Optimization of Apple hardware

[Xifel]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

As much as I like my MacBook for some things, there is zero truth to it. If anything, it'll generally perform a little bit worse under OS X, because the drivers are worse. Running Windows on it, it's identical to the equivalent part in a non-Apple product. And this is why I have a Windows desktop for playing games.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

As much as I like my MacBook for some things, there is zero truth to it. If anything, it'll generally perform a little bit worse under OS X, because the drivers are worse. Running Windows on it, it's identical. And this is why I have a Windows desktop for playing games.

This. Though I do things to put Mac OSX so its like being on my desktop as well.

 

[Xifel]

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

As much as I like my MacBook for some things, there is zero truth to it. If anything, it'll generally perform a little bit worse under OS X, because the drivers are worse. Running Windows on it, it's identical to the equivalent part in a non-Apple product. And this is why I have a Windows desktop for playing games.

But I don't understand. where do people get this information they go and spread around. I mean, noone I know with a PC talks like that, they just slap up their average FPS i Crysis on Ultra, and then the discussion is over.

But who/what is feed the never-ending stream of pro-mac arguments? I didn't find anything about it when I googled it...

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Oh, this again?

Sorry to say it, but no. Apple hardware under-performs on every single level. You're paying for the shiny white plastic and the little logo. Apple products aren't tools, they're fashion statements.

Of course, graphic designers will typically counter that *they* use a Mac for Photoshop and it works *so* much better than the PC version... The reasoning behind this is simple. They got used to the Mac's shortcuts, and using CTRL-C instead of Apple Key-C confounds them.

Mac hardware is optimized for Mac users. You'll be able to run a few things with Boot Camp, yes, but there's another thread around here where a guy asked if his Mac zealot of a friend was in the right in saying that Apple computers could run every game ever...

I think that should sort out this question.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

As much as I like my MacBook for some things, there is zero truth to it. If anything, it'll generally perform a little bit worse under OS X, because the drivers are worse. Running Windows on it, it's identical to the equivalent part in a non-Apple product. And this is why I have a Windows desktop for playing games.

But I don't understand. where do people get this information they go and spread around. I mean, noone I know with a PC talks like that, they just slap up their average FPS i Crysis on Ultra, and then the discussion is over.

But who/what is feed the never-ending stream of pro-mac arguments? I didn't find anything about it when I googled it...

I'm not even sure. The people I know who use them don't say stupid crap like that, but then most of the people I know who use them are generally programmers and sysadmins in their 30s who know better because they understand them on a technical level. People saying completely nonsensical things about their computers or consoles or cars or TVs or sound systems or whatever other fancy toy they're proud of/excited about but don't understand is has a long tradition going back decades, though, even if it's hard to find the exact origin of some of those stupid things they say. I remember them doing the same thing with different kinds of computers 20+ years ago, and I'm sure my dad and his brothers have stories about people bragging incoherently about their cars 30+ years before that. It's just human nature. Heh.

 

[Xifel]

Thanks people!

Just wondering really. They start to get on my nerves with their snarky remarks, just wanted to know if there really was anything behind it...

 

[Leg End]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

Your friend person is a bullshitter supreme.

If anything, it's the other way around. In general(as there were certain Mac*whatever* that had custom hardware I believe),the software is built for compatibility to the hardware, not vice-versa.

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

Guy is indeed wrong. There's literally no difference in the components used in a PC vs. a Mac these days. You could benchmark two computers that were physically identical, one running windows and one running mac OS, and any performance difference between them would be a statistical anomaly.

HOWEVER...guy is even more wrong about the graphics card example in this case. iMacs are pretty slick, but they're an all-in-one computer. That means that it's made with laptop parts, which are always less powerful than desktop parts. A desktop version of the 6850 would perform pretty close to your 560Ti, maybe a tad better at rendering some things and a tad worse at others, but the 6850M is around 1/2-1/3 as powerful.

/tech nerd rant

 

[Xifel]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

Your friend person is a bullshitter supreme.

If anything, it's the other way around. In general(as there were certain Mac*whatever* that had custom hardware I believe),the software is built for compatibility to the hardware, not vice-versa.

Yeah, but I believe that was what he said, that the "software were made for making better use of the hardware on a Mac compared with a PC".

 

[Hong Meiling]

Perhaps there is a tiny boost considering there's not that many mac configurations out there.
Unfortunately, it does not matter much. Maybe 2-3fps in a game, or a few seconds shaved off rendering a video.

It's not worth comparing.

 

[Wintermoot]

bullshit why would a mac system need a high video card anyway?
it,s like putting a V8 engine in a Smart car it,s a impressive feet but the user isn't going to need all the power anyway.

 

[direkiller]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

No
This may have been true about 10 years ago IF you were talking about grapic rendering

but the Chip sets are the same now so hardware to hardware they are the same. However him comparing a integrated card to a 560Ti is just laughable

even if they were the same card Integrated is worse by far

 

[Leg End]

Hey fellow Escapists!

First of all I have to say I do not hate Apple products, they are fine machines, although I never found a reason to buy one, when I can get similar products for less than half the price. Money is my biggest factor. Anyway:

I got into an argument with a guy in school. According to him (and some other Appleheads) all hardware in the Macs are "optimized". He went so far to say that an ATI 6850M in an iMac would out perform my factory-Overclocked Geforce 560Ti EX I got in my new PC. And according to him everything else, CPU, memory, everything in a Mac i "optimized" and outperform an PC with equal hardware.

Is there some truth in this optimization talk, or is it just, well, talk...?

Your friend person is a bullshitter supreme.

If anything, it's the other way around. In general(as there were certain Mac*whatever* that had custom hardware I believe),the software is built for compatibility to the hardware, not vice-versa.

Yeah, but I believe that was what he said, that the "software were made for making better use of the hardware on a Mac compared with a PC".

Actually, unless I'm reading wrong, isn't that the opposite? :L

 

[TheOneandOnly]

I have to say that in my personal experience, comparing my iMac to people with similar level (for lack of a better word) hardware, my iMac tends to be faster. Source games however, run like crap on it.