Battle Royal: Mac Vs. PC

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Battle Royal: Mac Vs. PC

Postby Ashton » Mon Jul 07, 2003 8:58 pm

Alright, so I watched Brad DeMoss's AMV Creation 101 panel at AX, and I kinda got curious about the possibility of buying a new Mac (possibly a G5.) I want all of your vicious soul eating input on this topic, so do your worst and sling all the mud you can, one way or another.
The topic: In terms of AMV creation, what are the advantages and disadvantages to owning a Mac versus owning a PC?
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Postby WhereNext » Mon Jul 07, 2003 9:05 pm

well the main advantage i see in using a Mac is that you get to use Final Cut, which i feel is a better editing solution than anything anybody in here can afford for a pc.
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Postby iserlohn » Mon Jul 07, 2003 9:15 pm

There's already a thread about this in Video Hardware called "Want to Edit? Get a Powerbook!" or something similar.

I use a PC, would love to get a mac, so it goes.
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Postby WhereNext » Mon Jul 07, 2003 9:55 pm

well, I'd be happy with a pc if i could get an AVID workstation, but damn i don't have $8,000!!
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Postby Ashton » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:48 pm

iserlohn wrote:There's already a thread about this in Video Hardware called "Want to Edit? Get a Powerbook!" or something similar.

I use a PC, would love to get a mac, so it goes.

Yeah, jeez, I guess I should have looked before I leaped. :oops:
Anyway, reading through that thread gave me a major headache, but I think I have the answer to most of my questions, thanks.
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Postby Mr Pilkington » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:54 pm

Oh jebus not another Mac vs. PC war. No one ever wins these things! Leave it be. Wait for the new technology to come down the line (6-8 months) and just run OS X.2 on your PC.
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Postby Nightowl » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:56 pm

Use both Mac and PC - that way, you're better than everyone :)

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Postby EarthCurrent » Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:42 pm

Commodore 64!!! WHOOOO!!!
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Postby Larg0 » Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:46 pm

Macs = Better editing software and faster (with the G5).

PCs = Better encoding software and cheaper.

So long,
Larg0

ps. I choose Macs. I love mine.
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Postby OmniStrata » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:02 am

http://www.redvsblue.com/appleswitch.shtml

I rest my case...

[games vs. editing, my eternal struggle...]
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Postby dwchang » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:23 am

Larg0 wrote:Macs = Better editing software and faster (with the G5).

PCs = Better encoding software and cheaper.

So long,
Larg0

ps. I choose Macs. I love mine.


Too many misconceptions in this thread.

First off, I am a computer engineer at AMD and am fairly qualifed to answer a question about computer architecture. Apple hardware is *not* faster than x86 technology. Even the G5.

In fact, the first few benchmarks that touted it as the fastest desktop PC were all fabricated. The benchmarks weren't fair and Apple even disabled things on the x86 side (like Hyper-threading and multi-processing) as well as enabled performance things on Apple's side and not on the x86 side like special libraries. This was all revealed a few days later and Apple was pretty much caught redhanded.

The article can be found here. In fact, it's written by an Apple user.

If anyone has questions about the benchmarks and results, feel free to ask. The basic summary is above.

In fact, once "more fair" (no such thing as a perfect benchmark), the G5 was apparently 50% slower than the soon to be released Athlon 64 and even slower than the older P4/Athlon series. Given, at the same time, I will admit that Apple has definitely closed the gap in performance (they were QUITE a bit behind the x86 series), but regardless...they are still slower than current technology (once Intel releases Prescott and AMD releases Athlon 64, it's back to Apple getting owned again).

As for the actual question with editing, Apple definitely has Final Cut Pro which is significantly more power (and more importantly) and stable than Adobe Premiere. At the same time, the misconception is that they have the most powerful editing software. This is quite untrue. Everyone (even me in the past) forgets about Avid. That owns both Premiere and Final Cut Pro.

So in conclusion, Apple is *definitely* not faster in both "speed" (Mhz) and "efficiency." They may have some good software, but I don't think it warrants buying a ~$3,000 machine. Also, as Omni has alluded, what else can you do with your MAC? I'd rather stay with my x86/Windows based machine, have more codecs/software/games as well as a decent video-editing program. *IF* I had a ton of money I might consider getting a Powerbook since they are sleek and I do wanna try FCP, but I don't think it's worth it when given a choice of one or the other.

One *BIG* disclaimer that I wanna add is something Nightowl said in the Powerbook thread. Regardless of all these performance questions and software things...the key thing to think about is which system you are most comfortable with. Even if there's a ton of software and power, if you can't efficiently use the system, you're not really using all that power. Therefore, in the end, it's all about what you're comfortable with.
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Postby dwchang » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:28 am

Oh and yes, I do realize how biased my opinion can be, but you can't argue with things like that article and other results people are getting. I am *trying* to give an unbiased opinion based on facts to help with the original question. I again point you to the disclaimer at the end of the post. That's what counts.
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Postby OmniStrata » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:35 am

I find your lack of stupidity intriguing...

Well done Daniel! 8)

[gives dw 1337 shades...]
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Postby dwchang » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:36 am

OmniStrata wrote:I find your lack of stupidity intriguing...

Well done Daniel! 8)

[gives dw 1337 shades...]


That's why AMD pays me the big bucks 8) j/k
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Postby Farlo » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:57 am

im perfectly happy with my pc...but its just a personal preference
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