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hbjeff
hbjeff
Join Date 12/2004
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Anyone playing on a Mac in Windows mode?

April 10, 2008 11:00:05 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I'm kicking around making the conversion to a Mac.  The current PC is getting a little long in the tooth and most of my PC time is spent on the Internet, spreadsheets, etc. with only a small amount of gaming.  There's no real need for me to have a gaming rig. 

Is anyone playing Sins on a Mac booted to Windows "mode".  If so, how does it run?  I'm not looking to stir up a Mac vs. PC debate.  If Sins does or doesn't run well on the Mac it would hardly be a factor in my ultimate purchase decision.

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hbjeff
Wes992
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #1 April 11, 2008 1:58:29 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Ive heard it works but there were a couple posts in this forum about various problems on the mac mostly all of them were non Mac-related (wasnt patched,drivers or other things.
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hbjeff
hbjeff
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Reply #2 April 11, 2008 11:26:15 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Thanks for the info. Would still love to hear from anyone with hands-on experience.
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hbjeff
Forgiven
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #3 April 11, 2008 11:56:34 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

People spend LOTS of money to buy a MAC, then they run Windows on it... sounds kinda' pointless.

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hbjeff
Gyrotica
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #4 April 11, 2008 12:10:02 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I play Sins on an Intel Mac. Runs fine.

An Intel-Mac runs Windows just like any other Intel-based machine. I've never had a problem playing a Windows game that hasn't been fixed by getting the latest drivers from Apple.
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hbjeff
_-Apollo-_
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #5 April 11, 2008 12:11:45 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
same with me

I'm running on a 17 inch intel imac

works great
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hbjeff
Forgiven
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #6 April 11, 2008 12:13:46 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
People spend LOTS of money to buy a MAC, then they run Windows on it... sounds kinda' pointless.
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hbjeff
WinterSpell
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #7 April 11, 2008 12:37:36 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I have been playing a lot of games on my Imac and this is one of them. Just got the game yesterday, the demo worked fine, and so far it's working great. The new CnC works well and so does World in Conflict. I am using Bootcamp and Windows Xp w SP2, 3G of ram, duel 2.16. Loading Windows takes about 5 minutes but once loaded it runs like a top. I hope this helps
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hbjeff
ed anger
Join Date 05/2006
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Reply #8 April 11, 2008 1:03:37 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
thanks for the mac commentary everyone! hint, some of us work on macs, and would like to play games too.

i suggest if you want to game on your mac get one with the latest graphic card possible you can get. ie dont get an mac book, get a mac book pro, or get the best graphic card available in an imac. intergrated graphics sucks for games regardless if mac or windows.

i run windows in bootcamp on a mac book pro and play many, many games, with minimal issues (the same issues youd ave with regular windows laptops basically). and bootcamp is way faster then cider/wine or parallels, which only really work for apps, not games.
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hbjeff
-=XX=-Nephilim
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #9 April 11, 2008 1:06:20 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I am running Sins on Intel Mac and i can confirm that it runs about 5x better than on my PC of same spec...


Whatever you spend on Mac is worth it - trust me


I explained this in another thread but i will say again...

By having Mac you are essentially having 2 things:


1. real computer with real OS for all your productivity and browsing needs

2. gaming console in shape of WiN OS


Of course, if you are using your computer just for gaming than it's silly to think about Mac - otherwise its worth every penny
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hbjeff
hbjeff
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Reply #10 April 11, 2008 2:59:53 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Thanks for the info folks! Since gaming might make up only 10% of my time on the computer the Mac might make more sense for me.

