Mac is it worth it?

[CJ Jackson]

I got a very good question, how does Apple handle the heating problem of those Intel i7 CPU's within the Mac Mini and the iMac? Is there any over-clocking potentials? I'm aware the Mac Pro does have not have that problem because they use a big case with lower clocked Intel Xeon CPU's but it just too damn expensive!

[VT-Vincent]

They handle it with well designed heatpiping, speed throttling and variable speed fans. This is the same thing other manufacturers do to get the i7 into laptops and other small form factor devices. To be honest, it's not much of a challenge to cool. I'm sure the old G5 iMacs were much more difficult to engineer since the processor ran so hot they couldn't even use it in their laptop line.

 

I'm assuming Apple only uses one cooling solution per model and as such it is probably designed to meet the thermal threshold of the highest CPU option offered in that model. I haven't heard of overclocking on a Mac before though since they use an EFI instead of a conventional BIOS. It may be possible with third-party utilities and if it is, you could probably do some slight overclocking on one of the lower CPU options. I wouldn't try it on the highest CPU they offer in that model though as it would probably exceed the cooler's capabilities.

[CJ Jackson]

They handle it with well designed heatpiping, speed throttling and variable speed fans. This is the same thing other manufacturers do to get the i7 into laptops and other small form factor devices. To be honest, it's not much of a challenge to cool. I'm sure the old G5 iMacs were much more difficult to engineer since the processor ran so hot they couldn't even use it in their laptop line.

 

Those 90nm PowerPC CPU's, that would obviously generate more heat then the i7 45nm & 32nm, but those generate more heat then AMD Phenom II x6 45nm.

 

I'm assuming Apple only uses one cooling solution per model and as such it is probably designed to meet the thermal threshold of the highest CPU option offered in that model. I haven't heard of overclocking on a Mac before though since they use an EFI instead of a conventional BIOS. It may be possible with third-party utilities and if it is, you could probably do some slight overclocking on one of the lower CPU options. I wouldn't try it on the highest CPU they offer in that model though as it would probably exceed the cooler's capabilities.

 

I heard most of the third-party utilities were available on windows, is that true? So it theoretically so no over-clocking potential on the highest CPU?

 

Anyway, it's cost around £1,000 to build a PC that can easily outperforms the Mac Pro's 8 core option in many areas which is exactly £2,859, the examples PC specification are AMD Phenom II x6 1090t, oc to 3.8Ghz, H50 water cooler, 8GB DDR2-800 RAM (Corsair XMS), ATI Radeon HD6970, 2TB Seagate Hard drive and a 1000w cooler master power supply.

[ken_cinder]

There's nothing available for Mac, that doesn't have an equal or better counterpart in either Windows or some flavor of *nix.

 

Paying for imprisonment in my hardware is not something I care for, nor is using a bastardized dumb dumb OS built upon the foundations of something FAR greater than it.

 

I like Apple's simplicity in design and usage, but I hate their restrictive nature of it. Worst of all...I hate their rabidly loyal Sheep fanbase.

[CJ Jackson]

I have came to conclusion, it not worth it for the UK users at least, the UK price is anything but justified, the UK price tag for the lowest specs iMac is £1,020 (~US$1,637.74), while in the US it's $1,199 (~GB£746.81). To make price comparison fairer, add VAT(20%, Tax) to the US price tag then it's £896.17. Translation cost is not a good excuse.

 

Terrible practice, Apple not the only one that pulls off that kind of practices, Adobe still does it and Microsoft ceased from doing that, the only reason why MS product are expensive in the UK is because of high tax rates (20%) and that understandable.

 

As for the Mac Pro, I like the fact that they used passive heatsink for the CPU's and the fact they place it horizontally so it does not cause stress to the board. They sure thought that out well.

 

As for the US users, I let the US users decide.

 

Hey ken, the thing with the FreeBSD license is the fact is that there is no requirement of redistributing the source code modified or unmodified and also allows re-licensing unlike the GPL license, at the end of the day there is just no perfect open source license.

Edited January 18, 2011 by Hexter

[ken_cinder]

OSX isn't FreeBSD...OSX kernel is Mach, FreeBSD is not.

 

OSX is Mach with a FreeBSD Userland ontop. The FreeBSD kernel is a beast of it's own really.

[VT-Vincent]

Ouch, Apple's products are considered pretty expensive compared to their competition here in the US but that pricing is outlandish.

[Krosigrim]

Its already been covered but my 2 cents

 

Im on a mac right now... And my mom got a mac last year. These things are terrific for casual use, work applications (most), Art stuff, your Mom or non gaming girlfriend! Not having to mess with virus bullshit and PC slowdown is awesome.

 

But realistically... not so great for our requirements.

[tintin]

Virtualization or teenage boot camp is a good option if you can do just about everything you need to within OS X. It's good to have around for the occasional one-off program that's not on the Mac side and has no reasonable equivalent.

 

 

I agree with him. bootcamp is really a good choice for you. My temporary solution that works all the time is I put a XP bootable CD in, I go to Preference Pane (in OSX), see the XP CD as a Boot choice, choose to reboot with that.

Edited April 15, 2011 by tintin

[Shoma]

Dont piss yourseld thinking its "virus" free, there are still workover programs you get from websites that screw around with your mac.

However honestly its quite rare we get a mac to fix.