Why did you choose a Mac/OSX?

[Pitch Black]

you don't choose OSX, OSX chooses you

[The Carpet Cleaner]

My iMac i7 27' 8go ram is the technological perfection of all geek/gearhead .
First, its look is stunning. Everything else on the market try to copy it. It's one of the few pieces of technology that doesnt look like rubish.

And also it's ultra powerful. I can run Maschine standolone + Ableton live + Jackosx. Leave all this in a virtual desktop for 1 week without shutting down my project, and in other virtual desktop do other stuff. And I can even launch Starcraft 2, and everything still work flawlessly.

Finally, the screen, 27' with resolution of about 2500xsomething. It's the best screen at the moment.

Ha and I forgot something : there is no noise from it. The fan is really quite, I can't hear it. and everything is in the screen, so not fucking big tower that blows warm air on my leg during summer and make the whole room an oven.

now for PC, it's noisy, it's ugly (for most of them, some designs are ok), screens are not as good.
Windows 7 is stable, but its interface is outdated.
The system folder hierarchy is so old and doesn't make any sense. If you have more than one user on you computer, it's purely shit, some applications will work, some other will not. Everyting is a freaking mess, the system panel is absoluty terrible, icons are ugly.
you have to get an anti virus otherwise you always risk something.

Another thing : mac osx has time machine, the more conveniant way to backup your data.
You can backup with windows, but it's not as smooth as time machine. Read about it and you'll see how big is the difference.

Anyway, for music production, there is no reason to not using a mac. It's just better.

[leedsquietman]

now for PC, it's noisy, it's ugly (for most of them, some designs are ok), screens are not as good.
Windows 7 is stable, but its interface is outdated.
The system folder hierarchy is so old and doesn't make any sense. If you have more than one user on you computer, it's purely shit, some applications will work, some other will not. Everyting is a freaking mess, the system panel is absoluty terrible, icons are ugly.
you have to get an anti virus otherwise you always risk something

.

This is for the most part uninformed PC hater bile of the worst Mac fanboy kind. I like Mac and prefer OSX marginally, but run PC at home. However, many of these claims are just ridiculous.

Icons are ugly - OMFG - get a life !

Even the one positive thing (windows 7 is stable) is a generalization - it depends on hardware and drivers.
I know lots of people with Mac Pro who refuse to be gouged for the Cinema displays and who buy Dell monitors at 1/3rd the price and love them. Most PC screens are as good these days, maybe 3 years ago you could argue this point.

If you have more than one user on the computer, all of my computers have more than one user and run totally fine. WIth win 7 and vista you have to set up the UAC properly, disabling it temporarily etc for certain programs and restoring it, requires 30 seconds of work and a reboot and everything is fine.

While anti-virus is a good idea, you do not always risk something if you don't go surfing dodgy websites, such as porn or p2p crack sites etc.

For music production, it's all subjective. Mac has some advantages - however, some PC only daws such as Samplitude and Sonar are liked better than anything else. Audio performance is typically almost identical and depends on driver quality as much as anything else. Programs like Live and Reason etc which are cross platform run equally well on both platforms. If you prefer Mac that's fine, but un-informed rubbishing of the other platform doesn't make you look intelligent.

[Angstrom]

For people who use Windows:
Did you come from an Apple background?
My first computer was a zx81, which I built from a kit, but my second was an Apple II, complete with double disk drive! I rock.
By the time I hit college in the 1940's we all used Mac classics, except they were called steam-oscilloscope-o-trons back then, and the programs came on wax cylinders.

Do you prefer Windows to OSX?
I'm comfortable enough with OSX. Although to use it myself daily I'd have to customise the fuck out of it. I find it very restrictive in use, like iOS but bigger.
A quick example: In XP, if I am saving from Live's file menu, and I spot a curious JPEG in the destination folder, I can simply right click that jpeg and choose "preview", or I might "explore" to that location and open up an explorer window to check what the hell it is.
In OSX, that kind of parallel action is not tolerated.If you are saving a file, you are saving a file, no messing about. Now - I like the ability to mess about. I'm sure there are 'power-abuser' modifications available for OSX, but I haven't researched them. I couldn't handle it as it is.

