I don't really have a camera so I just drew a quick sketch of my "media center" area.
It really is a mess though, some dirty dishes that have accumulated, many CDs that need to be put back, my tablet, and a whole assortment of random crap.
I have a load of VHS tapes, aswell, all bought from bargain bins, a PS2, and a Gamecube that never gets any use.
My DVDs and games are in a different part of the room.
Oh yeah, the error thing...
Waaaait a sec. You have an NES?
*Retro gaming dance*
EDIT: I've got X-box on one side of the TV, a Wii on the other, A gamecube hooked up to another TV next to the Wii, and a Playstation (one) to the right of it hooked up to a third TV.
This thread will likely fade into the background like so many threads before it, resurfacing whenever someone else hits 1,000 posts (like how the Vomit Café returns when someone gets a bit queasy).
I feel so inferior lacking a gaming station. I have a SNES hooked up to a TV somewhere around here...
I suppose I'd have to count these tables that hold varying numbers of computers. LAN gaming is certainly gaming afterall.
Jhonny, do mine eyes deceive me, or do you have a G3 iMac?
:rolleyes:
Hey, since a computer can count too (I'm gaming on it right now), here's a pic of that too!
Okay, so that's really just a screenshot, but what else am I going to do? You can't see the screen if I use the camera, and besides, that'd be like another 4-5 pictures on a crappy cell phone camera.
EDIT: How the... A dome shaped computer? How the hell did they get cards in there? How the hell are you supposed to find cards that fit in there to upgade it?
All-in-one Macs aren't designed to take PCI or AGP cards, if that's what you're referring to. That said, the logic board is accessible by placing the computer on its side and removing the bottom housing (in order to upgrade RAM, hard drive, optical drive, and add AirPort and Bluetooth capability, if it didn't already have them).
All-in-one Macs aren't designed to take PCI or AGP cards, if that's what you're referring to. That said, the logic board is accessible by placing the computer on its side and removing the bottom housing (in order to upgrade RAM, hard drive, optical drive, and add AirPort and Bluetooth capability, if it didn't already have them).
Yeah, I was thinking more of RAM and drives, but no PCI? Is there some kind of Mac alternative to that? And I guess that Mac must be a bit bigger in person than it is in that pic, because it doesn't look like you could get much in there at all.
The higher-end Macs (the Power Mac G5 and the Mac Pro being the latest examples) have multiple expansion slots, and thus are generally better for gaming station purposes anyway. Though the specs of the iMacs are not to be sneezed at, they pack a powerful computer into those miniscule confines. That said, I've done many a SuperDrive upgrade (CD/DVD burner) in the Flat-Panel iMacs in my current line of work, and they have large drive support (128GB+), so they're still plenty viable in this day and age. If you don't need to play World of Warcraft or something.
One problem with upgrading apple products is how they Yo-Yo between making it easy and hard to open and upgrade a machine, e.g.:
iMac G3 required you to take out like 20 screws
iMac G4: You took out a couple of screws, I do believe
iMac G5/Core (2) Duo: Had to take out about 10, I think, screws.
Mac mini G4: No screws to upgrade memory, 3 to upgrade drives and wireless
Mac mini intel: Memory underneath drives, so you need to take 3 out to get to it
Macbook: Take out battery to access memory and Hard drive
EDIT: Oh, and the Mac Pro: Simply Divine to upgrade. Pull the lever on the back, and off pops the side of the case. You just pop hard drives into a rack, the memory is mounted on a seperate board which just lifts out and pops back in. Processors are easy to remove once the heatsink is off. Sublime!
The higher-end Macs (the Power Mac G5 and the Mac Pro being the latest examples) have multiple expansion slots, and thus are generally better for gaming station purposes anyway. Though the specs of the iMacs are not to be sneezed at, they pack a powerful computer into those miniscule confines. That said, I've done many a SuperDrive upgrade (CD/DVD burner) in the Flat-Panel iMacs in my current line of work, and they have large drive support (128GB+), so they're still plenty viable in this day and age. If you don't need to play World of Warcraft or something.
Oh, okay. Thanks for the lesson. Somehow, I was under the impression that you couldn't do any kind of upgrade at all to any kind of Mac. I have no idea where I heard that and I certainly wouldn't tell others this as fact, but it's nice to get the truth.
It still fail to fully understand how the hell Macs can be completely immune to viruses and spyware. I mean, sure, there are plenty of highly amusing theories out there, but I still just don't understand. In fact, I think I might have asked you guys this once before. It boggles my mind!
But I personally never find any bad spyware (maybe a tracking cookie once in awhile), and I've never had any viruses.
Oh, okay. Thanks for the lesson. Somehow, I was under the impression that you couldn't do any kind of upgrade at all to any kind of Mac. I have no idea where I heard that and I certainly wouldn't tell others this as fact, but it's nice to get the truth.
Don't worry, it's a common enough misconception. Certainly consumer-grade Macs aren't as upgradable as their PC equivalents (I can't pop in an extra SATA controller or upgrade the video card in my eMac, for example).
It still fail to fully understand how the hell Macs can be completely immune to viruses and spyware. I mean, sure, there are plenty of highly amusing theories out there, but I still just don't understand. In fact, I think I might have asked you guys this once before. It boggles my mind!
I wouldn't go so far as to call them immune. However, there are a few security precautions that exist on the Mac that serve as extra deterrents. Little things, like requiring an administrator password to install or change files in the root Library, or not always being logged in as root (Mac OS X borrowed these features from the Unix world). A few people have made proof-of-concept applications, but these are almost always Trojan horses, which require user interaction to make their way onto the system; I've never seen a true self-perpetuating virus on a modern Mac.
