater. I worked in the printing industry for 13 years or so and from '91/'92 or so, the Macs made increasing inroads into the industry to the point that in 2000 or so, most of the high-end Scitex systems that we had used for years were put out to pasture because the Macs could do everything and then some. Now I hated Macs at that point because no matter how good they were for printing/design, they sucked at everything else. The OS was the problem. Very unstable, and if one program crashed, you could be pretty sure that everything else was going down with it. Now in 2005, I'm quickly becoming a Mac convert. The school where I work has started an Apple laptop initiative and I'm the tech for it. I got a 14" G4 iBook with an 80 GB HD, 1 GB of ram and a 1.48 GHz processor. It's faster than the PCs I have at home, seems more reliaable, picks up a WI-FI signal faster than Homer J. can pick up a donut, and plays WoW with little or no hiccups. And my hope is that in January, (if rumors are true) if/when Apple releases Intel based Macs, I'll be able to either load Windows + games or play games through WINE or Cedega. In any case, unless my dreams are shattered, my next comp will be a Mac of some sort. I'm frankly quite sick of Windows and it's bloat and problems. And hopefully developers won't have to spend as much to convert to OS X. As for consoles, I just can't get excited about anything  there right now with the possible exception of the DS and the online Animal Crossing game. Right now, I'm all about portability and online play. My two dreams are that 1.) The Elder Scrolls comes out with a MMOG, and 2.) Sega releasees PSO on either the DS or the PSP. I want to be able to multi-play on the go. Yeah, I know that there's a Sony online game for the PSP, but frankkly I don't wan't to pay that much for the unit. I'm po' white trash.

After all that rambling, Mac + consoles could work for casual, but I'd wait 6 months to see how things shake out.

[fnddf2]

MMO on Mac
---------------
WoW
ATitD
WWII Online

You're not talking about this WWII Online, are you?
http://www.brokentoys.org/ww2o-irc.html

But yes, I think I see your point quite clearly.

[stray]

I disagree that only the good PC games get ported to Mac. C'mon now...

Besides, it takes awhile to see ports of these few "good" games anyways. Sometimes it takes 6 months up to a year. I can only think of a handful of popular titles that were released simultaneously on the Mac and PC.

Secondly, the days of good exclusive games on the Mac are gone (Marathon). The great ones ended up moving to PC (Myth and Fallout for example), and ever since then, nothing of that quality is released as Mac only anymore. I wouldn't call a platform solely dependent on ports to be much of gaming platform at all. It offers nothing unique itself.

As a gaming platform, it has no selling points: A limited selection that's only been slightly improved over the years, long waits for ports, and nothing exclusive of it's own.

* Note: I know the original poster doesn't care to have a Mac as a gaming platform. I'm just addressing some of naum's comments above.

-----------

I'd make a similar case for Macs as a "designer's platform" as well. I still have a Mac set up with old ProTools hardware myself, but when/if I ever decide to set up another machine like this, it'll be on a PC.

There used to be good reasons to choose a Mac over PC in this case, but not anymore. There was a time when audio software and hardware, ProTools specifically, were Mac exclusive. Nowadays, if someone was currently using Macs for audio design, Midi, and/or multitracking, then they WILL envy PC owners more than even a gamer would. It's just no contest anymore. There's so many more hardware, application, and plug-in options for Windows. More things to experiment with. More fun.

Many 3D, video, and DP apps that used to be Mac only are PC now. Same deal as audio.

------------

Apple's OS and integration is better, sure, but in the end, not by that much: They're not going to dramatically improve anybody's productivity. Windows might be shitty, but it isn't THAT shitty.

After a month of use, some bright eyed Mac adopter will spot the quirks, the flaws, and the frustrations just like they would with a PC. And then.....They'll realize just how much they're lacking in options compared to a PC. Hardware-wise and software-wise.

Lastly, equivalent software and hardware peripherals and upgrades are usually more expensive on a Mac than they would be a PC. Memory, video cards, year old games, even mice and joysticks: They're all usually more expensive.

Prices have improved a little in recent years, I'll admit (it used to be really bad), but it's still not on equal footing with third party hardware and software prices for the PC.

