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Thinking of moving over to Mac (Intel)

I'm just wondering if anyone here could share their views on the next generation of Apple Powermacs which will come with Intel Dual-Core CPU's?

I'm thinking of selling my PC and going across to Mac to use Logic 7. But I'm left with question after question..

At the moment I have a PC Setup with a UAD-1 (PCI), TC Element (PCI) and RME 9632 (PCI). The question is - do I go with a PCI G5 or wait for an Intel PCIe machine? Money isnt an object but I'm just trying to work out which is the easiest way to go about it... I don't mind having to sell my old cards but I've tried to have a look around for PCI Express cards but there doesn't seem to be much around (apart from the UAD-1e).

I'd say unless you really want to switch to logic (which I can easily understand) it's better to stick with pc, you get more performance for the price, certainly with the current price wars on the cpu market.

Yeah until your PC gets a fucking bug.

Get a mac. Has never crashed... ever. And if you want to run unstable windows, YOU CAN!

quote:

Originally posted by DJSentinel Get a mac. Has never crashed... ever.

Thats a myth. OSX crashes just as much as XP, in my experience it crashes more - but instead of getting a helpful error message (like you do in windows) to tell you what went wrong so you can correct it, it just dies instantly.

Or occasionally you get a message box that simply says "Error"

Great.

Macs are pretty - but useless.

It sounds like you have a pretty sweet system, don't spend your hard earned money switching. What counts for electronica making is ideas and techniques not so much the type of sequencer...

quote:

Originally posted by DJSentinel Yeah until your PC gets a fucking bug. Get a mac. Has never crashed... ever. And if you want to run unstable windows, YOU CAN!

Cult of sMac!

Re: Thinking of moving over to Mac (Intel)

quote:

Originally posted by simonbostock I'm just wondering if anyone here could share their views on the next generation of Apple Powermacs which will come with Intel Dual-Core CPU's? I'm thinking of selling my PC and going across to Mac to use Logic 7. But I'm left with question after question.. At the moment I have a PC Setup with a UAD-1 (PCI), TC Element (PCI) and RME 9632 (PCI). The question is - do I go with a PCI G5 or wait for an Intel PCIe machine? Money isnt an object but I'm just trying to work out which is the easiest way to go about it... I don't mind having to sell my old cards but I've tried to have a look around for PCI Express cards but there doesn't seem to be much around (apart from the UAD-1e).

Well these days price for performance is very much in line with other PC manufacturers. I find that for me OSX handles multitasking much more efficiently. Also my mac machine is much quieter than man PC, though the radeon x1900xtx may to be to blame. But the mac is dead silent(g5). And i can assume the new macs will be just a quiet, as the intel CPU's run much cooler than the g5's. and as for pci vs pcie i say get pce and upgrade your cards, PCI is a dying technology, as are power pc based computers. Intelx86 and pcie is where its at.

But another thing worth mentioning, if your current system is working for you I wouldn't recomend changing it. Or if its possible maybe get a new macbook pro to test the waters with apple. That way you can have the best of both worlds. Then if you see a need maybe buy a macpro aswell.

Don't listen to the Mac fanboys or the PC fanboys. PC fanboys will tell you PC's are cheaper. But this is of course if you are using shitty budget parts. And then the mac idiots will of course tell you all PC's are ridden with virus and bugs. Speaking first hand i can tell you I have never gotten a virus and the only reason my pc crashes is due to the MB cpu configurations i currently have.(NOTE: DO NOT PURCHASE A Asus P5N32 sli deluxe MB). If you want a stable system get a intel MB and a intel CPU.

I have a p4 2.4 on the asus p4p800 MB and never ever had problems with it, asus has a good reputation on this segment, are you sure you don't have a faulty one?

personally, i'm so sick and tired of the instability of cubase on my pc, running motu traveler and an external hd. nothin but problems.

i'm also considering switching to a mac, probably a macbook pro, but i'm still trying to decide between a laptop vs g5.

Thanks everyone for the input on this, but I wasn't intending on starting a mac vs pc thread.

The other reason I was thinking of getting an Apple/Logic setup is because everyone (ok.. not all but a big fat number of people) use Logic/Apple. So if I wanted to remix a track, using the same platform as them would make the job easier, wouldn't it?

But the other option I was thinking today was to get a G5 with PCI cards in for the time being (obviously a 2nd hand G5 as the current range are PCIe) and transfering my cards across.

quote:

Originally posted by simonbostock Thanks everyone for the input on this, but I wasn't intending on starting a mac vs pc thread. The other reason I was thinking of getting an Apple/Logic setup is because everyone (ok.. not all but a big fat number of people) use Logic/Apple. So if I wanted to remix a track, using the same platform as them would make the job easier, wouldn't it? But the other option I was thinking today was to get a G5 with PCI cards in for the time being (obviously a 2nd hand G5 as the current range are PCIe) and transfering my cards across.

Wait for the Intel PowerMacs, you will thank me.

BTW, I don't care if you think Mac's are just as suseptable to error and crashes, because my Intel iMac has not crashed since I got it in January. That is proof enough for me IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by djillicit personally, i'm so sick and tired of the instability of cubase on my pc, running motu traveler and an external hd. nothin but problems. i'm also considering switching to a mac, probably a macbook pro, but i'm still trying to decide between a laptop vs g5.

Motu drivers are weak for pc, do you plug in your external HD via a add in pci firefire/usb card or using the ones on the MB sometimes the onboard ports cause problems.

Could it be people have matured in this forum????

I remember a day when my throw away comment of "Macs are usless" would have provoked a torrent of flames and abuse, rendering the thread pointless!

