Everyone is entitled to an opinion… Mac Vs. PC Round One (Hardware)

Monday, April 21st, 2008
by badr

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I got a lot of friends. Some are in the PC side and others are in the Mac side. Some love PC’s because they can mod them to their heart content, others love macs because of the security, their thoughtful designs or because the OS is very very slick. I have friends that are PC Fanboys and friends that are Mac Fanboys. I got friends that love the PS3 and others love the xbox360.

I like to say that for tastes there are colors, and my friends are cool no matter what is their preference.

This morning I was having my typical conversation with Darksoul. We were talking about banks, the weather in texas (he is moving over there soonish), and I was telling him how I got offered in my job a macbook air and I turned it down for a lenovo x300. Frankly I think the Macbook Air, could be better designed, but i wouldnt dunk $1700 on it. Id rather buy a Macbook Pro like I will in November 2008, when Nehelem comes out.

Darksoul is a very passionate nerd. Well we are all geeks and fandom goes in different ways, I think windows sucks, and the only product Microsoft has made that is really good is the 360. Well anyways, recently he has begun the changes of de-borginisation. He recently switched… from being a Microsoft Lover to being an Ubuntu embracer. I was telling him this is very good. Its a good step to head into the light. Every geek knows Linux is king, and windows is used for solitaire. And Vista Sucks. OSX is a refined Linux, tied to a framework called Cocoa, which is why its not free, but OSX and linux are the same thing.

So the thing is that Darkie since he cannot argue about the software, because lets me honest, he is still in a transition period. He went to argue about something he knows best… The Hardware. So we argued about the hardware and this is when you know, that when you cannot keep in a debate the best weapon you can do is shutting up. But Darkie insisted that the mac hardware is not superior to PC hardware. I personally beg to differ. After owning a PowerPC G5 and a 8Core Mac Pro, I can say that the hardware on Mac’s is superior because the OS is tailored to it. Darkie in the heat of the arguement said something that its very difficult to achive, and quoting him, “I can build a better 8-Core Workstation with half the price of what your Mac Pro cost you”.
Knowing this is nearly as impossible as Vista being impervious to viruses, I offered him a challenge…

“If you can build an 8 Core PC with the same specs my Mac Pro has, and in half the price it cost me, I will admit defeat… and I’ll admit it in a video in youtube, but if you can’t you must do the same from the PC stand point…” Yeah I know its kind of a bit childish, but then again it proves a point… If you are so sure of your prowess, I am pretty sure you can best me and shut me up…

I gave him my specs, and although my Mac Pro, cost me around $600 cheaper because I bought it under a Government discount, that we would run the challenge not applying any discounts:

* Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
* 4GB (4 x 1GB)
* 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
* NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI)
* One 16x SuperDrive
* Apple Keyboard
* Logitech MX Revolution

Total including Maryland Tax: $4567.97 (it cost me $4,001.00 with the discounts and tax).

Darkie having no point to prove his boistering relied to keep silent, say how he couldnt afford a mahcine like that in the present etc. etc. I didnt really pretended him to go buy it, I just wanted him to show me, that he could build a PC with the specs of my Mac Pro, cheaper by 50%.

Bottom Line?

He couldn’t.

I out of curiosity did some research. The only machine I found that offered a Dual Quad Core combination was Hewlett Packard, it goes like this:

HPxw8600 Workstation

* Intel xeon X5472 3.0Ghz 12/M1600 QC cPU x2
* 4Gb Ram DDR2-667 ECC FBD Ram
* Nvidia Quadro FX1700 512Mb PCIe
* HP 500GB SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 7200
* HP 16X DVD+-RW Super Multi Sata
* Keyboard + Mouse

System price:$6,976.00

This is a difference of $2408.03 This is pretty much the cost of another “gaming” rig or a 24″ iMac or the more expensive of the MacBook Pro’s, or simply put a shitload of money.

Darkie’s response? Well he closed up he Messenger and bitched that mac sucks.

The only thing I have to say to him is, that everyone has a preference, but if you are going to make a remark that is going to draw a challenge at least be honest enough to know that you were just bullshitting and you didnt know what you were talking in the first place.

Darkie: You know I consider you a good friend and I know you are an aggitator… But if I shut you up at least be a man about it and admit it… its not going to hurt… :)

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