I'm not going to get in the way of anyone's personal preferences though. That's an entirely different thing. I think Macs are better designed computers as well. I just don't think they're better as far as third party options go.....Which makes a world of a difference.

[edit] Typos galore.

[Surlyboi]

I'm primarily a Mac user, the only reason my PC gets any use, other than to fuck around with security settings, is to play MMOs.

If you want to go casual, yeah. You can do it. When I burn out on the MMOs (which happens a lot more frequently lately) I'll just stick to work on the powerbook and the occasional X-Box game.

[Shockeye]

You're not talking about this WWII Online, are you?
http://www.brokentoys.org/ww2o-irc.html

To be fair, I don't think the tanks fly anymore. That's all I can say for it.

[Soukyan]

I bought a Powerbook earlier this year so I could use Shake (only made for Mac) because I needed it for portfolio work, etc.

I did the Powerbook because I also needed a laptop so I killed two birds with one stone.

I set up my laptop at work every day and the majority of my daily work now gets done on it. In addition, I do tons of portfolio work on it. As a matter of fact, my work PC is now relegated to a couple programs that are not made for OSX, although I often just Remote Desktop to my work PC and use them from my Mac.

I am not a blithering, drooling Apple convert by any means. XSI still only runs on Windows and Linux and I use that heavily (on my home PC) and several other apps in the same category run better on my home PC than the Powerbook. But in defense of Apple, my home PC has better specs than the laptop.

In order to avoid rambling, I'll get to the point. I have actually grown away from gaming as much as I used to. Was the Mac the reason for it? No. But it did help a bit. Because I got so into the OS and some of the things I am now able to do on it, I have become more productive in other aspects of my life and that has taken away from the leisure time I used to use for gaming. I have had my share of frustrations with the Mac and they can be just as dodgy as a PC at times. OSX likes to lock up if you challenge it too much. Yada yada. Computers are what they are no matter what you are running. Throw a wrench in the works of any and you're bound to encounter an error or two. Nature of the beast and logical fixes always at hand.

In short, I'd say that if you know the Mac would easily fit into your routine and would accomplish what you use your PC for, then go for it. There are still games available on it. As for the console portion, I also have a GameCube and to be quite honest, because of the aforementioned increase in computing activities outside the realm of gaming, it has had scant use as well. If you know you'll still have some leisure time for gaming, go for the console, otherwise leave it. Easy for me to say though as I always have the powerful PC at hand for a gaming fix if I so desire.

As to the noise issue, PowerMac G5s get massively fucking loud when they are working on something processor intensive. They are pretty quiet when not doing so, but just a forewarning, they sound like a jet engine when the fans get revved up. The new iMacs look pretty nice and fairly powerful as well. If you're looking for something that is easy to upgrade (on your own), stick to the PowerMacs.

Okay, I'm done. I hope that helps more than it confuses. I wrote this post from my home PC because I was too lazy to get out the Powerbook this evening. ;)

[Hanzii]

Mac - yes. They fucking upgrade themselves,

If by upgrade you mean gets obsolete and can be asily replaced with just one big swipe of a creditcard, than yes, you are correct.

I got a 14" G4 iBook with an 80 GB HD, 1 GB of ram and a 1.48 GHz processor. It's faster than the PCs I have at home, seems more reliaable, picks up a WI-FI signal faster than Homer J. can pick up a donut, and plays WoW with little or no hiccups

Interesting bit of useless comparisson, since we have no clue, what PC's you have at home.
The G4 with 1 GB ram I used at work was also faster than the old 0,8 GHZ Windows ME 256 MB laptop I used on travels.... and so what?

As to the original poster.

I'd like my parents to own a Max, since that would cut down on the support I need to give them.
If you like the type of games you get on consoles, then your solution works - if you like strategy and FPS, then you're shit out of luck (lor get to play a few choice old titles).
If you're going for small form factor and low (to no) noise, then your looking at the Mac Mini - great machine, but expensive, even less upgradeable and absolutely useless for gaming (WoW was stuttering on the high-end version I borrowed for review) and slower than ANY pc in the same pricerange.

