Really, I just love Macs sooo much. This thread is too spread the Mac/ Apple love with stories or anything else.

I'll tell you a story. 2 days ago me and my Dad went and setup his new iMac. So that all works out pretty damn well. Then comes us having to install the 11 year old HP printer. Me and him are just like "Crap, this will take a while". So, we plug the power in, then plug the USB into the iMac. Start up the iMac and wtf appears, a icon of our HP printer, on that is almost exactly like the one 2 meters away from us. We go to print a page from the internet, and IT WORKS!

IT FREAKING WORKED! It worked WITHOUT a INSTALL DISC!

Another story of mine happened this morning. We have a wireless printer, and had installed software onto my MacBook Pro, but i would constantly get a annoying HP Setup assistant program opening up (which would cause the Printer not to work cause it made the Mac think the printer was a fax (super stupid)) at startup. I find this insanely annoying, and plug in a USB, move the annoying app on it and delete it from my mac, restart my MacBook Pro and what happens, no annoying startup assistant and it still prints! I love Macs.

That is why i love Macs and a million other reasons

What's so amazing about that? Built-in OS drivers for various hardware have been around for many years.

Well, considering the printer is 11 years old. Considering that me and my Dad spent many hours trying over the years getting that same printer to work on all our old computers (always took half an hour minimum). And mostly, we didn't even need the disc to get it to WORk!

My ancient printer is up and running within a minute after I plug it in. Strange how computers work huh?

Yep. Pretty much we didn't expect it which just shocked us.

well it's good it worked

Never tried a Mac.. Still got a 1 button mouse?

Yeah but you can use any Windows based mouse..

Like I'm likely buying http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetai ... atid=20395 this in the next month or two cause i have to admit, i hate trackpads... universally, on Mac, or Windows... i hate em all.

yes they save space, but i usually work where i have plenty of space to use a trackball. Plus it makes playing CSS acutally possible.

My MS Intelimous explorer (the one with 2 buttons down each side) anyway it works in OpenSuSE 11 without drivers. The funny part is you need to install the driver in Windows.

Wow, UP got a mac? Didnt see that coming.
Check out Code weavers Crossover games application, which lets you play windows games in mac osx.
All of the source games work(from TF2, CS, to All HL games).
Just pull up your steam account using Crossover games and play your games from there(or just dual boot and load up Windows on your mac using the bootcamp application).

Sick, Thanks a ton James.

The MacBook Pro is actually my 2nd Mac. My first was a MacBook (black) but i gave it to my mother as a joint Christmas gift.

That'll be insanely helpful, I really don't want to bug the Pro down with Windows, so having CSS playable would be awesome.

1 question, does it work in lan setups or online? Kind of sucks you have to pay for it. So with Crossover you can play most games (like install a Windows based game yet play it on the Mac)



Also, to anyone with OSX knowledge, if you know of awesome stuff on mac, let me know or just use this thread to post awesome software or things of the like.

I have been unsuccessful with getting Source games working online(every single one), but this is because of my dads router/fire wall. If i allow the correct ports access to the steam servers it should work for me, but im to lazy to find which ports need to be accessible. I have played many games on crossover that work online, so Source games and others should work fine(if Crossover successfully runs the game that is).

Some cool mac stuff...
Openoffice.org- This application is essentially MS office except its not and its open source. It can open and save MS office files, and export files to power point, word, excell, etc. Its free and easy to use in place of MSoffice.
The Gimp- This application essentially allows you to edit pictures, mostly this program is used to create textures for 3d models. Its a widely used program and im sure you can find many tutorials for skinning 3d models if your interested.
Adium X- Possible this best instant messanger available for mac, i use it to talk on aim and all that good stuff. Download this...
Wings3d- Of course, my 3d modeling program of choice

I don't think those are Apple PC stuff, but open source programs that have been adapter for Apple PCs (I call them Mac PCs because they are personal computers and Mac is a PC made by Apple).
That crossover stuff is not cheap. Now, aside from spending $50 for a new game, you also have to pay $80 per year to run the games on your computer? Wow. I'll just take WINE; it has handled UT99, Star Craft, UT2004, and WA (have not tried UT3 on my piddly cheap laptop.

I've got both of these programs on my Windows, so they aren't Mac-only programs.

Gimp's much easier to use for quick stuff that would take forever in Photoshop.... and it loads MUCH faster anyways.
Wings3d... I still stick to Maya 5 PLE, so I can't say much, but I've got it and it works just fine on my XP.

WoW players that use a Mac must have meaty wallets; overpriced computer, game, monthly payment for playing online and then Crossover.

Is the computer really overpriced? If you drop $1000 on a Macbook, I wonder if it really is so bad for a higher-end computer. There are cheaper, such as a $350 8" notebook a friend of mine got with a 160GB and a 1.6GHz core, but the Macbook does have high quality construction, good hardware inside, and an OS that comes bundled with useful programs and far less crapware/bloatware than most XP laptop computers. Do dell or HP give better deals for the same kind of quality?

