Sssup folks, gonna dust off this decades old turd - Mac vs PC. Strange me asking this question, considering I'm a computer pro and work in IT for a living. But I don't have any perspective on producing with Mac, hence my question.

I've been mucking around with my ancient dell and finally got to a point where number of tracks I throw at it choke it to shit. My choices are now:

* Build my own PC monster
* Order high-end system like HP workstation with 6 cores, 9GB of RAM for under $1000
* Give into temptation and get a MacBook Pro

Here are some factors I am not quite easy with, when it comes to Mac vs PC:

1. Personal disdain for Steve Jobs. Yes, I hate what he's doing with Apple becoming a censorship entity, rather than just focusing on IT. I know it's irrelevant from technical standpoint but I sort of do feel somewhat uneasy supporting a company that irks my freedom-loving soul.

2. Need to use a system for work - whatever I end up buying, most likely will be work/play. I'd love to dedicate a system to just recording but I find it hard justifying spending so much money if I'm just going to use it for recording. I need win XP/Win7, yes I know you can do boot camp... the fact that it doesn't have another bay for hard drive is a bummer. I don't want to use USB drive, as performance on those sucks and I run VMWare off of mine with tons of heavy VM machinery. I know there's like an ultra-bay for MAC but using that one seems to void your warranty. (another gripe about lack of freedom on Mac!)

3. Software. Software. Software. Lots of items I have today are WinXP-based. Lots of stuff that still works on XP but I'd have to upgrade or buy new to run on Mac (unless I ran XP on Mac) - but could I run XP directly on Mac hardware, without VM?

4. I occasionally test out software by downloading cracked versions. Yes. you heard me right. Not every company makes a demo of their product. I've been burned by way too many purchases that were duds and before I spend money on software I DO TEST IT OUT. If I like it, I buy it. If not, off it goes. So, please save your lecture. My understanding that there are not as many cracked versions of music apps for Mac as there are for PC or they are harder to find. Can someone (without pontificating) chime in on this?

5. PCMCIA port. Yes, I know I should be going to PCI-E. But I already own RME Multiface + PC Card, I'd hate to spend another $400+ on a new PC card. So, the thought was to buy an older (used) Mac that has PC Card slot but I have no idea how old those models are and whether they're even worth buying (how recent is the hardware?)

6. Logic - always tempted me. Seems like many producers use it. Is it worth the hype compared to say... Ableton? I like Ableton but I do tend to revert to Cubase 3 SX every now and then. Curious to find out if Logic would be a worthy investment and worth considering. Seems like there are bunch of bugs with it and it's not as good as it once was.

I know I may be somewhat answering my own questions but I hope someone could try and "sell" me on a Mac.

So, thoughts?

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almost everything cracked for pc has been cracked for mac.. In fact there are probably more modern apps cracked for mac than there are for pc. This thread won't get anywhere fast.

But from what you've described, I would just get a pc as it seems to fit your needs better. I personally won't ever touch a pc again unless it is a matter of life or death.

WIndows 7 is apparently good and it is possible to get a stable system and considering you are building the system, i'm sure you know enough about computers to maintain a pc. I chose Mac because I just got fed up of maintaining my pc. I have yet to meet someone with a pc that wasn't computer savvy that didn't have a virus infected bogged down piece of shit computer. If you know windows and computers , I think windows 7 could be good enough. Macs aren't that great. You just pay for the ease of mind.

PC people will deny and I am no mac fanboy. I just honestly have not ever seen someone with a pc that didn't really know much about computers have a system that wasn't completely ridden with spyware and junk. I'm not saying this for effect. I am basing this on maybe 30 systems of had the honour of witnessing then fixing.

I didn't have that many woes with windows although I did do much more maintenance but I know quite a bit about computers.Now my girlfriends pc laptop, I have to reinstall windows about every 3 months and she is the typical person using a computer.

