Mac or PC

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

If you're not into photo or music editing, PC is the way to go. For text processing and surfing, a PC is much cheaper, and for gaming, PC has better hardware. PC is the only way to go for gaming.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I have to agree with the above points - as a hardcore gamer, PC all the way. It can be constantly upgraded, and is pretty much guaranteed to work with all games.

[Lemur]

I'll fourth or fifth the opinions here. For a hardcore gamer, the only computer to think about is a PC with Windows XP. (Vista gives a 10% slowdown across the board in games, unfortunately. Using DX10 slows things down even more seriously.)

[Ramses II CP]

If you're a gamer who likes Macs, you must run Bootcamp and install XP side by side. Games don't make it to the Mac, it's a fact. I've done a recent Bootcamp XP install (I don't own a Mac, helped out a friend) and it's extremely easy.

Even with that in mind, a Mac isn't going to upgrade a quarter as well, is going to cost more for comparable hardware, and in the end all you gain is a slightly more tolerable OS and a kitsch factor.

[Bijo]

Yes, I would say if you're a hardcore gamer then go for a Windows PC and probably Vista in the future. A Mac is also a PC by the way, it is after all a personal computer. The correct designations would be Windows PC and Mac PC (or something along those lines).

And professional photo and music editing/activities can be done just as well on a Windows machine. They say the Mac is more professional or better for these purposes.... well, that's just a myth. It sounds more like some kind of "fashion" or "coolness" factor or ignorance factor to use a Mac instead of a Windows machine.

For music and/or production what you need are good professional software, good audio interfaces, etc., and good monitors/speakers and maybe good headphones. For a studio you'd obviously go a lot further. We don't give a damn whether it's Mac or Windows, only if we subjectively prefer one over the other or if one platform has some kind of thing supposedly superior that REALLY makes an important difference.

Ultimately, it's about the people using the stuff.

[Husar]

Bijo is right about Macs being PCs.

Also if you're a real hardcore gamer you'll get Vista and just buy a PC that's 10% faster than what you really want.

[Xiahou]

Bijo is right about Macs being PCs.

Well, since Apple's own advertising calls it Mac or PC, I think we can stick with that for simplicity.

PC iirc, comes from the original IBM PC, which all the first PCs were clones of- thus the term was 'IBM compatible PC', which was unsurprisingly shortened just to PC. Macs have a different lineage, which is why they still aren't generally referred to as PCs. In case anyone cared....

'Windows PC' fails anyway, since PCs can run a variety of operating systems- Windows is just the prevalent one.

[RoadKill]

Here is the deal though. The thing that attracted me to the Mac PC was the program they had called Garageband. I am really into editing music and stuff, you could even say it is a hobby of mine. And the PC just lacks those types of hardcore programs. But unless someone can provide me with a good music editing program for the Windows Xp, then I guess my new computer is going to be a PC.