If you're not sick and tired of Windows or in dear need of something very easy to use, I'd suggest a Shuttle BTX system or any f the similar small form factor pc's. Faster than the Mac for the same money, low noise, looks nice, takes up little space and can be easily upgraded.

As for consoles - I have no clue, allthough the Revolution wouldn't be my first... or second choice. But that's purely based on oppinion.

[Sky]

So I was thinking of getting a Mac (and an LCD screen if need be) so I can stop having giant, noisy, beige gaming PC's in my room, and have the computer retain a very small profile.

You have the perfect attitude to be a hardcore mac zealot: blind. Really, did you post this from 1995? The only reason you'd have a big noisy beige box is if you bought one that way, despite the hundreds of alternatives. I don't even know if you can buy one like that any more. Sorry to be such a dick, but that's crazy talk. I've got computers mounted to the undersides of desks, the only footprint is the LCD monitor and input devices. My own pc is big (my choice), but it's nice brushed aluminum and fits right in with my a/v gear.

Also, most of the really good games are multi-platform or are ported to Mac.

C'mon, naum. I love OSX in a big way, but that's delusional.

The bottom line for the OP is that if you're willing to give up the pc-specific genres, like MMO, RTS, TBS, Sims (meaning flight sims, management sims, not The Sims), etc, and if you can stomach using a controller for FPS games, then mac with a console is a great way to go.

Until I get tired of gaming, I won't get rid of my pc. It's also hard for me to pay 3x as much and have less control over what goes into my pc hardware-wise. I use OSX at work, I prefer it over XP in almost every other way. If you're not going to game on the mac, the G4s do a great job with OSX (w/ lotsa RAM), do not consider a G3 at all. G5s are hot and loud and expensive. See: mac on intel. It'd be worth waiting out the next year and see how that shakes out.

I'm very torn about my next computer. Either I can upgrade my gaming rig or get a PentiumM Powerbook....but my gaming days would wane, and I'm just not ready for that. Court some fucking game devs, Apple! It's the only way I can see getting a mac, I just can't afford to have both platforms. Now...intel silicon that can dual boot both OSs, even if it's in a mac box....hmm...

[naum]

Also, most of the really good games are multi-platform or are ported to Mac.

C'mon, naum. I love OSX in a big way, but that's delusional.

Let's see, the best MMO on the market (WoW), the alltime best RTS series (WCIII/SC, AoE/AoM, C&C) all have Mac versions and the best or at least most popular strategy game (Civ3) all have Mac versions or were developed multiplatform. Of games made for just PC, I would venture to wager that the % that they are good games is a hell of lot lower than those that are multiplatform or eventually ported to Mac. I haven't done FPS since Wolfenstein 3D, but all of the best FPS games are available on the Mac side too.

Yes, there's a lot of games (like DAoC or SWG in the MMO category) that are entirely PC-centric. But again, look at the market leader now, Blizzard, that develops their game multi-platform. They get it, and their sales behoove the superiority of their game over competitors (for that type of game, including RTS of WCIII).

Again, point is, most all the **good** and/or **popular** games all have Mac versions available — I realize there are gems that do not, but there's enough games to keep a Mac user engaged gaming wise.

[Roac]

On Mac vs PC: Windows has > 95% marketshare on the desktop market.  Regardless of whether you like MS or not, it is usually not a good business decision to spend the time to port games over to the Mac, therefore most aren't.  It's equivalent to buygin a BETA VCR.  You can argue the quality is better to your heart's content, but you can actually buy stuff you want for the PC.  Only reason to buy a Mac is if you get jollies by hating Gates.

[HaemishM]

If you don't want to play many games (as in more than 3), sure a Mac will do fine. And with the Revolution, you'll probably get that many playable games over the lifecycle of the console.

[voodoolily]

Mac - yes. They fucking upgrade themselves,

If by upgrade you mean gets obsolete and can be asily replaced with just one big swipe of a creditcard, than yes, you are correct.

No, I mean you don't hafta be a rocket scientist and perform surgery on it because you will always know someone who always has the newest shiny and will let you use the new OS CD to upgrade. I haven't had to pay for new OS EVAR.