I didnt mean they were mac only, just stating they are mac friendly.

Apple PC? i'll just say mac
and i was not aware that crossover cost money yearly, i got a free registration key from a promotion they had going on two months ago or something. While crossover may not be worth buying, its still cool to try out. i'll look into this yearly price thing later...

tyster, i checked the website and for one its $40 for the product... didnt see anything about a yearly cost. I stick to free mac games or just mac games, there may not be as big as a selection to choose from as windows but there still are good games out there that run nativly on mac.

I know for a fact that laptops in general give less bang for the buck than desktop computers. I haven't checked up on latest prices on Macs, but the last time I looked at comparisons, Windows machines were obvious winners when it comes to price/performance ratio. That ratio mainly relates to gaming though, and is, as many people know, not the Macs' strongest point. Our very own James has shown that several times over the years.

But if you find articles or comparisons that prove me wrong, then by all means link to them, I haven't been too busy doing that myself.

I wont argue about the selection of games and which is more powerful, i think its obvious windows owns the competition there.

Bjossi, check this out if your interested. Its a bit old but it shows some data, which i have not really looked at all ironically.

I've seen that page before. Although the Macs get slaughtered in the 3D tests, it is probably the programming being specially optimized for Windows machines. One can see the same pattern within Windows support; ATi get slaughtered by nVidia in nVidia-optimized games like Doom 3 or Quake 4. That article states that Macs have many unique features that aren't being utilized effectively or at all. I don't know how much power can be squeezed out of them, but I bet they would be a worthy competition if given the same treatment as Windows support gets.

This is a difficult situation; basically Macs aren't being properly supported due to Windows having a far bigger market share, and the far less market share of Macs is because they aren't being properly supported. . .

Well said Bjossi, windows is the main focus so the potential that macs do have never fully gets taken advantage of. Its just how it is when your not in the spotlight i suppose.

Have you ever tried to run a CPU Folding @ Home client on your computer? It is good for science and is probably the one field Macs slaughter Windows machines in. (with the CPU client that is, I'm not sure if there is a GPU Mac client available)

I'd be interested to see how much work your processor gets done compared to mine. My PPD (points per day) jumps around 400 - 800 depending on how "valuable" the work unit is.

Just read about it and see if you're interested. This isn't too complicated once you get the hang of it, and is very rewarding. The F@H shared computing project is now 3 times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer, and is always accelerating.

I'd have gotten one back when I first read about them on FA's forums, but since my computer is usually being used 95% of the time I'm home (which is when the compy is on), it'd be almost a waste of space for me.... although I should probably seriously try. You can join F@H groups with it too, IIRC (or so the FA thread had said by a few posters).

The F@H client is a low priority task. If you start a game, the client will reduce its usage as much as the game needs. I'm always using my computer myself when it is on, but that doesn't mean the CPU is always being used, F@H gets a lot of work done per day over here.

And if you have a good video card (8000 series or higher), you can use the GPU2 client. The GPU is a folding monster, it will rack up points like there is no tomorrow. Though this one isn't prioritized, so better close it before heavy gaming.

I have been wondering if it would be fun to start a RuneStorm F@H team, btw. We wouldn't stand a chance against the big teams but it would still be fun for us to compete for the most points.

I'd rather spend the money since it isn't Windows and doesn't give me a headache.

Since you didn't put any ground under that statement, I am going to assume that this is a yet another case of 'the bad sailor blames the boat'.

I think it all comes down to semantics, which is the game we're starting to play. It's partly your comfortable groove, partly how much you are willing to spend, how much you even care in the first place, what you want to do, etc. UP has every right to hate Windows and any MS product without base becasue he has a system and it works for him, just as I have every right to hate OSX and Apple because I have a system that meets my wants and needs (mainly, gaming, Putty, VirtualBox, and WinSCP. There is nothing to be gained by forcing or convincing a person to say he/she/it does not despise something that is not needed to get what you want. Is there anything more to argue about for UP? Glad to see things are working out.

Then I think you misunderstood Bjossi. It seems that Bjossi is curious after an argument that can support UP's vague and decisive statement. I can't blame him though. Not liking something 'just because it's windows' doesn't sound very appealing.

Exactly. I'm interested to see what made UP get headaches from using Windows (XP?). Just saying 'its Windows' is not a valid argument. Hell, a five year old child could come up with that. I know UP is older and much smarter than that, so surely he can elaborate on the matter and put it constructively. That is all it takes really; if you put solid ground under your statement, it won't fall to the bottom and get smashed to pieces.

i used windows on my mac for over a year, at first i liked it a lot... but then i switched back because i was only doing a little gaming when i booted up windows. A lot of things for me are a lot simpler in OS X, just a personal preference. I like windows, just not as much
Try out both OS's so you can actually bash, to people who do that i suppose.

I've never used OS X, but I haven't gotten headaches from Windows either, I just get the occasional headaches from awkward sitting position.