Does not wanting to/being able to pay the premium for Apple gear figure into why you use Windows?
Nope, just my own legacy issues really, and theirs.
In recent years OSX and the second coming of Jobs has ironed out a lot of Apple's issues, you must remember that in the 90's their market share was very bad and getting worse, the software wasn't really world-beating, OS9 was fine enough, but not thrilling. Consequently they went from a 20% market share in 1990 to a %5 share in 2000. Bottoming out at 3% in 2003.

There was no emotion in my purchasing software for the dominant platform at the time, simple logic really. As I had to make sure that file transfers would be painless.

Do you find yourself not being able to use tools/software because they are OSX-only?
There are very few that I notice. I guess it's a bit like asking me if I miss Latvian funk much.
I don't know what it is I'm supposed to be missing really.
I use a very limited toolset these days, most of it is crossplatform. (Ableton / NI stuff), although a good few of my apps are available only on windows (Synthmaker for example)

[agent314]

I can simply right click that jpeg and choose "preview", or I might "explore" to that location and open up an explorer window to check what the hell it is.
In OSX, that kind of parallel action is not tolerated.If you are saving a file, you are saving a file, no messing about.

This is interesting - I did not know this. More than once in the past few weeks I've actually thought to myself how nice it is in Windows to be able to copy/move/rename/compress/create a shortcut for a file right from the save dialog box.

Don't know if that would be a dealbreaker, but it is definitely a big pro on the Windows side of the equation.

[Angstrom]

As I said, I bet a large sum that there's some kind of tweak to achieve the same thing.
My point is merely that Apple favour a very "father knows best" methodology out of the box, and that I'd find it quite restrictive to use without spending a few weeks/months investigating how to customise the thing to my functional tastes.

So the slogan becomes
"It just works ... but you better learn what the hell Bash is, if you want it to work the way you like"

[Musiclab]

Running a mac has been by far the most cost effective computer option I have ever owned. Sure I paid more for less, but I have not had 1 single minute of non billable downtime in 18 months in macland. I have an Intel Q6600 PC I built as a music machine but I gave to my kids because it was simply a false economy in my situation when my time was taken into account.

[The Carpet Cleaner]

now for PC, it's noisy, it's ugly (for most of them, some designs are ok), screens are not as good.
Windows 7 is stable, but its interface is outdated.
The system folder hierarchy is so old and doesn't make any sense. If you have more than one user on you computer, it's purely shit, some applications will work, some other will not. Everyting is a freaking mess, the system panel is absoluty terrible, icons are ugly.
you have to get an anti virus otherwise you always risk something

.

This is for the most part uninformed PC hater bile of the worst Mac fanboy kind. I like Mac and prefer OSX marginally, but run PC at home. However, many of these claims are just ridiculous.

Icons are ugly - OMFG - get a life !

Even the one positive thing (windows 7 is stable) is a generalization - it depends on hardware and drivers.
I know lots of people with Mac Pro who refuse to be gouged for the Cinema displays and who buy Dell monitors at 1/3rd the price and love them. Most PC screens are as good these days, maybe 3 years ago you could argue this point.

If you have more than one user on the computer, all of my computers have more than one user and run totally fine. WIth win 7 and vista you have to set up the UAC properly, disabling it temporarily etc for certain programs and restoring it, requires 30 seconds of work and a reboot and everything is fine.

While anti-virus is a good idea, you do not always risk something if you don't go surfing dodgy websites, such as porn or p2p crack sites etc.

For music production, it's all subjective. Mac has some advantages - however, some PC only daws such as Samplitude and Sonar are liked better than anything else. Audio performance is typically almost identical and depends on driver quality as much as anything else. Programs like Live and Reason etc which are cross platform run equally well on both platforms. If you prefer Mac that's fine, but un-informed rubbishing of the other platform doesn't make you look intelligent.

hehe, well I was waiting for this.
I'm a long time windows and Linux user, for about 10 years.
I had my first mac 2 or 3 years ago now.
And I still got a 3 years old PC at my place, which is a shuttle, with a 22' samsung screen. The whole computer was built by a friend of me whos is also a super competent developer and build PC for fun.

Shuttle is suposed to be the "classy" box for PC. Ok it's small, but it cannot compare to the iMac. It's still not a one box computer, and it makes more noise than the iMac. And this shuttle things are still expensive.

For the screen, well I was again comparing to my imac 27'' and so far I haven't seen something as good as this one.
My samsung screen is suposed to be quite good, and I saw lots of samsung screens on the "post a pic of your studio" thread. They are okay...
and I agree that the cinema display is way too expensive.