[CmdrSlack]

I've been debating picking up a Mac Mini to futz around with OSX and because, from what I can tell, it would be my best bet for a machine that I can use to edit video footage.  We're expecting a kid very very soon and I'd really like to get a nice digital video camera so that I can inundate my parents with the footage of their grandkid that they'll miss since they don't make it into the city very much.

It might also be a good machine for the kid to learn on (much later on, obviously).  My first computer was an Apple ][e, so maybe that's a bit of nostalgia bias, I dunno.

Does anyone know if the video editing software is truly superior for Macs?  I've heard great stuff about GarageBand (music software, but whatever), so I'm wondering if all of the hype I see about the Mac's video editing powers are true. 

Plus, with a kid on the way, a Mac Mini may be cheaper than a new PC rig with a DVD burner....that's a good thing, IMO.

[HaemishM]

Mac - yes. They fucking upgrade themselves,

If by upgrade you mean gets obsolete and can be asily replaced with just one big swipe of a creditcard, than yes, you are correct.

No, I mean you don't hafta be a rocket scientist and perform surgery on it because you will always know someone who always has the newest shiny and will let you use the new OS CD to upgrade. I haven't had to pay for new OS EVAR.

The Ghost of Steve Jobs would like to tell you that you are a dirty filthy pirate.

[voodoolily]

Does anyone know if the video editing software is truly superior for Macs?  I've heard great stuff about GarageBand (music software, but whatever), so I'm wondering if all of the hype I see about the Mac's video editing powers are true. 

This has been true from my second-person experience. The only two people I have known to delve into film editing have been Mac users. That was in the Final Cut Pro days though (2003 ish?). If you don't wanna plunk down $900 for Final Cut Pro there's Final Cut Express for $200. I have no idea what the PC can do for the independent film editor.

[Strazos]

I seem to remember the reasoning behind a Mac's superior video editing capabilities stemming from the cpu's architecture. Something about pipelines and different instruction sets.

[raydeen]

I got a 14" G4 iBook with an 80 GB HD, 1 GB of ram and a 1.48 GHz processor. It's faster than the PCs I have at home, seems more reliaable, picks up a WI-FI signal faster than Homer J. can pick up a donut, and plays WoW with little or no hiccups

Interesting bit of useless comparisson, since we have no clue, what PC's you have at home.
The G4 with 1 GB ram I used at work was also faster than the old 0,8 GHZ Windows ME 256 MB laptop I used on travels.... and so what?

Sorry 'bout that. My desktop is an AMD Athlon 1800+, 1 GB, and an ATI 8500. The laptop is an HP with a Celeron 2.4 GHz and 512 MB with an ATI IGP 340m. Granted the problem with my PCs are the graphics cards. Way old. But even Photoshop performance and general logging in and out is much faster on the Mac. 'Course I haven't had enough time to foul it like I have my PCs. ;)
 
The only thing that I really use my PC stuff for anymore is music production. I got an external Sound Blaster for the HP laptop and can pretty much emulate a full music studio with real-time vocal processing using Cakewalk Project 5 and N-Track along with a USB keyboard. Now if only I could get my mitts on Logic Pro for the Mac....then we'd see how the two stack up.

[Sky]

The Ghost of Steve Jobs would like to tell you that you are a dirty filthy pirate.

Nah, that's the beauty of making your money on your hardware. OSX is also a very portable OS, I'm feeling very anti-XP right now given my experiences with imaging to an external HD. With Mac OSX, I just ran my imaging app, then held down Opt while booting. It just works. I'm still dicking around with this XP installation, I'm actually going to have to do research now. Which I actually don't mind...but when I can do it with a couple mouse clicks with OSX...it's just a better user experience, and that's been a consistent factor with the macs here.

The only thing that I really use my PC stuff for anymore is music production. I got an external Sound Blaster for the HP laptop and can pretty much emulate a full music studio with real-time vocal processing using Cakewalk Project 5 and N-Track along with a USB keyboard. Now if only I could get my mitts on Logic Pro for the Mac....then we'd see how the two stack up.

Why not Pro Tools with the mac? It's what tons of studios are using now. I've been eyeing the Digi002 control surface for years, I don't like using the mouse as my interface, holdover from ye auld days.

