4 ms·

Windows remains the most convenient OS for video games, and given HN's userbase (mostly young men), I think a lot of people here use Windows.

greggman2 7y ago
Windows is also the arguably the domain of GPU related dev. I see lots of Razer laptops. They are small and same weight as a MBP but you can get a 2080 RTX (previously 1060 GTX). Even the newest MBA's GPU is not 1/2 as fast as the 3 year old Razer (and its peers)
- bootlooped 7y ago
  Are people really using these for work instead of just spinning up a cloud instance or using a desktop? I've always thought they were a horrible deal for gaming, and it seems like they'd still be a horrible deal for ML work or whatever.
- fortran77 7y ago
  That's right. We use Surface Book with NVIDIA for our laptops and Thinkmate / Supermicro PCs. All with NVIDIA. Our Hollywood clients need NVIDIA for video rendering and we write software in CUDA/C++. Windows 10 really does work great. Seriously!
arvinsim 7y ago
Windows is also the OS that doesn't require relatively expensive hardware(MacOS barring hackintosh) and doesn't require that much fiddling(Linux). It's basically the good enough option that most people would use.
- sundvor 7y ago
  It also lets you build bloody good ones. The 3950X will be a ripper when it's out, couple that with a PCIE4 nvme, 3600 MHz DDR4 and you'll have screaming performance for a relatively modest budget that'd cost you a mortgage and a firstborn under Apple - if at all possible.
  - jhasse 7y ago
    It will also work with Linux though.
    - sundvor 7y ago
      Absolutely. I see a few people running Linux on their desktop, but the majority are on OSX. The Linux / Windows world offers more performance for significantly less money, if you're prepared to learn about hardware. I find it so much fun, although sometimes frustrating when things like bios bugs interfere with normal voltage levels - need to be more hands on these days than before.
orangecat 7y ago
Windows remains the most convenient OS for video games Steam's Proton is amazingly good. I recently switched from an iMac to a PC, and was expecting to use Windows for games and Linux for development, but Proton has run everything I've tried with excellent performance and stability.
- alpaca128 7y ago
  Go install Linux on a laptop with Nvidia Optimus hardware and you'll see how "amazingly good" Linux gaming is on many devices. No, Linux won't come close for at least the next 10 years. It's much better now with Proton, yes, but still not nearly enough. Even on my machine with the more compatible hardware at least 50% of games crash with Proton before you even see a window.
ulzeraj 7y ago
I do but I don’t pay for it. I have a copy on boot camp and its been a while since the “Activate Windows” watermark stopped bothering me. It boots directly into Steam Big Picture. I know I know... but at least I’m not using malware infested solutions to keep it working.
likeclockwork 7y ago
Wine works pretty well and compatibility is increasingly all the time. Proton integrating wine with Steam is quite convenient. Sure, not everything works.. but then I'm not going to buy every console and handheld just so I can play their exclusives either. Everyone has their own values but... I have more games than I can reasonably play in months installed and available to me already, with more coming out all the time.. there's no one game that would make me compromise everything just for recreation.

greggman2 7y ago

Windows is also the arguably the domain of GPU related dev. I see lots of Razer laptops. They are small and same weight as a MBP but you can get a 2080 RTX (previously 1060 GTX). Even the newest MBA's GPU is not 1/2 as fast as the 3 year old Razer (and its peers)

bootlooped 7y ago
Are people really using these for work instead of just spinning up a cloud instance or using a desktop? I've always thought they were a horrible deal for gaming, and it seems like they'd still be a horrible deal for ML work or whatever.
fortran77 7y ago
That's right. We use Surface Book with NVIDIA for our laptops and Thinkmate / Supermicro PCs. All with NVIDIA. Our Hollywood clients need NVIDIA for video rendering and we write software in CUDA/C++. Windows 10 really does work great. Seriously!

arvinsim 7y ago

Windows is also the OS that doesn't require relatively expensive hardware(MacOS barring hackintosh) and doesn't require that much fiddling(Linux). It's basically the good enough option that most people would use.

sundvor 7y ago
It also lets you build bloody good ones. The 3950X will be a ripper when it's out, couple that with a PCIE4 nvme, 3600 MHz DDR4 and you'll have screaming performance for a relatively modest budget that'd cost you a mortgage and a firstborn under Apple - if at all possible.
- jhasse 7y ago
  It will also work with Linux though.
  - sundvor 7y ago
    Absolutely. I see a few people running Linux on their desktop, but the majority are on OSX. The Linux / Windows world offers more performance for significantly less money, if you're prepared to learn about hardware. I find it so much fun, although sometimes frustrating when things like bios bugs interfere with normal voltage levels - need to be more hands on these days than before.

orangecat 7y ago

Windows remains the most convenient OS for video games Steam's Proton is amazingly good. I recently switched from an iMac to a PC, and was expecting to use Windows for games and Linux for development, but Proton has run everything I've tried with excellent performance and stability.

alpaca128 7y ago
Go install Linux on a laptop with Nvidia Optimus hardware and you'll see how "amazingly good" Linux gaming is on many devices. No, Linux won't come close for at least the next 10 years. It's much better now with Proton, yes, but still not nearly enough. Even on my machine with the more compatible hardware at least 50% of games crash with Proton before you even see a window.

ulzeraj 7y ago

I do but I don’t pay for it. I have a copy on boot camp and its been a while since the “Activate Windows” watermark stopped bothering me. It boots directly into Steam Big Picture. I know I know... but at least I’m not using malware infested solutions to keep it working.

likeclockwork 7y ago

Wine works pretty well and compatibility is increasingly all the time. Proton integrating wine with Steam is quite convenient. Sure, not everything works.. but then I'm not going to buy every console and handheld just so I can play their exclusives either. Everyone has their own values but... I have more games than I can reasonably play in months installed and available to me already, with more coming out all the time.. there's no one game that would make me compromise everything just for recreation.