So this weekend I’ll be skipping down to my local Apple reseller to get a Mac. Okay, I have to admit I might not get to walk out the door with one the same day but I can dream…
I’ve spent a good couple of months thinking about this and salivating over all the cool features of Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ (Not to mention it’s feline descendant ‘Leopard’ due for release in October!). I’m off to Uni in September so a new computer has been on the cards for awhile – a Mac is a (slightly more) expensive way to go but I’m trying hard not to feel guilty about spending my money on myself – I know that sounds silly, but I don’t like to be greedy!
My current PC has lasted well – not bad considering all it’s problems – but it’s still in the dark ages with a cd-rom drive, and when I see people talking about “the lowly GeForce MX 440″ I realise just how far behind I am!
Not that I’m one of those people who always has to have the latest parts and the fastest PC – I’m happy if it just works. If a game won’t run on my system I don’t buy it – I’ve always been more of a console gamer anyway – preferring to play mostly strategy games on the PC simply for the better mouse control, and online is better too – although a Playstation 3 should one day change that!
So now that I’m going to get a Mac I need to start thinking about all those games that won’t run on it – applications shouldn’t be a problem since you can get Mac versions of the most popular apps. The solution – because of the Intel processors in the new Macs, you can now run Windows on a Mac – yippee! The two options are Virtualisation (such as Parallels Desktop) or Boot Camp.
Parallels is a nice idea – you can be running Mac OS X but have a Parallels window on your desktop running a guest OS (such as Windows, Linux etc) and switch back and forth between the two at will. The downside is that the hardware it runs on is virtual so it can’t take advantage of the graphics card in the Mac (although the latest version is starting to offer limited hardware support so I expect big advances in the future). This pretty much rules out Parallels as a gaming platform for the time being.
Boot Camp on the other hand is just like dual-booting a PC – you can choose to start either Mac OS X or Windows XP (or later). The advantage is that regardless of the look of the Mac, you are running Windows on the real hardware underneath – it has no idea it’s not a PC as it’s just hardware – this means it can use the graphics card and introduces the possibility of Windows gaming on a Mac. The downside is you can only be in one OS at a time, not both simultaneously. I’m planning to spend most of my time learning my way round Mac OS X and only using Windows for gaming so I’m not too fussed – plus it’ll be nice to give friends and family the choice of using whichever they’re more comfortable with.
I’m still not sure about file sharing though – say you want to access a file on the Windows partition while you’re in Mac OS X – although, I believe programs like Mac Drive 7 allow you to do this from the Windows end. Also, Boot Camp only supports Windows as far as I know.
Out of the two, I think I’ll go for the Boot Camp method for now. It’s currently a beta product but will be issued a part of the forthcoming Leopard and is reportedly a lot more stable than using Parallels. To be honest, so long as I can run the games I already own – Dawn of War, Rogue Spear, C&C Red Alert 2 etc – and a few of the ones just out – C&C 3: Tiberium Wars, Supreme Commander – I’ll be happy. EA has stated it will start making games for the Mac so I expect to see a lot more native games coming along soon.
Choice is good. I find it quite frustrating that if you buy a PC you have to have Windows – what about Linux? I’ve tried some of the distributions and found them to be very usable – plus they’re free (or the price of the magazine the CD is on in some cases) A full OS for free?! Compare that to Windows XP Home – currently around £165, or XP pro – £240 – not to mention the Vista flavours – Vista basic £160, Premium £180 and Ultimate £320!! Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ is only around £80 itself so why is Microsoft charging so much, and why do we have such a limited choice of OS’s? There must be hundreds of different ways to interact with your computer through a GUI – where’s the innovation?
So Mac OS X is looking like a breath of fresh air for a tired Windows user. I won’t abandon Windows – if I can have both, I will. Also, I’m considering keeping my old PC and using it as a testing ground for Linux, or maybe building that Arcade Cabinet I’ve been promising myself…
More choice..more happiness..oh yes, I’m a sucker for those PC vs Mac ads…