[Samwise]

I seem to remember the reasoning behind a Mac's superior video editing capabilities stemming from the cpu's architecture. Something about pipelines and different instruction sets.

Sounds like BS to me.  Much like the "AI on this console system will be crap because teh processor is optimized for floating point calculations and not for branches" or whatever we were hearing a while ago about one of the next gen consoles.  If Macs had superior video editing capabilities it'd be because the software is better.

[Jain Zar]

Mac - yes. They fucking upgrade themselves,

If by upgrade you mean gets obsolete and can be asily replaced with just one big swipe of a creditcard, than yes, you are correct.

No, I mean you don't hafta be a rocket scientist and perform surgery on it because you will always know someone who always has the newest shiny and will let you use the new OS CD to upgrade. I haven't had to pay for new OS EVAR.

The Ghost of Steve Jobs would like to tell you that you are a dirty filthy pirate.
[/quote

I personally don't warez, but considering Apple's stock is in the mid high 70s from the low 30s of a few years ago, I doubt Jobs is gonna go hungry any time soon.
And I am enjoying my Mac so far.  Its fast, smooth, and easy to use.  I accept the lack of games and smaller availability of software in trade for everything else.
And its not like my Athlon 64 Laptop is going anywhere if I absolutely NEED a Windows app.

[Sky]

I seem to remember the reasoning behind a Mac's superior video editing capabilities stemming from the cpu's architecture. Something about pipelines and different instruction sets.

Sounds like BS to me.  Much like the "AI on this console system will be crap because teh processor is optimized for floating point calculations and not for branches" or whatever we were hearing a while ago about one of the next gen consoles.  If Macs had superior video editing capabilities it'd be because the software is better.

Not BS. Well, arguably not BS, but Adobe optimizes for AltiVec.

Apple was the primary customer for AltiVec (Apple has announced intentions to use Intel based CPUs going forward), and uses it to accelerate multimedia applications such as QuickTime and iTunes. AltiVec is also put to work in key parts of Apple's Mac OS X including in the Quartz graphics compositor. Other companies such as Adobe use it for optimization of their image-processing programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Motorola was the first to supply AltiVec enabled processors starting with their G4 line (Motorola has since spun off its processor division into the separate company Freescale). AltiVec is also used in some embedded systems to provide extremely high-performance digital signal processing.

[Samwise]

Not BS. Well, arguably not BS, but Adobe optimizes for AltiVec.

Is there any actual performance difference?  If not, it's BS.

When I was taking a course in compiler design, we had a guy from Intel come to our class and talk about how they spent a lot of time working on this fancy hardware optimization to make branches faster - the chip would simultaneously begin execution of both branch possibilities while it worked on figuring out which one was the correct one, and then go back and discard the one that had turned out to be irrelevant.  Very clever and it'd look very nice in a marketing blurb once they gave it a fancy name.  Unfortunately, after about a year of working on this thing, including prototyping the hardware and writing special compilers optimized to take advantage of this new gizmo, it turned out that it only produced a 0.5% increase in performance when it came to real-world applications.  That's the way the cookie crumbles, unfortunately.

Stories like this make me very skeptical of "optimized for blah blah blah" claims that aren't backed up by real world benchmarks.   

[Lum]

So I just got back from an EB where the PC section is now a loosely organized pile of old boxes, along with one shelf of "New Releases" - in toto, CoV, AoE3, and the Movies.

Admittely I buy ALL my PC games mail order now, but there's less of em as time passes. I've seen this pattern before, with the Atari ST and the Commodore 64. It ain't gonna get better. MMOs will carry the PC market for a while, but once people crack the code for how to make a successful console MMO? That'll be it, save for "boutique" games (which admittedly is most of what I buy - strategy games mostly).

So, a casual gamer today I'd think would more than happy with a console and a Mac. Remember, casual gamers won't be drooling over web sites of Next Month's Pretty Shooter.

Personally (and admittedly I am far from "casual") I own a Windows PC and 2 consoles for gaming, and a Mac for "work" (Internet, writing, dabbling in some development). It works out pretty well.