Mac Hardware Vs PC -- Mac Are More Powerful (Steam Hardware Survey)

[09rmbrown]

Before we start, I have an i5 15" MBP with a GT 330m and a 500GB Momentus XT Hybrid SSD Drive, Magic Mouse + Razer Gaming Mousepad + Razer Death Adder (not pictured)
(pics)
http://cl.ly/3be6169f3206d44ac8e6
http://cl.ly/e78d76a8d9c545b552e0
http://cl.ly/0083782a2b7f3fcf66d8


Facts are facts, and if you look at the hardware Survey, Mac's have
1. More Ram on average 4 GB > 2GB
2. On average we have more microphones (lol)
3. Majority of mac users are on a 64 bit 2009 operating system, instead of a 2001 32 bit one.
4. Both PC and mac have an average connection speed of about 2mb/s, but the PC average % is 28, the mac average is about 50%.
5. More of our users have the average CPU speed of 2.3 - 2.69 Ghz.
Though it is the average for both, we have (again) a higher percentage in that range.


PC Wins
1. Vram, they have an average of 512 over our 256, though as many reports have pointed out, 256 doesn't really start to hurt you until you reach the 1920x1080 range. Otherwise FPS it almost identical. And since the average resolution is 1024x xxxx it doesn't matter either way.
2. Probably other things

So summary, the statistics say that, if you take a random Steam PC and a Random Steam mac, you will have

Mac
-Faster CPU
-More RAM
-Faster Internet Speeds
-A OS that isn't a decade old or 32 bit...
-A microphone
{The survey for mac seems to not have all the things it does for PC (yet)}

PC
-More vram (negligible)
-Windows Xp....lol!
-ummmm add below?

http://cl.ly/e5d6ed1cc0b71d3f7528
http://cl.ly/59e38725e018cf311167

Lets NOT start a PC Mac Rage war

[finchy86]

Our 256mb of VRam for the majority is actually shared ram due to the 9400m being an integrated chip. So I would say on that matter PC totally wins.

Other points are good though

I know it's a hardware comparison but PC is still rocking in the software competition (as in steam games)

[stevethepocket]

A lot of that is probably because only people with high-end Macs have bothered to apply for this. Most Macs still don't come with 4GB of RAM standard, for example, but you'd be hard pressed to find even a cheapo Windows laptop that doesn't.

[09rmbrown]

Originally Posted by stevethepocket

A lot of that is probably because only people with high-end Macs have bothered to apply for this. Most Macs still don't come with 4GB of RAM standard, for example, but you'd be hard pressed to find even a cheapo Windows laptop that doesn't.

um...all Imacs and MacBooks Pros (and Mac Pros) and the upper mac mini.

almost 50% of mac users on steam have MBP's.

[nano....]

Originally Posted by 09rmbrown

Let the PC Mac Rage war begin

Let's not.

Can we go one week without a PC v Mac war going on in these forums?

[xX_yugo_Xx]

well even though this is true (i own a mac so im not trying to bash it, i love macs)

even though macs do have faster specs in quite a few areas it doesnt give better FPS (DONT ASK ME WHY!).
PC always seems to run games better, i think this is because steam for mac just came out and they havent fixed all the glitches for mac, if it's going to be a teir 1 platform this should change soon

[09rmbrown]

Originally Posted by xX_yugo_Xx

well even though this is true (i own a mac so im not trying to bash it, i love macs)

even though macs do have faster specs in quite a few areas it doesnt give better FPS (DONT ASK ME WHY!).
PC always seems to run games better, i think this is because steam for mac just came out and they havent fixed all the glitches for mac, if it's going to be a teir 1 platform this should change soon

this is simply a driver issue. Aside from gaming, this is not the case.

10.6.4 is due this week, so we should be on par with the PC world asap

[kleril]

Originally Posted by 09rmbrown

this is simply a driver issue. Aside from gaming, this is not the case.

10.6.4 is due this week, so we should be on par with the PC world asap

That. Is just...

[jeanlain]

Originally Posted by 09rmbrown

10.6.4 is due this week, so we should be on par with the PC world asap

I wouldn't be that optimistic. OS X source is way behind (50% slower if AA is on). You don't close such a gap with just a minor driver update. There are years of optimization on the Windows side.
Actually, we don't even know if 10.6.4 will solve any issue related to Source.

[GirlPower23]

Originally Posted by xX_yugo_Xx

well even though this is true (i own a mac so im not trying to bash it, i love macs)

even though macs do have faster specs in quite a few areas it doesnt give better FPS (DONT ASK ME WHY!).
PC always seems to run games better, i think this is because steam for mac just came out and they havent fixed all the glitches for mac, if it's going to be a teir 1 platform this should change soon

This is untrue, where are the Macs with PC2000 Ram with tight timings? The Macs with 5970s? The Macs with 480GTX Cards? The Macs with SSDs? The Macs with 4-5GHZ CPUS? I am sorry but Macs aren't faster in hardware specs period. Your hardware is controlled and very limited.

