Originally Posted by Recurring Villain
For ****'s sake what is wrong with you people.
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I think you're the one with the problem. Macs are the way to go... some people just take longer to see that than others.
In response to your problem, Superkid, I'm happy to help you pick the right Mac for you. We'll worry about base model first, and then I'll help you to narrow down which version of the one you pick would be best for you.
I whipped up a comparison chart giving you a rough idea of what to expect from each of Apple's systems.
I will try to respond to each of your questions individually.
Can you recommend something fast / that can run many programs at once?
Fast is relative these days. I seriously doubt you'll run into any crippling bottlenecks even with the low-end Mac mini, but it does depend on what you'll be using the machine for. My old Mac mini (1.66 GHz Core Duo, 512 MB RAM) didn't have too much trouble running lots of programs, but it was a bit on the sluggish side even during general use. The best way to describe it is that performance didn't
decrease with more programs; it just wasn't that great to begin with. (I subsequently upgraded it to 2 GB RAM.) As far as "fast" goes, though, you should be okay with just about anything from their current lineup.
What about reliability?
To be honest, Macs are more reliable pretty much no matter what. This has to do with two things, primarily: 1) Apple has hand selected the hardware that goes into their machines, therefore compatibility and performance is maximized, and 2) OS X is just helluva better operating system than Windows is. It's written better, it performs better, and it's just plain more stable. There's just no comparison. I can all but guarantee that you'll have very few (if any) reliability problems with any Mac. (And if you do, their support is good -- but in over a year and a half of Mac ownership I've only ever needed them to replace a failing hard drive, which they did quickly and free of charge.)
What about Windows emulation?
You're covered here in multiple ways. First, Apple has released a piece of software known as Boot Camp, which will allow you to partition off a section of your hard drive and install Windows to it. You can then choose at startup to boot into either Mac OS X or Windows (both XP and Vista are supported, though I think I know which you'd prefer). Both operating systems are completely self-sufficient, and Apple allows you to burn a driver CD so that you can fully use all the machine's hardware in Windows. It functions just like you're sitting in front of a PC (because, in effect, you are). You can then restart back into Mac OS X at any time.
There is another alternative available to you, in the form of either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. Both of these products allow you to setup Windows in a "virtual machine," which resides on your hard drive and is activated from within Mac OS X when you so choose. Essentially, this is like running Windows in a window. Performance is not as good as with Boot Camp, as you are pretty much running two complete operating systems at once, but it's easily good enough to run just about any basic Windows application. (I even have FL Studio running in my virtual machine with good performance.) Both of these products also have an excellent feature called Coherence (or Unity in VMware) which essentially allows Windows applications to run transparently alongside your Mac applications. The Windows VM is still running, but you cannot see the desktop or Start menu, and instead just interact directly with the applications as though they were Mac applications. See the screenshot below.
What about Windows gaming, specifically?
You have less choice in what you can do here. Parallels and VMware both support DirectX graphics, but only up to DirectX 8.1 (the current version is 9). Unless your game came out several years ago, you will likely be unable to run it in Parallels or VMware. Instead you must run games using Boot Camp, which can make full use of your graphics card's abilities. This is a very viable solution and it's how I play all my games now. Just something to consider.
Also, if you plan to play any recent games on your Mac, you will need to get a Mac with a decent video card. The Intel GMA950 simply isn't capable of handling most newer 3D games, so if gaming is a consideration, you can start by ruling out the Mac mini and the MacBook. Neither of those is designed as a gaming machine.
I have a MacBook Pro and it runs games very well. It's very nice to be able to play all my games wherever I am at quite high graphics settings. (I'm very happy with my MacBook Pro -- it does everything I need it to do and more.)
Are there any kind of software synth / MIDI issues?
I honestly don't know what you're getting at here. I think you're getting your wires crossed. First of all, Macs are the choice of the creative professional when making music, so it's a safe bet that it has everything you would need. Second of all, my Mac can play MIDI files just fine with no additional software than what comes out of the box, so I would say that whatever your concern is is invalid. And finally, it really doesn't matter what the Mac has if you're worried about Windows games, as you won't be using your Mac's MIDI engine for the Windows game! You'll be running it either in Boot Camp or in Parallels/VMware, so you will be using the Windows sound engine anyway!
I hope this post was helpful for you! Together I have confidence we'll be able to choose the right Mac for you. Congratulations on your choice!