Brilliant!

Now all I've gotta do is grow up! wooo yeah


P.S. I was just being silly. Macs are pretty good, I just don't like OSX. Makes me feel like i'm in a giant bubble.

I don't know if your thoughts on switching from pc to mac were only software-based, but if they're not, I think you should consider this:

The new CPUs "Conroe" to the PC-platform from Intel are shipped on the market these days (in fact, they should be out already, but they are not in stock anywhere yet apperently).

The "Coroe"-processor (Intel Core 2 Dual) seems to leave behind everything else previously seen!!! I've already read some of the first test-reports for using this CPU in a DAW and it's suppose to be AWSOME... Some say that you can more than DOUBLE the number of VSTi's, VSTs in a session compared to the now aged Pentium 4, 3.4 Ghz.

But more importantly, it's thermal heating is extremely LOW. In other words, it's very likely possible to cool this baby using only a passive CPU-cooler! In a nutshell: NO MORE NOISE from your computer!

But if your thoughts were only considering getting to work in Logic, I quite understand you. I think most professional producers use PT and Logic, but I've also heard that this "Logic-fetish" primarely came from the perception that Logic-mixdowns simply sound better (than i.e. Cubase-mixdowns). Whether or not this is an urban legend, or it used to be true, or still holds true, I can't tell you, but I believe people claimed it was due to a better sync between the different tracks (perfectly syncing midi and audio), no jitter etc. in Logic.

Regards

So you gotta wait until an intel power mac comes out? The imacs are out now, but I heard that the pro apps aren't done for these "universal binaries" yet. I dont keep up with it too well, but being in the market for a new machine, I I looked into it and it seemed that while good, not all the apps were ready and by the time they would get there, the machine I would have bought would be old.

Forums and stuff seem to indicate it is better to wait for a diff mac to come out that is meant for the heavy apps after they have arrived for the intel models.

That being said, I've seen every platform crash, and it really depends on what you are doing with the thing, it's cool to see big servers crash, as long as they aren't yours. If it were my job to do media type things I would do mac, but my job is engineering, I love to take things apart, I value modularity, so I do PCs mostly. Media people just wanna mess with their media, they dont like fooling around with configurations and stuff, it may be a waste of time to you to do configuring and debugging and stuff, but you wont besaying that after you come up with a working setup that is unique and interesting and suited just for you.

quote:

Originally posted by DeZmA I have a p4 2.4 on the asus p4p800 MB and never ever had problems with it, asus has a good reputation on this segment, are you sure you don't have a faulty one?

I use asus boards for the most part this one is the first one to be flaky. When i first purchased it I had to flash the bios to support the Pentium D core. Its been nothing but trouble ever since. I cant do any stable overclocking and for the most part it still crashes at default speeds. Its a known problem on the forums. And with the latest bios it has gotten better, but it deffinately still happens a lot more than id like

Quadzilla macs (Dual x Dual Core Woodcrest) are announced on Monday, or I'm of chinese descent....

They'll basically be 2x the cost of a simlarly specced home brew PC, but have the joy of running OSX or Windows.

Buy a Mac if you have a real reason or understanding of what you are getting into.

I happen to love them, mamy others hate them.

Computers are just tools. Pick what works for YOU

I'm a pc boy! Feel free to fill in the rest of the bullshit arguments I'm going to give: _________________________



I really am convinced that PC is far superior, but feel free to use whatever makes your socks go up and down and let me know the results. I'd be interested.

I always had problems with my PC so for me it was more personal preference and trial and error kind of thing. Every PC i ever got and had built got messed up one way or another. So i basically tested out a mac and i loved it.

Except Logic there aren�t many reasons to switch to mactel, by the way you know you should purchase some of your software again if you switch, which sucks.

PCs should not give you lots of problems if they are maintained well.

quote:

Originally posted by fr0st Motu drivers are weak for pc, do you plug in your external HD via a add in pci firefire/usb card or using the ones on the MB sometimes the onboard ports cause problems.

I have an add-in firewire PCMCIA card that has the motu card and the firewire external HD hooked up to it.

pain in the ass... any suggestions?

Looks like apple have come out with the predicted MacPro.
http://www.apple.com/macpro/

But with 3 pci express cards - looks like my element, uad-1 and RME cards would go redundent costing me more money. I think i'll get an Asus motherboard with 3 PCIx slots to run my cards in with that Intel Core2 processor.

i run logic, protools, ableton and serato on my G4 powerbook. usually with a buttload of vsts or RTAS, mine has NEVER crashed. NEVER! i will reboot it about once every other month, never a virus, never spyware or adware, it just works. ive never had to reformat and install an OS on it. and did i mention that it has NEVER CRASHED?!?!

best 2k i ever spent. ill never go back. ive converted all my PCs to linux servers. i'd die happy if i never had to touch another windows program or OS.

quote:

Originally posted by Vero i run logic, protools, ableton and serato on my G4 powerbook. usually with a buttload of vsts or RTAS, mine has NEVER crashed. NEVER! i will reboot it about once every other month, never a virus, never spyware or adware, it just works. ive never had to reformat and install an OS on it. and did i mention that it has NEVER CRASHED?!?!

I'm experiencing the same on windows xp.

holy shit, this thing is quite drool worthy, a woodcrest quad:

http://www.apple.com/macpro/

Looks like your pro macintel desktops have arrived, if I had the money, I'd be all over this. But the best computer I can get for $1,650 is a homebuilt thingy.

If I had 5k for a box (not even including the audio card, or the screen(s)) then I would get one of them. But it is tempring trying to spec out a similar machine to see if it would cost any less being self assembled.

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