Originally Posted by GirlPower23

This is untrue, where are the Macs with PC2000 Ram with tight timings? The Macs with 5970s? The Macs with 480GTX Cards? The Macs with SSDs? The Macs with 4-5GHZ CPUS? I am sorry but Macs aren't faster in hardware specs period. Your hardware is controlled and very limited.

maybe I've misunderstood here but comparing New York to Japan is a very similar sample size?

Comparing New York to Tokyo would not be an equivalent sample size?

[GirlPower23]

Originally Posted by undefinedMethod

maybe I've misunderstood here but comparing New York to Japan is a very similar sample size?

Comparing New York to Tokyo would not be an equivalent sample size?

lol Yea Tokyo and NY are probably the closer sample sizes. However the point was that he was comparing Oversized sample size to a small one.

[rike889]

1. More Ram on average 4 GB > 2GB

The only mac that has a real 240 pin stick of ram is the mac pro. the memory in everything else is low quality 200 and below pin ram. 4 GB means nothing is its low bus, that means if you have 4GB of 800 bus, and i think 667 is mac standard, dont quote me on that, a computer with 4GB of 1066 will write data that much faster.


2. On average we have more microphones (lol)

Hilarious.

3. Majority of mac users are on a 64 bit 2009 operating system, instead of a 2001 32 bit one.

Whatever works works, most games are not 64 bit the only benefit to this is a little more performance in terms of accepting more ram and allowing higher performance programs, therefore this bit is trivial in the debate.


4. Both PC and mac have an average connection speed of about 2mb/s, but the PC average % is 28, the mac average is about 50%.

I dont know what to make of this, its truely interesting and i would like to look into this more.

5. More of our users have the average CPU speed of 2.3 - 2.69 Ghz. Though it is the average for both, we have (again) a higher percentage in that range.

I got nothing, if you want to build a better system you go with the higher processor, i would say apple understand this and puts better chips in there computers that most other companies, like dell or HP, however like i said, if you want to BUILD a better computer you dont use a weak processor, the current building trend is either i7 or Phenom 2x 4 or 6 which is well over 3.0Ghz average.


PC Wins

1. Vram, they have an average of 512 over our 256, though as many reports have pointed out, 256 doesn't really start to hurt you until you reach the 1920x1080 range. Otherwise FPS it almost identical. And since the average resolution is 1024x xxxx it doesn't matter either way.

Truth.

So summary, the statistics say that, if you take a random Steam PC and a Random Steam mac, you will have

Mac
-Faster CPU (build a better system pc ppl)
-More RAM (dont buy from a company that sells weak pcs ppl)
-Faster Internet Speeds (IM SO CURIOUS)
-An OS that isn't a decade old or 32 bit... (whatever works)
-A microphone (yell at your monitor, or talk into a headset?)
{The survey for mac seems to not have all the things it does for PC (yet)

PC
-More vram (negligible) truth
-Windows Xp....lol! primary choice for the modern business, second most popular next to windows 7.



id like to add i have an 06-07 macbook pro 17 inch maxed specs and it cant stand up next to my pc. Also, if macs were better how come there are so many problems with performance?

[09rmbrown]

Originally Posted by rike889

1. More Ram on average 4 GB > 2GB

The only mac that has a real 240 pin stick of ram is the mac pro. the memory in everything else is low quality 200 and below pin ram. 4 GB means nothing is its low bus, that means if you have 4GB of 800 bus, and i think 667 is mac standard, dont quote me on that, a computer with 4GB of 1066 will write data that much faster.


id like to add i have an 06-07 macbook pro 17 inch maxed specs and it cant stand up next to my pc. Also, if macs were better how come there are so many problems with performance?

All macs today have DDR3 1033 FSB ram, your 06-07 MBP understandably does not, since it didn't exist in notebooks then.
My i5 GT 330m MBP crushes the i7 Dell Studios we have sitting around here at work, and next week my Momentus XT SSD Hybrid drive will arrive, and then it will just be a joke.

[GirlPower23]

You realize your post is ridiculous OP. Y^our taking the tiny Mac sample size and comparing it to the vastly larger PC sample size. Your basically comparing the United States to Japan. Yep Japan has lower Crime rate, however the united states is bigger. Compare Just New York and Japan and you have a very similar sample size, aswell as crime rate. You can try to brag all you wan't however let me know when you hit 300fps in Portal, and then we can talk.

P.S. 8% Mac users and 92% PC users on Steam. Yep you did such a fair comparison. How about you compare the top 8% PC Users vs the 8% Mac users.