When did evrybody start liking apple? • Non-Gaming • Apple, Mac, and iPod • Eurogamer.net

Milk 3 Mar 2005 17:16:50 2,253 posts
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I was just wondering when this whole 'mass apple love thing' kicked off, and what has happened to cause it?

Was it the iMac, iPod, OSX or just the return of Mr Jobs?

I remember using Apple products since I was about 8 or 9, my first vivid memories are of my dad's [link=http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_ii/stats/mac_iivi.html">IIvi. Playing

sam_spade 3 Mar 2005 17:18:48 15,745 posts
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When you could eject a disc by hand and not have the OS throw a hissy fit about it.

Deleted user 3 March 2005 17:21:18

Milk wrote:
I was just wondering when this whole 'mass apple love thing' kicked off, and what has happened to cause it?

Was it the iMac, iPod, OSX or just the return of Mr Jobs?

I remember using Apple products since I was about 8 or 9, my first vivid memories are of my dad's [link=http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_ii/stats/mac_iivi.html">IIvi. Playing

Deleted user 3 March 2005 17:22:17

I liked the idea of Apple a few years ago, but as soon as the ipod started being taken up by the masses I've made them my sworn enemy, mostly because the majority of the people I know who've become all Apple-ized are complete wankers. Not the guys on the forum, because they actually know what they're talking about when it comes to computers. It's just that I find that it's all about image for them. Most conversations go like so:

Me: So why'd you buy a Mac then?

Them: Oh 'cos they look so much better than a PC.

Me: Uhuh, anything else.

Them: Well it's what all the designers use innit?

Me: Do you do any design work then?

Them: No, but...

Me: Thank you! Everybody! Look it's a wanker!

Deleted user 3 March 2005 17:26:45

I guess I'm resentful cos I'm broke...

Deleted user 3 March 2005 18:44:35

I started liking Apple when I first saw an iMac, I've never had a chance to own one though. I use eMacs and G3/4's in college though.

Nemesis 3 Mar 2005 18:55:21 20,312 posts
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I first used a Mac about 17 years back when PageMaker was all the rage for an interview process at a local design company. They advised me to continue at school and not work at 16. I ignored them and went somewhere else.

Then it was 4 years later and we'd got a Mac on loan to design a database system in FoxBase+. Cue 5 techs trying to find the eject button for the floppy drive (bless) and me fucking around with the sounds. MONKEY! Cool!

But the first time I wanted one...well...I had a friend of a friend who'd got a new iMac through an insurance claim and she wanted a PC lappie. I had an old lappie, but the deal fell through. I read about the iMacs from that point onward and waited all through the Gumdrop G3s and got the first generation iMac G4 with a first gen iPod. I think that was about 3 or 4 years ago now...it's all a bit hazy.

That machine is still being used by my Mum and the iPod is still in daily use by Mrs Nem. I took that iPod out of it's protective slip-cover and *heh* it looks quite angular and clunky now. The iMac G4....well it's never gone wrong since day 1 and I've had two calls from my Mum. The first was 'how do I power it on' as she'd always put it to sleep and the 2nd was 'help me setup a wireless router'. That's it. No tech calls, no BSOD problems, no driver issues, no virus or pop-up problems. No crashes, no disappearing peripherals. She loves it and so do I. Anything that generates less tech calls to Nemmie Towers gets an official seal of approval and a fancy gold star.

GrandTheftApu 3 Mar 2005 18:59:20 6,117 posts
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I first started using macs seriously when the first powerpc models came out, while I was at college. At the time I don't think there even was pc versions of photoshop, quark, director, premiere etc. so there wasn't really any choice involved. But I just got used to the mac os and everything else seemed inferior, I've since used pcs and unix but still prefer macs; they just let you get on with your work.

Nemesis 3 Mar 2005 19:04:16 20,312 posts
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Best thing?

Rock solid OS (although XP taken care of can be trouble-free also)

The Powerbook I'm using at the moment has the *sweetest* display and keyboard you're ever likely to use. The machine is just *fantastic*

Logical GUI. XP is just a mess of a design after using a Mac. It's just...not very efficient. I've not been able to quite put that into words, but the feel of it is just wrong....and I've been using PCs since DOS 3.1.

I can sit up at the table, have email open, iTunes open, Safari open and they all tick along very nicely in the background. If anything wants my attention the icon bounces on the dock as I type away. XP brings the app to the front and ignores the fact I'm merrily tapping away in another app.

TennesseeStiff 3 Mar 2005 19:22:51 372 posts
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I really had no interest in Apple at all until OSX came out. I'd played around with early Macs in the mid 80s and although I could see the advantage of the UI over what was available in the PC world, the price difference was so great that owning one was just out of the question. You have to remember that computers in those days were expensive, so even more expensive computers were not easy to afford.

It's also worth remembering that Apple actually fell behind the OS race for a long time. Ironically, during much of that time they had a hardware performance advantage.

Sure, you could argue that Apple had a better UI than Windows NT, but the underling OS sucked ass; No pre-emptive multitasking, having to manually assign memory to applications; it wasn't a pretty sight.

The first none developer versions of OSX began to appear around 2000 and that's when I began to get interested. Having said that, for a lot of this period, Apple has been a bit behind hardware wise, given that they now had an OS that needed all the cycles you could through at it to make it run well.

