Big Question: Switching Ecosystems

[cooky560 Veteran]

I was a Windows user from 1995 until 2010, when I discovered OSX. Which I still feel is more useable and faster than Windows. However I miss all the games and social gaming (meaning playing online with friends, not games on social networking sites), and the huge Library of software for Windows. So I am considering switching back, and asking for people's input.

 

I have the following arguments for changing:

 

• More customisation
• Far better gaming platform both online and off-line
• While having a high initial cost, hardware upgrades bit by bit will make the system cheaper and more futureproof overall

Reasons against changing:

 

• Upfront cost will likely to about ?1500 for a decent gaming pc, Monitor, and a copy of Windows
• Windows has had undergone many silly design choices since Windows XP (especially with the networking control panel)

I'm not that interested in syncing my devices so I don't object too much to losing the connection my mac and iPhone share. 

 

So questions, thoughts and opinions before I make this decision would be appreciated.

 

Since it seems like the option to add a poll has gone: the choices are:

 

1. Leave things as they are
2. Build a PC with Windows 7 (more familiar)
3. Build a PC with Windows 8 (cheaper, but possibly less compatible with older software)

[firey]

My Vote is for 2.   

[threetonesun]

I like them both. Windows is better if you want to game + have a PC. On the other hand, I much prefer OSX on my laptop. Windows works great using an Xbox as a media extender, on the other hand my Macbook + Apple TV + iPhone get along even better.

 

Six of one, half dozen of the other, I suppose.

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Windows 7 and windows 8 are both great oses.Mac osx is a solid os but now that steam is on it, Mac osx is almost comparable to windows in terms of gaming. 

[Growled Member]

I've tried Windows 8 and didn't care for it. I'm back on Windows 7 and I'm happy here. I've honestly never tried OSX for long periods of time, but I hated it when I used it for short periods. It reminds me too much of Linux. I think if you stick with Windows 7 you'll have the best of everything.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

There's also option 4: Install Windows on your Mac using Bootcamp. 

[Shadrack]

I'm not that interested in syncing my devices so I don't object too much to losing the connection my mac and iPhone share.

 

There really isn't a lot of difference between iPhone to a Windows user and iPhone to a Mac user, IMO.  Both use iTunes which isn't that much different between the two platforms.  iCloud apps are a bit more straightforward to setup on Mac, but its pretty simple with iCloud Control Panel on Windows.  Outlook helps merge the gaps.  I guess you could say there is a connection between some iPhone apps and some Mac exclusive apps (like the Omni software or iPhone/iMovie).

 

Just pointing out that if you do switch back to Windows, even though you don't seem to care, you really won't lost any syncing abilities.  Now, if you were to move to Linux....

[cooky560 Veteran]

There's also option 4: Install Windows on your Mac using Bootcamp. 

 

I've considered this however my Apple is from 2010 and has a horrible graphics card, 

[Silpheed2K]

You can use Win 8 with classic shell but I dunno how much you'd like that, as I've never used win 8.

Classic shell does make it more familiar though.

http://www.classicshell.net

[REM2000]

I use them both and like to consider myself platform agnostic in one respect that i try to be impartial when provisioning/recommending tech for work/family and friends. 

 

Personally my primary platform is MacOSX, i first started using them in 2005 and made a complete switch in 2007. After a year i missed some apps and games on Windows so brought a Windows desktop. If you can afford it why not both? that's my thinking.

 

As for the version of Windows, personally i would recommend Windows 8. It's very efficient, in both memory usage and processor usage (if you were buying a laptop you would notice an improvement from 7 to 8 in battery life). I got along better with Win8 when i totally ignored metro apps. I think i only have the weather and the train times and i have them only for their live tiles. Ive found Win8 to be very reliable and really quick. Give yourself a couple of weeks and you'll be flying along. However Windows 7 will be supported till 2020 so if you want to play it safe you could, i don't think there is going to be really much in it whatever one you go for. 

[Sjokkel]

I've never really gotten used to OSX in my working environment and for my personal use the OSX platform started to feel dated.

 

I would go for a windows 8 setup. Like REM2000 said, great usage of resources and very stable.
With windows 8.1 in the pipeline i don't see any reason why you'd want to install windows 7. Metro apps only seem usefull on touchscreen devices but you don't have to use them. Under the hood you'll just have an improved version of windows 7.

What older apps/games do you plan to run that might have compatibility issues?
 

[UseLess]

I would go with Option 3. If you are ever worried about compatibility (which windows 8 is still ok with) then you can virtual machine WinAnything.

 

You should be able to put together a reasonable tower/case for about $700-$800 in the US. I mean something that can play most games, but will struggle with Crysis3 on ultra.

 

Personally I much prefer windows. The dull "do it our way" that the iOS/OSX forces on you makes me bitter...but that's a different story =P

[cooky560 Veteran]

well having a look online I found the following bits:
 

Case : Vantage Blue Midi Tower Case + 4 120mm Fans
Power Supply : 750 Watt With Power Cable Supplied
Motherboard : Asus M5A78L-M USB3
CPU : AMD Piledriver FX 6350 3.9Ghz Six Core CPU (turbo 4.2Ghz)
Hard Drive : 500gb Sata Hard Drive
Memory : 8gb DDR3 1600mhz Branded Memory
Graphics Card : ATI 7870 2gb (Tripple screen support via DVI / HDMI / DISPLAY PORT)
Optical Drive : 24x Dual Layer DVD Writer
Connections : 6 x USB 2.0 / 2 x USB 3.0 / LAN / Sound For ?500

Not sure if an ati 7870 is future proof though...

[tsupersonic]

There's also option 4: Install Windows on your Mac using Bootcamp. 

Option 5: Build a Hackintosh for cheaper and dual boot.

[neuroticdave]

Running Windows 7 using Boot Camp on my rMBP and I can happily say that I get the best of both worlds. Then again, I also own an Xbox, so my laptop gaming is generally limited. I personally prefer OS X, but I still get to use the Windows ecosystem I'm used to. Like you, I've used it since the Windows 95 days.

 

However, if PC gaming is on the more extreme side for you, and you don't own an Xbox or other gaming console, I'd say to go for a Windows 7 rig.