Re: Advices on computer hardware

Posted by dscho on
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Advices-on-computer-hardware-tp3701254p3701260.html

Hi,

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Mark J. Chopping wrote:

> > The Macs are pretty, but if you intend to write your own code, they're very
> > hell to program on.... You'll get a really pretty computer for the price
> > from Apple, but you'll get every bit as much computer for half the price
> > from one of the PC vendors. Also, OS X doesn't manage memory well, so you
> > will have to restart from time to time to clear it out if you're going
> > through large datasets.
>
> Anyone care to comment on this assessment of Mac/OSX?  I wonder whether the
> machines were comparable -- or is this the older Mac vs. new PC chestnut (viz.
> "I do most of my image processing on an old Powerbook...")? Is OSX' memory
> management really worse than other Unix implementations?

In my experience, no. I did not comment on this originally, because I
imagine the original poster had some gripe with OSX, and I thought this
was obvious.

Having said that, I have Linux running on my iBook and probably will never
go back to OSX.

I think it is mostly a matter of taste (and habit: you can't change the
habits of a lifetime), not of technical aspects.

Ciao,
Dscho