Thats right, after much deliberation, I think I have decided to build a pc and run (dare I say) windows to replace my aging powermac g4 as my design workstation. As much as I love the apple os (I even used to be a campus rep for apple back at GSU), it simply comes down to one thing….price. Being a person who likes to get the best performance out of everything for the money, I can’t justify getting a mac to do freelance graphic design after work. Besides CS4 runs identically on windows and mac.
Here are the specs for the pc I’m thinking about building:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad – Q9550
Motherboard: Intel DG45id w/onboard graphics – HDMI and DVI
4 gigs of ram
Two 500 gig Seagate hard drives
A dvd burner
Wireless N card
Internal multi memory card reader
20 inch HD monitor
Windows 7 (which will be out by the time I actually save up and build this thing)
All that will end up being well below $1000 and will absolutely murder an imac and be almost equal in performance to a MacPro costing 3K and with the addition of a blu ray drive, I can easily use it as a media center pc if needed with the HDMI out and infrared sensor.
Now that thats out, here is something to think about. With Google announcing it will be releasing an OS later this year, Apple and Microsoft will both have to be more competitive because they are now competing for business against a free product. I personally do not think Apple can sustain the high profit margins it is currently enjoying on the computing side of their business (the smart phone business is a different story though). I believe in the next 3-5 years, Apple will have to either lower their prices by a huge margin or license their OS. I think the later of the 2 options would be the smartest and most profitable in the long run because they would make huge gains in market share and have increase developer and business support. They are already in a huge legal battle with Psystar over their OS licensing terms. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to install the apple OS (legally that is) on my pc. Of course I could always get a Psystar and if they lose the legal battle, just put windows on it.
What do you think apple will do? and what about Microsoft?
Filed under: technology | Tagged: linkedin
[...] build, done. Posted on August 5, 2009 by Brian Harrison Not long after I posted my last post about wanting to build a pc to replace my Mac g4, Tammy and I decided to go ahead and build it [...]
No!!!!! You went to the darkside
lol. for now…until apple decides to license osx or I get a big raise