In a sense, you agree with me that you have to turn on UAC, which is totaly crap " 30 second and a reboot" A REBOOT AHAHAHAH ! And you have to set it up properly and stuff. Also, for the anti virus, even if you don't want to go to dodgy web site, there is some pop ups coming, fishing email, etc... With mac osx, well you can even go there and be sure it's ok. What's wrong with that ?

So, so far tell me which arguments I gave you is riddiculous ? Of course you can cope with all of that, but why ? You didn't prove me with strongs arguments that all those stuff are not real, you just said it was stupids arguments, and in a sense you actually aprove they were real but not bothering you cause setting stuff like UAC and rebooting is okay for you...

Also, for the icons, what's so funny ? "get a life"? lol . Everytime I use a windows, it's ugly ! Okay that not a big deal but still, again, that's real argument. You spend 1 month on Mac osx then you launch windows and that hurt the eyes ! Why can't they just make it look nice ? That's too much to ask ?
No, I have fugly icon, but that means I have a life !

Give me some arguments man, instead of saying mine are stupid and that I'm a fanboy uninformed PC hater.

[IP]

here we go again!

is it a frame time?
Please respect the OP, we started good...

[Schnauzer]

JAY!
I saw that one coming a mile ahead.

May I please use Godwin's law now?
Here we go:
"Nazi's didn't use PC's or Mac's"

there you go. Thread's over.

Thank me in another one.

[c5_convertible]

Don't see what the problem is with UAC... I have it on always, just ask you for confirmation when you install stuff. Only very old software (or badly written software) has a problem with it. What's the difference with the password prompt on OS X when you want to install software??
Yesterday, I installed a security update for OS X, and guess what... it told me to reboot! Again, no difference with Windows 7.
The argument for ugly icons is a matter of choice. If you like OS X icons better, fine. I don't see why this would influence me to buy a mac more than a PC.
When it comes to design, you are right. But, aside from the 27" imac you pay very very dearly for it. When it comes to noise. My Windows PC is very quiet. Not as quiet as my imac, but then again, with a slightly older VGA card, which makes more noise, and a standard CPU fan, this is normal. If I would switch it for the same card as in my imac, it would be about as quiet. I have an antec sonata designer case, which is very stylish looking.
And FYI.. A lot of manufacturers make all-in-ones now. None in 27" (yet), but 22 and 24 are common.

[Reuss]

Why did you choose the machine you did?: I have a 24" iMac - i choose it because I loved the screen, the specs and how it looks. After actually using it I just love it MORE - things just WORK, and keep on working....

Did you come from a Windows background?: Yes - have been using windows machines exclusively (for 10 years+) until recently (about a year ago). I still use Windows at work.

If so, why did you switch? Did you prefer the Apple OS experience, or did you change for the hardware, or both?: I changed switched because a) I needed a new computer anyway - and I was having extensive trouble with my windows machine and music making. That and the fact that I am fed up with Microsoft in general - I never really experienced a rock-solid stable windows machine, so I made the decision to try something new this time!

Do you find yourself limited by your choice of platform (i.e. there are things you'd like to use but that are only developed for PCs)?: Not really - in fact i find a kind of freedom in the limitations, if that makes any sense. I use my machine for creative work (graphics and audio) and I do not feel restricted in any sense.

For people who use/have used both:

Do you find you have more options/limitations with one over the other?: It is really a matter of taste I'd say - both systems have their advantages and limitations - I just feel that OSX has better usability and I work much more effectively

I see a fair amount of software (mostly free, independently-developed stuff) that's Mac-only or PC-only - have you found one platform to have better free choices than the other?: No

Have you found one platform to be more stable/reliable than the other?: I find OSX way more stable than anything from Microsoft.

Have you found one platform to have better performance than the other when comparing the same/similar hardware?: In general performance isnt that different - but stability and usability are better with OSX IMO

[davepermen]

My iMac i7 27' 8go ram is the technological perfection of all geek/gearhead .
First, its look is stunning. Everything else on the market try to copy it. It's one of the few pieces of technology that doesnt look like rubish.

design is in the eye of the beholder. i don't like their design particularly. esp when it goes design over function

And also it's ultra powerful. I can run Maschine standolone + Ableton live + Jackosx. Leave all this in a virtual desktop for 1 week without shutting down my project, and in other virtual desktop do other stuff. And I can even launch Starcraft 2, and everything still work flawlessly.

works great everywhere, not just on mac.