Forgiven - Check out this article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9023959
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hbjeff
Forgiven
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #11 April 11, 2008 4:52:04 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
..By having Mac you are essentially having 2 things:1. real computer with real OS for all your productivity and browsing needs2. gaming console in shape of WiN OSOf course, if you are using your computer just for gaming than it's silly to think about Mac - otherwise its worth every penny


So let me see if I understand what you are saying. Since your computer has an Apple Logo on it... it is a "real" computer, and mine isn't. If yours is a "real" computer, then why won't it run ALL software... including games.. out there.. without putting Windows on it? Some may call "gaming" computers as nothing but toys. Well, I disagree. A computer that will run the newer games out there, require a HUGE amount of computing power. Just because it plays games, does not make it a "toy". Having it built by Mr. Jobs doesn't make it a "real" computer vs. my home-built one. My home built computer can run anything you can throw at it, without having to install a MAC OS. Which brings up another thing... anybody out there have a home built MAC? Oh, that's right... Mr. Jobs won't let you build your own. Sorry about that.
Well, this ends my MAC debate. I am going back to playing Sins on my PC. No dual-booting needed.
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hbjeff
ed anger
Join Date 05/2006
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Reply #12 April 11, 2008 11:07:10 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
..By having Mac you are essentially having 2 things:1. real computer with real OS for all your productivity and browsing needs2. gaming console in shape of WiN OSOf course, if you are using your computer just for gaming than it's silly to think about Mac - otherwise its worth every pennySo let me see if I understand what you are saying. Since your computer has an Apple Logo on it... it is a "real" computer, and mine isn't. If yours is a "real" computer, then why won't it run ALL software... including games.. out there.. without putting Windows on it? Some may call "gaming" computers as nothing but toys. Well, I disagree. A computer that will run the newer games out there, require a HUGE amount of computing power. Just because it plays games, does not make it a "toy". Having it built by Mr. Jobs doesn't make it a "real" computer vs. my home-built one. My home built computer can run anything you can throw at it, without having to install a MAC OS. Which brings up another thing... anybody out there have a home built MAC? Oh, that's right... Mr. Jobs won't let you build your own. Sorry about that.Well, this ends my MAC debate. I am going back to playing Sins on my PC. No dual-booting needed.


no, the real question here is, don't you have something better to do then troll this tread? i thought not. diaf please.
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hbjeff
k64a
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #13 April 11, 2008 11:54:38 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I use a MacBook Pro, the first generation made. I bought it the month they first came out so I have the old ATI X1600 graphics card. The newest cards in the MacBook Pro's are much much better (some model of the Nvidia 8600, a great card). My computer runs Sins at highest graphics on highest resolution (1440x900) with no performance loss except when I scroll all the way in, and pan around during HUGE battles. The game runs BEAUTIFULLY.

So far, the game never crashed. Neither has my Windows OS, interestingly enough. Windows seems to work better on a mac than on PC machines. I suggest switching.

P.S. If you use a mac, the only real gaming solution is boot camp, which comes free with the computer. Don't use other windows solutions (i.e. Parallels, Fusion, etc.) if you want the full power of your machine to be accessible.
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hbjeff
-=XX=-Nephilim
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #14 April 12, 2008 3:44:37 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I use a MacBook Pro, the first generation made. I bought it the month they first came out so I have the old ATI X1600 graphics card. The newest cards in the MacBook Pro's are much much better (some model of the Nvidia 8600, a great card). My computer runs Sins at highest graphics on highest resolution (1440x900) with no performance loss except when I scroll all the way in, and pan around during HUGE battles. The game runs BEAUTIFULLY.So far, the game never crashed. Neither has my Windows OS, interestingly enough. Windows seems to work better on a mac than on PC machines. I suggest switching.P.S. If you use a mac, the only real gaming solution is boot camp, which comes free with the computer. Don't use other windows solutions (i.e. Parallels, Fusion, etc.) if you want the full power of your machine to be accessible.


I know...

It is crazy but true...

I agree 100% - Windows on my Mac runs much better than it does on equal spec PC - makes no sense... I know again... But it is true...

