Games Machine or Computer?

[BeyondCloister]

Do you see the main purpose of your computer as a games machine or a device for doing productivity work or other such things?

As one would expect from a games development site, a lot of people here seem to put game playing capability foremost in their Mac buying. Is this the reason you got a Mac or was it for something else?

[OneSadCookie]

Much as I'd *like* for it to be mainly a hobby-game-programming machine, it's used far more often for web and email. Still, I like to have a machine that's not too limiting should I actually get around to it once in a while :)

[akb825]

My main purpose for it is for my programming etc. However, I certainly don't shy away from gaming on it. :p

[KittyMac]

My time is spilt pretty evenly between gaming, work, and browsing.

[AnotherJake]

I went for productivity, but it could have been `other' I suppose. Mostly it is just used for `hobby' programming, web, and email, but it does just about everything else for me too -- except gaming. In fact, and I almost hesitate to say this, even my programming strategy/interest is slowly moving away from gaming to 3D visualization and productivity.

[kelvin]

Quick look at my dock...

Adium (human contact?)
MSN Messenger (for corporate SIP ugh)
iTunes (music sharing to my FUS'd personal account on the same machine)
Entourage (running in Rosetta blows)
Word (for reading them PRDs)
Firefox
Safari
Terminal
Eclipse (where I live most of the time)


Course at home, I'm either surfing/chatting or bootcamping into XP to play all my gf's PC games.

[aarku]

12-16 hours a day or so in Unity, TextMate, and Shiira for docs, with David Bowie providing backup singing in iTunes. iChat, SubEthaEdit, Google Spreadsheet and Finder AFP for collaboration :p

What category is: Work?

[ThemsAllTook]

I voted productivity, because I generally spend a lot more time writing games than playing them. I don't really see my computer as either a productivity device or a games machine, though... I see it as more of an all-purpose do-almost-everything machine. I consistently spend more time in front of a computer every day than doing any other activity, even including sleeping. It's a very central fixture in my life.

[FreakSoftware]

I've been outside twice in the last week. Once was to go to dinner, the other to get the MacBook box out of storage so I could cut the UPC off and send in the iPod rebate. :)

[BeyondCloister]

What category is: Work?

Productivity.

However I was more interested why people bought their personal Mac. A work Mac is bought to do a job and only a very few people have a job that involves playing games as its main task.

[ravuya]

I bought my MBP to write games, but the PB that I'm replacing with this new one was originally justified as a note-taking/coursework-developing machine.

So I'll put "Work".

[WhatMeWorry]

Why? So idevgames. Silly question :)

[BeyondCloister]

Why? So idevgames. Silly question :)

There was a thread debating about whether or not someone should buy a MacPro. All the arguments put forward had a bias towards games. This made me wonder if games are the reason people on this site are buying Macs. So far it seems clear on this site that, even though people complain about poor graphics cards or other game related faults when new Macs come out, they are buying them for other purposes and not letting these issues stop them.

Or maybe you thought it had some darker purpose such as closing the accounts belonging to users who dare do something other than play games? :lol:

[FreakSoftware]

That's not necessarily true.... I chose Productivity, but I won't buy a computer if it can't play games decently. I did a lot of research on the net to check out how decent the iMac is now, and guess to project how decent it'll be with UE3-level and D3-level games. But the reality is I'll only be using it maybe a few hours a week for that - I just want to be sure it can do it.

(A Mac Pro obviously can)

[skyhawk]

I feel so alone putting game machine :(

[kelvin]

I feel so alone putting game machine :(
Not "gaming"... "research". Yeah!