Here we go...A mac question

bodhi71 · Post by **bodhi71** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:42 am

Are they really worth the money?
It seems my duo core laptop just doesn't have the power to run Live and analog factory at the same time, let alone what I WANT to do.
Thinking of buying a macbook pro but the price aaarrrrrrgghh, it would be more than I paid for my last two vehicles.
Muscle to spare? Sincere question

Bagle · Post by **Bagle** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:48 am

there is a search function on the forum..

and also you dont wanna know the answer.
too many arguments will be started

figure it out yourself

suspended childhood · Post by **suspended childhood** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:06 am

get a mac.

dietarypacifist · Post by **dietarypacifist** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:07 am

i recently just got my first mac so i know exactly where your coming from. I was worried that the steep price of a mac was even worth getting a mac when i could have gotten a windows laptop with about the same performance for probably 600 bucks less.

what i read though was that OSX uses less of your computer's memory and processing power to simply run your computer than windows does (especially vista). meaning that because you are using a your DAW on a mac instead of a pc you'll have more processing power and memory left over (after whats used to run your operating sys and your DAW) to make and play back your music.

reading that was a big push for me towards getting a mac. there were some other reasons too but that was the main one.

yes you could just get a higher performance windows laptop for the same price as a mac but my experience with pc's is that no matter how much you take care of them, windows is so cumbersome that your computer gets gummed up with the crap that it barely runs (example: my previous computer). but my gf's 4 year old mac book still performs pretty freaking close to the way mine does.

in short yes, macs are way worth it. its a lot of preference though. mac's and pc's are really close in performance any way. anything you get that is up to date with the current technology is going to run ableton smoothly.
i only have the 2gig mac book with 4 gigs of ram and i can't for the life of me push my cpu bar past 35%. even with my current project which is the most complex song i've ever made.
so if you don't want to spend the money for a MBP then just get a regular mac book and add some ram to it. if i had to buy a new computer today i'd buy the same exact thing i have now.

i've said way too much already. there's probably tons of other people on here that know more than i do.
don't trip too hard. if you're gonna drop that much cash on a computer it'll deff run whatever.

suspended childhood · Post by **suspended childhood** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:09 am

get a pc.

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:27 am

dietarypacifist wrote:i only have the 2gig mac book with 4 gigs of ram and i can't for the life of me push my cpu bar past 35%..

Dude, you can do it. I mean just do it!

condra · Post by **condra** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:32 am

Out of the people who switched to mac, I'd say those who regret doing it are in the minority. I use both operating systems, but only Windows when I have to.

Get a refurb or go second-hand. It'll take a week or two to get used to and before long you'll be back in here singing the praises of OSX.

buzby · Post by **buzby** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:50 am

mac

no question IMHO

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:49 am

Made a partial switch Nov 2006 (Mac for Music and PC for all other stuff) and then a full switch on June 2008, when my PC eventually died. No regrets. I'd suggest to keep 30 $ handy to buy Superduper. Although Time Machine offers almost the same functionality, SUperDuper IMHO with its SandBox feature offers more on the easiness and backup/restore side- I've learned along the way that you don't wanna take all Mac OS X Updates without testing them. For the things that aren't still available on Mac I use VMWare Fusion.

Good Luck!

- Best
- Pasha

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:36 am

Linux

radimast · Post by **radimast** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:45 am

I bought a new Macbook (not a pro) for < $1000 US. I found it at a university bookstore, knew someone who was a student there.

The benefits of pro were minimal for the price difference.

I think the key to buying any Mac is to not upgrade from the base package when you buy it - they really charge way too much for upgrades. Get extra memory and a faster hard drive (essential for music) from a third party after you buy the base package from Apple. It's fairly straightforward to install yourself, or find a friend who can do it, or take the parts into a store and get them to do it for a minimal fee.

Something to add to the benefits of a Mac, they are far more rugged than any other laptop I have seen. I have a friend who actually set a G4 on fire, it was in a saddlebag on a motorcycle and the whole bag caught on fire because it was resting against the exhaust manifold. He scrapped burned ashes and goo out of the ports with a knife, fired it up, and it all worked except one of the USB ports.

tan111 · Post by **tan111** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:49 am

Mac it'll be better

Emissary · Post by **Emissary** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:02 pm

if you actually want to do anything else with the computer, like browsing the web, work, IM, games and basically using it has a computer then get a Mac

if on the other hand it is JUST for ableton and other music software ( a music pc) and nothing else get a pc. do not connect it to the internet, do not install games, do not install a firewall, do not install anti virus.

SWAN808 · Post by **SWAN808** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:12 pm

bodhi71 wrote:Are they really worth the money?
It seems my duo core laptop just doesn't have the power to run Live and analog factory at the same time, let alone what I WANT to do.
Thinking of buying a macbook pro but the price aaarrrrrrgghh, it would be more than I paid for my last two vehicles.
Muscle to spare? Sincere question

dont by a Mac for value for money - buy it for OSX - a stable system that is minimal hassle and a joy to use.

Buy a PC if you want value for money - are good with PC tech.

Think about what plugins and software you want to use.

You can always use Windows on a Mac as well...

Either way - you cant go wrong with either they are both good buy Pros and Cons...

PS I echo above comments- I do everything on my Macs with no problems. Internet all day etc. Could never do that on PC.

fuckwit2.0 · Post by **fuckwit2.0** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:25 pm

Oh for fucks sake.

I thought I'd stop by to see what was going on here and - guess what? Another completely pointless, interminable Mac vs PC thread.

Would you hang out on a home improvement forum arguing over what colour the handle of your hammer should be? No - because its a FUCKING TOOL. If you like the colour and it gets the job done...

WHO GIVES A FUCK?

Here we go...A mac question

Here we go...A mac question

Re: Here we go...A mac question