I am a developer and I prefer developing on my macbook by FAR over windows and I prefer it a lot over Ubuntu et al. Right now I still have my desktop PC taking up space and clutering my desk just so that I can play a few games. I'd rather sell it and for less than what I get for the whole thing buy a thunderbolt GPU and game that way.
Your argument is invalid and only considered from a 'I want to game' point of view, not from a "I prefer a Mac and would like to play PC games without a 'proper gaming machine'" point of view.
I don't agree and I think you lack imagination. My computer case is still a lot bigger than such a setup would be.
I do agree to an extent with Bryan, saying that one could get a small case and put a computer in there, but then I'd have 2 things to keep up to date (and pay for). My Macbook has 16GB of memory and an i5 processor. My Desktop has an i5 as well and 8GB of memory plus some hard drives, dvd, drive, etc, etc and the GPU. The GPU is the one thing my Mac lacks. So with $250 (according to the article) I can upgrade something that I will have no matter what, my Macbook, since I use it to work on, and get rid of something that I am now forced to have (hobbying aside).
@infinita I already have a 'proper' 24inch screen on my desk at home and some Logitech Z5500 speakers and a gaming mouse. I can game using my Macbook's keyboard easily. This will all be there even if I'd get rid of my Desktop.
With this 'new' setup I can have just the GPU on my desk, or build some custom casing (cables and adapters be gone) and attach it behind my monitor. I then just plugin the Macbook and boom, instant gaming pleasure. Besides, when companies start building these setups they would grow smaller and more practical.
As for windows, that is nothing a small thunderbolt (or USB3) harddrive won't solve. Granted it might be a bit slower than SATA (is that true for thunderbolt as well?), but hard drives are not the main bottleneck in gaming anyway, the GPU, CPU and RAM are still more important. I for one don't even use RAID in my current PC.
It is not all ideal, but it still is a lot more ideal than maintaining and upgrading 2 machines and have this huge case standing around just for some GTA V.
While both laptop and desktop may have i5, the desktop i5 should be about 50 % faster on single threaded tasks, and almost three times faster on multi threaded tasks. Of course, you won't notice that when browsing or doing similar light tasks, but otherwise, three times difference is huge. It means waiting 20 minutes for video to transcode instead of hour, for example. When doing data crunching or building big software, desktops are really useful.
I don't think it's a really great idea, games take a lot of disk space and you must have a windows partition. The macbook air storage is a bit small imo.
Plus you don't want to play on a 13 inches screen, let's be realistic.
Not to mention that "clutering" desk with a full keyboard, a good mouse and a bigger screen will still be needed.
Sure you can. However, I already own a MacBook which I use for everything except gaming, for which I had to buy a PC. As soon as these external GPUs become available commercially, I don't have to buy a separate PC for gaming anymore, just a nice GPU and the case, which actually _is_ more cost effective bottom line, assuming that I need my notebook anyway.
$250 is too low. But the whole setup with MBA with 512 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM and i7 CPU, the GPU and then the $250 in parts is not only enough money for powerful desktop computer, it is enough money for cheaper MBA variant and then powerful desktop computer.
The OP costs $250 + GPU + Windows license, and doesn't have a case. It's also quite likely that the OP is also using an external hard disk rather than putting Windows & a few large games on his SSD. If so, $250 can get you a MB/CPU/RAM/PS.
Pretty sure they're referring to the cost of the computer + parts...Also, its like $400-500 for parts unless you have a [fairly] recent graphics card just sitting around
The 'cool, bro!' names for PC components are usually mildly amusing, but I had to laugh when I saw a PSU named 'fatality'... like you want to associate your PSU with death.
(it's named after a pro gamer, which makes it even funnier - I can just imagine shilling for a PSU: 'The 12V rail on this supply helps me react even faster!')
I run 2 x 30" (2560x1440) and 1 21"(1920x1200) IPS monitors (all DVI). I have 3 Samsung 540 256GB SSD, 2 WD RED 7200RPM 3TB drives (with lifetime warranty!) in the slots.
1. You should probably jump up to 750W PSU (Which is what I did in the end) just for a little more wiggle room. I also moved to small footprint RAM to fit under my cooler -- 4 x 8GB sticks.
2. Use Clover not Chameleon as your bootloader. It's EFI emulation is much better and will give a better OOTB experience (less fiddling with Kexts)
3. You might want to use a different mobo, the Realtec989 can behave strangely under OSX (popping / random interrupts) but this only happened on one install for me and a fresh install cleared it up.
4. Win7 will not install if the drive isn't device 1 or if there are HFS drives around (I have no idea why, seeing as it installs fine on my MBP -- there must be some EFI magic).
5. Fuck any SSD not made by Intel or Samsung -- make sure to use one of the Trim Enablers on the OSX side of things.
6. Don't OC the graphics card unless you're prepared to do some debugging under all OSes you plan on running.
7. OC in increments for the CPU -- test under all OSes before ratcheting up
8. Don't use Win8 with HFS drives, it does stupid shit to their metadata and headers.
9. I didn't bother setting up WiFi since my apartment is wired, but it shouldn't be too hard. Use the included wireless card and there are drivers out there that are confirmed to work.
I don't want to read anything just tell me what SSD to buy! (last updated: 07/25/2013)
The Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe is consistently the best value, get a 240GB or larger drive if you can for best results. The non-Deluxe version uses slightly slower memory, but the Deluxe is usually only ~$5 more expensive so get that unless the non-Deluxe is on sale. See the lists below for more options:
Great, rock-solid drives:
* Samsung 840 Pro
* Intel SSD 520 (probably not worth the price premium, discontinued)
* SanDisk Extreme
* Intel SSD 330 (3K-endurance memory)
Good value drives:
* Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe (best value, the non-Deluxe version is only a bit slower, but also usually not much cheaper)
* Samsung 840 non-Pro (1K-endurance memory, 250GB+ only, 120GB version may only last ~3.5 years)
BAD drives to avoid:
* OCZ drives have very poor reliability, probably due to insufficient memory validation.
* Kingston drives seem to have reliability issues, perhaps also due to insufficient memory validation?
* ADATA drives also seem to have issues due to memory validation.
* Crucial drives are plagued by firmware issues. The M4 has had a lot of problems but seems to have stabilized (but is a poor value today so shouldn't be purchased), the M500 is brand-new and has known issues, and the V4 is the worst SSD on the market (far slower than an HDD).
* Plextor drives benchmark well but have poorly-tuned firmware.
* SATA300 and other older/last-gen drives are not as reliable as modern drives.
NEW drives to avoid until they mature:
* Samsung 840 EVO (potential to be the best SSD)
* SanDisk Extreme II (brand new, lots of potential)
* SanDisk Ultra Plus (would make a decent low-end drive, but isn't usually much cheaper than the other faster drives in the "Good" list above such as the Mushkin Enhanced Chronos)
* Seagate 600 and 600 Pro (new LAMD-based drives, seem to have potential)
* Crucial M500 (960GB model is interesting, but M500 has firmware issues, Crucial has a BAD history resolving those)
* Corsair Neutron (new LAMD-based drive with the same name and better performance, how to tell apart from old slower Corsair Neutron?)
Your argument is invalid and only considered from a 'I want to game' point of view, not from a "I prefer a Mac and would like to play PC games without a 'proper gaming machine'" point of view.