Finally, the screen, 27' with resolution of about 2500xsomething. It's the best screen at the moment.

it's a castrated 30" screen, robbed 10%

Ha and I forgot something : there is no noise from it. The fan is really quite, I can't hear it. and everything is in the screen, so not fucking big tower that blows warm air on my leg during summer and make the whole room an oven.

my systems don't even HAVE fans. and ssds. there is no noise possible to come out of them. oh, and the imac gets ****ing hot. we have the mac department at work, they have 10 of them in a room. it's warmer there than anywhere else since the new imacs.

now for PC, it's noisy, it's ugly (for most of them, some designs are ok), screens are not as good.

you have choice. mine are invisible and absolutely silent. to each it's own.

Windows 7 is stable, but its interface is outdated.
The system folder hierarchy is so old and doesn't make any sense. If you have more than one user on you computer, it's purely shit, some applications will work, some other will not. Everyting is a freaking mess, the system panel is absoluty terrible, icons are ugly.
you have to get an anti virus otherwise you always risk something.

none of this is true, esp the antivirus. i lived for years without antivirus (since vista beta 1). i have it now for legal reasons (have to have some "proof" that i don't have viruses).

Another thing : mac osx has time machine, the more conveniant way to backup your data.
You can backup with windows, but it's not as smooth as time machine. Read about it and you'll see how big is the difference.

i have windows home server, backs up all my machines at home to one central place, allows all my data to be at one central place.

the difference is big. in favour of microsoft. yeah, i read a lot about it.

Anyway, for music production, there is no reason to not using a mac. It's just better.

to quote famous djsynchro: it just works. on windows, AND on macs.

so there is no reason to actually use a mac. both just work.

[3phase]

My iMac i7 27' 8go ram is the technological perfection of all geek/gearhead .
First, its look is stunning. Everything else on the market try to copy it. It's one of the few pieces of technology that doesnt look like rubish.

design is in the eye of the beholder. i don't like their design particularly. esp when it goes design over function

And also it's ultra powerful. I can run Maschine standolone + Ableton live + Jackosx. Leave all this in a virtual desktop for 1 week without shutting down my project, and in other virtual desktop do other stuff. And I can even launch Starcraft 2, and everything still work flawlessly.

works great everywhere, not just on mac.

Finally, the screen, 27' with resolution of about 2500xsomething. It's the best screen at the moment.

it's a castrated 30" screen, robbed 10%

Ha and I forgot something : there is no noise from it. The fan is really quite, I can't hear it. and everything is in the screen, so not fucking big tower that blows warm air on my leg during summer and make the whole room an oven.

my systems don't even HAVE fans. and ssds. there is no noise possible to come out of them. oh, and the imac gets ****ing hot. we have the mac department at work, they have 10 of them in a room. it's warmer there than anywhere else since the new imacs.

now for PC, it's noisy, it's ugly (for most of them, some designs are ok), screens are not as good.

you have choice. mine are invisible and absolutely silent. to each it's own.

Windows 7 is stable, but its interface is outdated.
The system folder hierarchy is so old and doesn't make any sense. If you have more than one user on you computer, it's purely shit, some applications will work, some other will not. Everyting is a freaking mess, the system panel is absoluty terrible, icons are ugly.
you have to get an anti virus otherwise you always risk something.

none of this is true, esp the antivirus. i lived for years without antivirus (since vista beta 1). i have it now for legal reasons (have to have some "proof" that i don't have viruses).

Another thing : mac osx has time machine, the more conveniant way to backup your data.
You can backup with windows, but it's not as smooth as time machine. Read about it and you'll see how big is the difference.

i have windows home server, backs up all my machines at home to one central place, allows all my data to be at one central place.

the difference is big. in favour of microsoft. yeah, i read a lot about it.

Anyway, for music production, there is no reason to not using a mac. It's just better.

to quote famous djsynchro: it just works. on windows, AND on macs.

so there is no reason to actually use a mac. both just work.

except on midiclock output..its actualy grizzly what a windows machine puts out there.. 2 ms jitter on the clock is standard..can get even worse..

in comparison on mac with propper interfaces like mt4 or moto or rme 0,16 ms..

factor 10 better

[c5_convertible]

This factor 10 you mention. Is that on the same interfaces on Windows 7 as you tested on os x?