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Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Nov-11-2010 at 22:45

iMac and Logic/Ableton. decent specs, decent OS, tidy looks/build/performance, easy setup/maintenance. supports all major software. I agree that Steve Jobs is a douche though and its the one reason im still consider hardware. 2000 can get you a decent yamaha or roland workstation or something like that. theres really no need for a full OS to make music, id like to have something more dedicated. but it doesnt exists. fucking world, i hate it.

Last edited by Zak McKracken on Nov-11-2010 at 22:49

Build your own PC monster.
I am going to do the this soon.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mad for Brad almost everything cracked for pc has been cracked for mac.. In fact there are probably more modern apps cracked for mac than there are for pc. This thread won't get anywhere fast. But from what you've described, I would just get a pc as it seems to fit your needs better. I personally won't ever touch a pc again unless it is a matter of life or death. WIndows 7 is apparently good and it is possible to get a stable system and considering you are building the system, i'm sure you know enough about computers to maintain a pc. I chose Mac because I just got fed up of maintaining my pc. I have yet to meet someone with a pc that wasn't computer savvy that didn't have a virus infected bogged down piece of shit computer. If you know windows and computers , I think windows 7 could be good enough. Macs aren't that great. You just pay for the ease of mind. PC people will deny and I am no mac fanboy. I just honestly have not ever seen someone with a pc that didn't really know much about computers have a system that wasn't completely ridden with spyware and junk. I'm not saying this for effect. I am basing this on maybe 30 systems of had the honour of witnessing then fixing. I didn't have that many woes with windows although I did do much more maintenance but I know quite a bit about computers.Now my girlfriends pc laptop, I have to reinstall windows about every 3 months and she is the typical person using a computer.

I'm not worried about viruses/malware - my recording system does not connect to internet for browsing. I may jump on for an update but I don't do anything that would get it to be infected. I have a separate (old junker) system that I have antivirus on and I load all "funny" stuff on it first, to see if it catches anything. It has a firewall too - so any time something is trying to get out to the internet, it's inspected and most of the time discarded right then and there, if it's fishy.

But you are right - Win7 is a bloatware, even though I like it as an OS. I'm also pretty peeved that every time I build a system, it's SP +400MB in hotfixes, reboot +200MB more, reboot +40MB more, reboot, etc.

I spend about 4 hours just patching the system after the install and then another 2 killing services and components I don't need to optimize it. I started using Ghost when the process started taking more than 4 hours to rebuild - start to finish.

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Build this pc using 8 sata2 ssds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs

quote:

Originally posted by Kenny Rogers 2000 can get you a decent yamaha or roland workstation or something like that.

I got more hardware based synths than I care to list. I'm actually getting rid of a lot of them (No, analogs are not for sale) .

...and btw, least impressive systems I've owned were all "workstations" - e.g. roland, korg, yamaha. I consider them consumer-grade, semi-pro junk. There's not one ROMpler that I'd want to own today, not even Korg Oasys.

Portion of the proceeds will be used to fund my new system. Here are some:

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Build a high end PC and install OSX on it for dual boot goodness.

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i kinda feared and assumed exactly that. theres nothing on the market working for me. im never going back to pure synths atleast. maybe elektron stuff, id love to try it out someday.

hackintoshes are fun but honestly, what a pain in the ass. STick with windows if you go pc. It just isn't worth it.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

Macs certainly have their appeal, particularly when you consider Logic, but in your situation, I'd stick with a PC. It would be a much more cost-effective route, considering your knowledge and existing software/hardware. Windows 7 is very stable and stays out of your way. And, definitely build your own machine - I learned a long time ago to avoid the Dells, HPs, etc. - too many proprietary parts, so upgrading or customizing them can be a PITA. Not to mention that you can build a machine that kicks a comparably priced Dell or HP right square in the ass.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mad for Brad hackintoshes are fun but honestly, what a pain in the ass. STick with windows if you go pc. It just isn't worth it.

I was considering it! I have a lenovo T61P - C2D, 4GB RAM, AND it has Cardbus slot +512MB NVidia video... How hard is it? I'm willing to give it a shot.

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