Mac vs other...very long

[xtorted-legacy]

Hi, I am new to this forum.   I been trying to learn as much as I can about the the alternatives to Windows.  This all started a couple of months ago when my friend enligthed me to the idea of linux.  He sent me to this sight, and i started to read.  Soon, I didn't want anything to do with windows and microsoft in genaral. For the last 2 1/2 years, i been using a 1ghz amd athlon, 512 mgb sdram, gforce2 mx 400 pc.  I used to game a lot, but not so much anymore. I am really starting to get into 3d design and want to do this for a profession. I was gonna build a duel processor 1.0-1.6 ghz amd athlon pc.  But,  After doing a lot of reading I have some questions

Does the limited FSB really impact the performance?I know it will not be the fastest(no one will ever have the fastest computer)

Is the new Mac os compatible with some windows application besides MS. Office?

I have a soundblaster audigy sound card. Can I find drivers for Mac?

Probably stupid, but can u run a Mac os. on a pc or linux on a mac computer?

I want to rid myself of windows, but i don't want to isolate myself from the rest of the world. Linux seemed a good way to go since my current setup would run much faster with linux, but the software i need for 3d animation, etc. isn't found on linux(or am i wrong?)


Can I build a custom mac myself?(Where can I buy the individual parts?example, chip, motherboard, etc.)

I am assuming that mac computers use standard ddr memory you can purchase in a local computer store.

Thanks for taking your time to read my post. Any imput would be very helpful.

[the_black_angel]

* The FSB does impact on the performance as the computer stores WORDs in here so it can access them much faster.

* If you really need to you can run windows on a mac. There are programs that do all the same things on a mac that can be done on a windows machine.

* Soundblaster audigy cards do not work on macs. you can get programs that do all a sound card can do through USB though.

* Mac OS will not run on x86 (PC) machines. You can run Linux on a mac.

* I have no idea if there is 3d animation software availalble for Linux sorry.

* You cannot custom build a mac you can customise one before you buy it though and have things taken out or put in for you. This is done so that apple knows that they are giving you a machine that is put together properly.

* G4 towers and Xserves use DDR SDRAM, all others use SDRAM. This is standard RAM that you can buy at a computer store.


Hope this helps. If you buy a mac you won't want to install Linux, Mac OS X is far superior (In my opinion).

[ravuya]

quote:Originally posted by xtorted-legacy:

Does the limited FSB really impact the performance?I know it will not be the fastest(no one will ever have the fastest computer)

I haven't used any of the new systems, but from what I hear it does damage the performance enough.

 

quote:Is the new Mac os compatible with some windows application besides MS. Office?

Well, there's a version of MS Office ported to the Mac, and there's probably lots of other Windows ports but there is also an emulator called Virtual PC which does an acceptable job of running Windows application software (not games, sadly).

 

quote:I have a soundblaster audigy sound card. Can I find drivers for Mac?

Try Creative's website. From what I've heard the soundblaster cards should work fine...

 

quote:Probably stupid, but can u run a Mac os. on a pc or linux on a mac computer?

Yes, you can run Linux on a Mac.

 

quote:I want to rid myself of windows, but i don't want to isolate myself from the rest of the world. Linux seemed a good way to go since my current setup would run much faster with linux, but the software i need for 3d animation, etc. isn't found on linux(or am i wrong?)

Some software is available for Linux for 3D animation.. I


 

quote:Can I build a custom mac myself?(Where can I buy the individual parts?example, chip, motherboard, etc.)

Check this out.

 

quote:I am assuming that mac computers use standard ddr memory you can purchase in a local computer store.

Not sure, but I think they do.

[psyjax]

Ther is a version of Maya that run's on RedHat. There is also a version for OSX.