Searched the forum and saw a few mismatched threads recommending this and that, but nothing specific towards good/bad of using a Mac (aside from obvious price). I'm thinking hard about a Power Mac 12 core, but the new 27" iMac also has some major power too (at 20% of the price). Does the lack of software absolutely negate the benefit of using these machines?
For laptops, go for it. You can run windows and OSX side by side without any problems. It's surprising really how seamless it is between Windows and OSX...the real definition of zero bugs. Buy the desktop if you want, especially if you have allot of media. I wouldn't...a little expensive, and no purpose for all that compact hardware for a desktop. If you do a little research, you can assemble your own like most guys do (most smart ones anyways ) and save around 70% on an even better system, with SSD's and all. Especially the Mac Pro, there is no need to spend all that money. It sounds like higher performance, but seriously, hardware that would embarrass the Mac Pro can be built for around 30%-50% of the Pro cost. The Mac Pros are designed for rich Mac gurus and biased media houses (biased toward Final Cut). Software isn't a question with the Macs since Win7 works just fine. The 27" screens are a little under $1k-you can easily buy one or a couple for your desktop. Note you can run Win7 side by side OSX in vm ware with the same performance of boot camp.
What do you want to do on it? Mac version of Ib tws realtime data feed into investor r/t from www.linnsoft.com covers realtime charting.
tws sucks terribly bad imho go download a trial of ninja or even esignal. You don't know what you are missing out on until you try it. no tick data tws? LOL
If you use Windows software it is simply not worth it. I did some research on this, but I`m too tired and hungry to write anything more right now.
I'm planning to buy a new 27" Imac when the new model comes out in a few months. I currently have a MacBook Pro...love it. I plan to replace my PC with the Imac. You can run VMWare, and then use your Windows software. Or you can use Bootcamp. Frankly, I've never used either. Why buy an Apple product and then turn around and use all the PC stuff? I think what you do is get accustomed to using the Mac software products. They work for me. TWS from IB comes in a Mac version. And as a poster above said, you can use Linsoft for charting software if you need it. You can also use IB's charting software as well depending on what you need it for. It's improved quite a bit from it's very humble beginnings. I think the 27" Imac is a great piece of equipment. Price is something like $1700 for the base version. Hopefully they'll add USB 3.0 in the new version. OldTrader
Apple is going the direction of mobile devices and this means going towards iOS (iPad / iPhone etc like interface). OS X is set to merge with that. Writing is on the wall that the Mac Pro is dead, there is little return on investment for Apple in it. The rest of Apple's gear is made for "looks" rather than pratical functionality. Lets compare this to automobiles: A Ferrari may have xxx horsepower and a large truck may have the same amount of horse power. However the Ferrari can only give it in short bursts and under certain conditions whereas the truck can keep on doing it over and over again. The Mac Pro belongs to the trucks, the rest of Apple's gear belongs to the Ferrari club. Don't misunderstand me - I am not dissing Apple, it make perfect economic sense. And I am running my discretionary system on a Mac mini 2011 after having had a Mac mini 2010. However I am running Windows 7. Why the trouble some may ask? Well simply if the ASRock Vision 3 D was available in our coutnry with a decent service centre I'll have that instead. But as it is the Apple Mac mini is easy transportable: the Mac mini in hand luggage and the keyboard and mouse in checked in luggage. Hotel's TV as screen. Reason why? Because my eyes have dteriorated so much I cannot use a laptop any longer. But do not try to use this machine for backtesting, if I get anything approaching 50% CPU utuilisation it overheats and throttles down and the fan sounds like a hairdryer. In normal use I've got something like 3-5% CPU utilisation and at that load the tmeprature is acceptable and I do not hear the thing. Get a commercial server if you need that much grunt. Apple is going after the consumer market with build in obsolence.
I remember the days when you couldn't download anything on a Mac, since all .exe's were for Windows. But now you can I guess you can when you run Win 7. I'm sure it does cost more to have 2 OS. anyhow, with MAC....i noticed they give you a relatively lame graphics card and still high price. i also don't know what motherboard they use. to me, that matters. a nice GPU is really nice, so make sure you know what graphics card it is. anyhow, Mac seems to have the best looking screens. I have a 24 inch Viewsonic 1080p full HD for like $200 and it's really, really nice. but i'm sure Apple looks a little better. Since apple is using intel chips, u can get a 2500k (I don't overclock) and about everything else you want for $700 cheaper. There is one problem...i'm sure Apple computers are relatively stable, prob. don't overheat, and most of the time bomb proof. Oh, my computer is as well...but I know there is that risk something inside my custom rig can do something weird. anyhow, if really don't care about saving $700ish and your gut feeling likes the feel of apple....whatever. buy it.
With my eyesight I cannot work very long on a glossy screen. Am now using a Dell anti glare, e-IPS screen. Check out the threads on www.macrumors.com about the Mac Pro if you want to know more.