Apple Beating PC In Sales - Really?

I have been a PC fan for a long time. I even worked for a company that did Apple Care support for Apple. When working on a iMac all day and then coming home to my PC. Which runs Windows 7 64bit. It got kind of annoying. Most of the people who called in didn't even know how to do basic things like. Ejecting the CD from the disk drive, just because there was not a button for it on the framing. The button is on the keyboard if you didn't know.

Apple is rich, I read an article about how they have more money then the USA government. Anyways, I still like to think differently about the sales. Yes Apple makes a ton of money from sales. Yet they offer more products. In addition, how do they base the sales of PC that run Windows? Do they take the sales of the main makers of them. Such as Dell, HP, Gateway. If they do, I think the sales chart is wrong. They are not adding into the equation that you can build your own PC from the ground up. Ordering parts and operating systems from sites such as Tigerdirect.com and Newegg.com. Which wouldn't even show on the OEM sales charts.

I have a lot of friends that are into computers. Hardly any of them own an Apple PC. They might own a iphone or an ipod. Yet when it comes to basic computing and gaming. They choose PC. For instance, not a lot of games are playable on the Mac OS. Heck  a lot of programs are not even made for Mac OS.

With that being said. Is Apple really the industry leader for Personal Computers? In my view of things. NO! I did a Google search for Mac vs Pc facts. I found this blog that broke the numbers down on which Operating System is more popular, statistically. The author says "Statistics show that Microsoft Windows has approximately 91% of the market share, while the Apple Mac OS has around 5% of the market share. The other 4% is owned by other operating systems such as Linux.". With that bit of info, it almost proves my point.


The author of the article went on to say this. (Note that I just copy and pasted, yet am giving full credit to those who deserve it)." Kelly Ford, the marketing and content head for Hunch, conducted an extremely helpful report that talks about “Mac people & PC people”. The report focused on their personalities from 3 perspectives: aesthetic preferences, media choices, and personality traits.
The key findings in the report were as follows:

• Mac People are more likely to see the existing world in a light of “sameness” and thus express a desire to be perceived as different and unique. This is consistently reflected in their aesthetic choices such as bold colors, “retro” designs, one-of-a-kind clothing and highly stylized art.

• PC People are more likely to see the world as “different enough already” and appreciate “being in tune with those around them.” This is reflected in their subtler, “mainstream modern” (neither retro nor extremely contemporary) design choices and their practical choices in clothing, footwear, and cars that favor getting the job done rather than making an overt design statement.

• Media choices and preferences vary greatly between the two groups, with Mac People trending toward more independent films, specialized comedians and design-centric magazines, and PC People trending toward more mainstream alternatives as well as sports.

• From a personality perspective, Mac People are more likely to describe themselves as “verbal”, “conceptual”, and “risk takers”, with PC People countering that they are “numbers oriented”, “factual” and “steady, hard workers”.".

Seems to me like PC is better for my stance in life. Mac may seem popular, but it is only popular to certain people, who are all pretty much the same in most areas of their lives. So to end this...PC ROCKS! Go Windows and keep making the work different!

5 Reasons to Play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I have been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for about a week now. Yes I know I am a bit late, but I have it right? Anyways what got me interested in this game aside from the pure hype of it, was the fact that I had previously played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. As a fan of this game, I was very tempted to play the newer version of the series. Yet I was skeptical at first because of all the bugs and glitches from the previous version. As I sat down and started to play it, I noticed that getting the game was a great decision.

1. The game mechanic are much better. Upon playing for some time I noticed that you can't just run around and jump and sprint and gain a skill increase. Unlike its older brother, this was an issue for me. As it made the feel of the game seem a bit unreal. Yes I am sure in real life if you run around jumping, you will get better at it. Yet for game physics it would allow you to feel God-like. Jumping 15 feet in the air is not realistic, and for a game like Skyrim, you want it to be as realistic as possible. Even though it is a fantasy genre game.

2. The graphics are improved. I don't really have to show you to be able to tell, but I will. The fact of the matter is. Oblivion came out in 2003 and then Skyrim came out in 2011. Here is a visual of the character evolution from the two.

Picture found on Gamingbolt.com

3. Freedom to do anything you want. Well almost anything. The game is so open and so is the world. You be any type of character you. It has its limits just like any game does. Yet it doesn't force you to follow the story line if you wander off. In fact you can play the game without doing much of the storyline. It is up to you to complete it. You can always just follow your own path that attunes to your play style. The game doesn't block you off with an invisible wall that forces you to follow the story. This I like. A lot of games will make you follow the story. Yet with Skyrim, there are so many side quests and other things to do in the game. You could play for hours on end and not complete any of it.

4. Dual Wielding. Ah yes, who doesn't like to dual wield? Well magic caster normally don't like it, or do they? In Skyrim even as a magic caster you can dual wield spells. How freaking cool is that! This was something I always wanted in Oblivion. A lot of the times I just dodged the attacks anyways. With dual wielding you can take advantage of the extra weapons damage modifiers. When dual wielding spells it also allows you to use an overcharge ability that also has a modifier to it!

5. Skyrim has the ability to keep you engaged in play for what some say "hundreds of hours". The storyline, side quests, training of skills, exploration, and so on. Skyrim leaves little behind for almost any player. From what I read online, the fastest time someone has completed the game was in between 2-3 hours. For a game of this magnitude, if you completed it that fast, you skipped most of the fun parts. Rushed through quests, didn't read anything, and basically had the concept of how to beat it to begin with. You should play a game of this caliber to its fullest potential.

Getting Life Back Into An Old PC

So I have been wanting to game for some time now, and I have been able to play some games. The loner computer I have right now is an old dinosaur of a PC, as you can tell from the specs below.

Most applications and games now require at least 1GB of RAM to run. Along with a crappy integrated video controller from Intel. This things runs about as slow as can be. My gaming rig was a pretty decent build.

Equipped with:

• Phenom X4 9100e Processor
• 750 GB Hard Drive SATA
• 4 GB of DDR2 SDRAM 240-pin PC2 6400/800MHz
• 2 GB Overclocked EVGA GeForce GTS 250 PCI-E Graphics Card.
• MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum nForce 750a Socket AM2+ Mother Board

The bad part is, it will not boot up. I replaced the mother board, but it didn't do much good, still no boot. Changed out power supply and still no boot. That really only leaves the RAM, mother board, processor, and power switch. Since you should be able to boot/post with no RAM being seated, but get an error post. That rules out the RAM. That leaves the processor/w heat sink and fan, and the power switch. I tried to short the power switch on the mother board but it still did not create a boot. That leaves me to believe that it is the processor.

So I will start off by trying to replace the processor since I have no way to test it on another working pc that will match the socket.
Update: Feb, 11 2011

Found out it was only a power supply issue all along. Replaced with a 550 watt PSU and now I am back on my gaming pc. This makes me a happy customer.