I am pretty certain that reason for this is that your Windows installation has minimal amount of things on it simply because majority of your software as well as everything to do with Net is done via Mac Os leaving Windows installation extremely clean... Now when you install game on such a clean Windows it virtually flies

As i said in previous post - if you use your computer for anything else but gaming alone - switch to Mac asap... You will do yourself huge favor!
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hbjeff
Ovangkol
Join Date 03/2008
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Reply #15 April 12, 2008 4:00:43 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I generally use a desktop PC for Sins, but did load it onto a bootcamp partition (Windows XP) on my MacBook (2GB of Ram). Runs great!

Then for the fun of it I tried it using Fusion...that didn't work, but I didn't expect it would  
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hbjeff
maheshjr2004
Join Date 12/2007
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Reply #16 April 13, 2008 3:23:29 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
There shouldnt really be any issue for an Wintel mac. The OS is the same. I would honestly say though that you can get better power for cheaper if you build your own PC instead of going with a Wintel mac.(Of course that could be me being elitist - feel free to retaliate with a *slap*)
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hbjeff
polarity13jp
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #17 April 13, 2008 4:17:44 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
You could also buy something like a Honda/Nissan/Toyota and spend thousands turning it into a street racer, or buy a Ferrari that won't perform as well for more money.

My desktop fits the first category (780i, SLI'd GTS512s, OCed E4300, 2GB RAM, liquid cooling, 28" monitor).

My laptop the second (Macbook Pro 17", 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, mobile 8600GT, 1920x1200 screen).


Sins doesn't tax the hardware at all at those specs. It looks truly stunning at 1920x1200, although 28" is better than 17"
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hbjeff
hydrocarbn
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #18 April 13, 2008 4:49:23 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
As i said in previous post - if you use your computer for anything else but gaming alone - switch to Mac asap... You will do yourself huge favor!


the bottom line is you are paying for inferior proprietary hardware.
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hbjeff
polarity13jp
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #19 April 13, 2008 6:08:00 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Macs stopped being proprietary years ago, when they switched to PCI, IDE and SDRAM, and while they may not be the most reliable PCs made by a big name maker, they're above average.

Most of the bad stuff people say about Macs is based on the reputation gained in the beige snappy plastic, SCSI, Applenet and Apple-link era, when they were very proprietary, crashed endlessly, all the software was pay for only, and they refused to work well with anything but other Macs or officially licensed and expensive hardware. I've had to try and fix some of those, and that reputation is very much justified. I've yet to fix anything from the colored Mac era onwards, despite owning half a dozen, though I've upgraded plenty with standard PC parts.

My first thoughts on using a G3 iBook and OSX Tiger were "OMFG, why have I been using Windows so long" (16 years).
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hbjeff
-=XX=-Nephilim
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #20 April 13, 2008 12:34:50 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
My first thoughts on using a G3 iBook and OSX Tiger were "OMFG, why have I been using Windows so long" (16 years).


Exactly...

I am only recent Mac convert and when i first tried Leopard my initial reaction was exactly the same... What was the point in using Windows for so long!?!?!

Crazy shit...
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hbjeff
ed anger
Join Date 05/2006
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Reply #21 April 13, 2008 1:29:36 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
why does any thread mention macs have to turn into macs suxx/macs awesome threads? seriously, its tired, grow up. the OP had a serious question, if you want to participate in that do, otherwise stfu.


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hbjeff
polarity13jp
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #22 April 13, 2008 8:32:07 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Because as soon as someone mentions Macs one of the first posts in respone is going to be from someone whose experience is maybe just a couple of confused hours, who believes all the BS rumours/hearsay going round, and feels compelled to continue the BS.

The responses to that are usually just people with a lot more experience of both Mac and Windows setting the record straight (I hate Mac fanboys too, because they know next to nothing about Windows).


To be on topic I'll point out that the GFX drivers provided with bootcamp aren't the best for gaming. Also if you're using a laptop with an ATI card, the last I checked ATI don't provide drivers for mobile GFX cards, as laptop GFX cards are expected to be supported by the laptop manufaturer (true for all laptops).

You can however find plenty of custom graphics drives made by other people, that are a lot better than the laptop maker's own ones (I used the Omega drivers on my old MBP, the new one has standard Nvidia drivers).
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