So you're saying, you could accidentally download a virus on a Mac just like on a PC, but it can't run itself to do damage. Yeah, I am pretty sure you told me that before, then. Sounds familar, especially with recently seeing Unix in action at work. They were trying to upgrade a license on a machine, but someone did the last licence upgrade under root, so they couldn't change the file because they weren't using root at the time.
We were talking about Macs and their viability as gaming stations! But you're right, it got a little tangential. I'll take a pic of our rig once I've cleaned up the surrounding area a little.
My gaming station is a ps2 next to a tv on top of a dresser. Sometimes, there's a gamecube on top of the ps2, but that comes and goes. Sometime this year there'll be a wii in there too, but not yet.
Do you keep the games in their cases all lined up on display like most everyone else? I thought putting games in a multi-storage CD case was a common thing, but so far I seem to be the only one here who's doing it.
The most played games are kept on the tv, others are organized inside a drawer in my roommates desk. Our room's a little less than 10x20 feet, so we don't have much room for things beyond our beds, desks, dressers and closets.
I suppose I'd have more room for computer junk if this big pool table wasn't hogging up so much space. I sometimes wonder about that thing. It rarely gets used. Either way I still have enough space.
As for where my games are? In a drawer somewhere else in the house. I have a bad habit of circumventing the need for discs for my PC games. CDs are such a hassle.
Comments
It really is a mess though, some dirty dishes that have accumulated, many CDs that need to be put back, my tablet, and a whole assortment of random crap.
I have a load of VHS tapes, aswell, all bought from bargain bins, a PS2, and a Gamecube that never gets any use.
My DVDs and games are in a different part of the room.
Game in Wii=Twilight Princess
Game in N64=Ocarina of Time
Game in NES (not pictured)=The Legend of Zelda
Game in Gameboy=Minish Cap
My Gamecube's busted, so it's in the drawer.
My NES is elsewhere.
Waaaait a sec. You have an NES?
*Retro gaming dance*
EDIT: I've got X-box on one side of the TV, a Wii on the other, A gamecube hooked up to another TV next to the Wii, and a Playstation (one) to the right of it hooked up to a third TV.
EDIT2:
*cough cough*
I suppose I'd have to count these tables that hold varying numbers of computers. LAN gaming is certainly gaming afterall.
EDIT: it's G4
:rolleyes:
Hey, since a computer can count too (I'm gaming on it right now), here's a pic of that too!
Okay, so that's really just a screenshot, but what else am I going to do? You can't see the screen if I use the camera, and besides, that'd be like another 4-5 pictures on a crappy cell phone camera.
EDIT: How the... A dome shaped computer? How the hell did they get cards in there? How the hell are you supposed to find cards that fit in there to upgade it?
I wish I had a G4 iMac, those flat panels are the sex.
Yeah, I was thinking more of RAM and drives, but no PCI? Is there some kind of Mac alternative to that? And I guess that Mac must be a bit bigger in person than it is in that pic, because it doesn't look like you could get much in there at all.
Yur, I think eMac and iMacs are geared toward new Mac users
But to add to the conversation:
One problem with upgrading apple products is how they Yo-Yo between making it easy and hard to open and upgrade a machine, e.g.:
iMac G3 required you to take out like 20 screws
iMac G4: You took out a couple of screws, I do believe
iMac G5/Core (2) Duo: Had to take out about 10, I think, screws.
Mac mini G4: No screws to upgrade memory, 3 to upgrade drives and wireless
Mac mini intel: Memory underneath drives, so you need to take 3 out to get to it
Macbook: Take out battery to access memory and Hard drive
EDIT: Oh, and the Mac Pro: Simply Divine to upgrade. Pull the lever on the back, and off pops the side of the case. You just pop hard drives into a rack, the memory is mounted on a seperate board which just lifts out and pops back in. Processors are easy to remove once the heatsink is off. Sublime!
Oh, okay. Thanks for the lesson. Somehow, I was under the impression that you couldn't do any kind of upgrade at all to any kind of Mac. I have no idea where I heard that and I certainly wouldn't tell others this as fact, but it's nice to get the truth.
It still fail to fully understand how the hell Macs can be completely immune to viruses and spyware. I mean, sure, there are plenty of highly amusing theories out there, but I still just don't understand. In fact, I think I might have asked you guys this once before. It boggles my mind!
But I personally never find any bad spyware (maybe a tracking cookie once in awhile), and I've never had any viruses.
(That being said, I find that comic funny, even if I don't like Tim Buckley)
Don't worry, it's a common enough misconception. Certainly consumer-grade Macs aren't as upgradable as their PC equivalents (I can't pop in an extra SATA controller or upgrade the video card in my eMac, for example).
I wouldn't go so far as to call them immune. However, there are a few security precautions that exist on the Mac that serve as extra deterrents. Little things, like requiring an administrator password to install or change files in the root Library, or not always being logged in as root (Mac OS X borrowed these features from the Unix world). A few people have made proof-of-concept applications, but these are almost always Trojan horses, which require user interaction to make their way onto the system; I've never seen a true self-perpetuating virus on a modern Mac.
It makes a little sense to me! Huzzah!
As for where my games are? In a drawer somewhere else in the house. I have a bad habit of circumventing the need for discs for my PC games. CDs are such a hassle.
why