It was only when the new PowerBooks came out, (finally) with DVD+/-RW that I felt Apple had something that could meet my need at a reasonable price (after bragging a student discount!)

..... My needs however, are not the same as those of other people and in the past year 3 people who are friends or family have bought iBooks. As the resident PC geek for a lot of people, their PC problems were my problem and I was getting sick of re-installing Windows. So getting them on to Macs has made my life considerably easier.

So really for me the main thing has been OS X and the fact that that lower end Mac hardware has developed enough to run it adequately. In other words G4 iBooks, the new Mac Mini and to a lesser extent, the iMac G5s.

Not interested in the iPod as I like listening to music I haven't heard before when I'm out and about.

There is a lot that annoys me about Apple, the way they do things and their fanbase, but the system as a whole is good enough for me to start to look past that. I still don't think they are great value for money in some key respects and wouldn't necessarily recommend them to everyone. Obviously gamers are one group but by no means the only one.

Edited by TennesseeStiff at 19:25:07 03-03-2005

Deleted user 3 March 2005 19:24:36

Well if any of the people I know had made any of those arguments to me I would have accepted them. It's just I find that a lot of people that I know are choosing it because of the looks, and the association with the ipod. It's purely image for them, and I personally don't like that kind of shallowness.

Sponz 3 Mar 2005 19:41:15 702 posts
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Milk wrote:
I was just wondering when this whole 'mass apple love thing' kicked off, and what has happened to cause it?

no love here, only hate....

if you come round to my place, you will leave your [insert apple product here] at the door, otherwise my cat is under orders to attack your leg.

just for all you mac lovers, i invite you to see this movie i found a year or so back:

mac.wmv

disclaimer: all opinions of apple expressed or put across above are my own.

Deleted user 3 March 2005 19:51:03

Can you feel the love?

MikeD 3 Mar 2005 19:57:45 10,063 posts
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Hehe, that's still one of the funniest tech movies I have ever seen. :-)

Deleted user 3 March 2005 20:07:55

Pussy, fight the battle!

Deleted user 3 March 2005 20:15:34

That's better! Who needs facts and coolheadedness when you've got a perfectly good metal bat to ram your opinions down the throats of anyone who disagrees with anything you say? No-one, that's who. Well maybe a Mac person... pussys.

GrandTheftApu 3 Mar 2005 20:19:37 6,117 posts
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I have used pre- OS X macs extensively and have never experienced a lot of what he talks about in the film. I would still rate OS9 as better than any version of windows other than XP.

Deleted user 3 March 2005 20:40:22

You have to find them first

deem 3 Mar 2005 21:13:13 31,667 posts
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deem 3 Mar 2005 21:14:04 31,667 posts
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Nemesis 3 Mar 2005 21:33:47 20,312 posts
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JCMONKEY wrote:
Ok, an important factor, how well does a Mac play games?

Pretty well, depending on what hardware you've got (obviously).

My PB15 has a 64MB 9800 GPU, decent RAM and a decent CPU. The CPU is a few .somethings slower than the new machines. It playes World of Warcraft at 1280x960 (native 15" screen res) without an issue. I can sit in bed and play WoW via wireless networking. Woo! Alright you're not gonna max out the settings like you can on a dedicated desktop X800 card, but it's still bloody good. Warcraft 3 you can max out, Rise of Nations max out; MOHAA and CoD at native re, KOTOR at medium res, Age of Mythology and Neverwinter Nights maxed out.

So *shrug* that's on the PB range. You can add in an additional 64MB of GPU RAM if you order from the Store. I wouldn't suggest a Dual G5 machine purely for gaming. Sure you can max that out with an X800 and Dual 2.5 gig G5s, but it'll cost you a FORTUNE. Shame, really.

The mix that works for me is the PC for gaming (because they are out first), consoles for a quick-fix gaming, and some gaming on the Mac. I think if I used the Mac as a single gaming machine I'd be a bit fed up. No Rome: Total War. No Half-Life2. Stuff like that.

So...you can game and lots of people do. I still can't let go of the PC though, because I hate missing out. :-)

Edited by Nemesis at 21:44:10 03-03-2005

deem 3 Mar 2005 21:40:41 31,667 posts
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GrandTheftApu 3 Mar 2005 21:41:57 6,117 posts
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HL2 is not available for the mac so there's no telling what the minimum hardware requirement would be.

Nemesis 3 Mar 2005 21:43:36 20,312 posts
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No, it's just not out on Mac :-(

Some of the porting across to Mac is delayed by licence issues. For example, the Havok physics engine isn't licenced to Mac. So that stops MOHAA : Pacific Assault coming across.

An 800 Mhz G4 with a 32MB 4MX card used to run Warcraft 3 at a native 1480xsomethingorother resolution at medium/high res.

My 1.33 G4 PB15 with the 9800 card can run WoW.

/small shrug

Nemesis 3 Mar 2005 21:44:32 20,312 posts
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deem wrote:

Nemesis wrote:
with an X8000

/ducks and runs

Oooooh typo.

deem 3 Mar 2005 21:57:33 31,667 posts
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Deleted user 3 March 2005 21:59:05

It's class war in computer form.