mac or pc

[Khazul]

When I was looking for a new laptop I was original looking for a PC laptop, but by the time I found something that was from a manufacturer that I had some confidence in to choose decent components that would serve as the basis for a good powerful audio machine, then I ended up in a price range that was similar to the upgraded macbook pro 17 I eventually bought.

I have to say, that even as a PC laptop running windows 7/64, this MBP is proving to be a very solid and fast machine, never mind the quality build and nice slim machine etc.

As a bonus, its also an Osx laptop which seems to be very reliable and fast for running audio applications and actually yields an audio performance that is very close to my older 4GHz i7 desktop PC.

If you have the cash/motivation to aim for a high quality and high spec laptop, then you are going to end up in the macbook pro price whatever you go for - may as well go for someting that gives you the best of both worlds even if your really attached to windows.

The bonus for me is I wanted to get a mac anyway (perhpas a mini) in order to learn OSX and iOS software development, however my experience with Live 8 so far on OSX is that is seems far more reliable than on Windows 7/64.

[Faark Orff]

I am kind of almost asking the same question, but as someone else has already mentioned, a similar spec decent PC will cost the same if not more.

I have decided to go for a Mac for several reasons:

1) I can get an educational discount and spread payments over 18 months interest free.

Actually, that is the only reason.


My main question is:

There are two machines I am considering. A 13" Macbook Pro 2.7 Ghz dual core i7 processor or 15" 2.2 Ghz quad core i7. I found an article from PC World where they benchmarked various models. Here is a link:


http://www.pcworld.com/product/817761/a ... l?p=review


As you can see from the two models I am comparing, there is about 25% difference in performance. Is it worth paying 600 euros more for a 25% performance boost? Part of me says no.

I would appreciate some advice. My main use is more for music production. I intend to use Ableton Live and Logic Pro. Perhaps video may be useful later. I realise that the 15 inch models have a dedicated graphic card, but how vital is it? Would the 13" model still be able to deal with video and music decently enough?

Do you really get 7 hours battery life? My Sony VIAO claims it gets 6 hours, but in reality I'd be lucky to get half an hour, if that, with just a very basic setup.

Do I go for 3 year Apple Care or just the standard one year? Will the transition to a new operating system be easy enough? I only know Windows XP. The list of questions goes on and on.............

[Dillops]

I moved from Win/PC to one of the new Macbook Pro 15" 2.2ghz i7's last month. I'm pretty happy with the whole experience overall, but the stand out benefit really has been battery life. I don't know about 7 hours but it's been way better than any Windows laptop I've ever used.

[doghouse]

Is it worth paying 600 euros more for a 25% performance boost? Part of me says no.

Can you afford the 600 euros?

Any computer you buy will be outclassed within 6 months to a year by a newer machine at the same price.

If you compare two machines, the one with lesser performance today will become obsolete sooner. That 600 euros is buying you an extra year or two of utility before your next upgrade.

[Breaks Dude]

I am kind of almost asking the same question, but as someone else has already mentioned, a similar spec decent PC will cost the same if not more.
.

In a laptop, yes. In a desktop, it's no contest when it comes to price. If I had wanted a laptop, I would have bought a new MBP without a thought - they are fast machines for sure and there isn't much out there in the PC world as well built and fast (maybe the upcoming i7 Sandy Bridge Thinkpads but they're not going to be cheap, either). But for a desktop, there's a huge price gap and you can get a lot of bang for $2k.

Buy as much computer as you can afford - it will last you longer!

[LolrusPL]

I was terribly impressed with the lack of bias for the first few posts, then it started.

Either is a great choice.

With the Mac you get astounding quality, an OS better for audio, though a very high price.

With a PC, depending on how much you spend, you get a generally quite alot lower price, and (if you know what your doing) no problems with virii or stability).

I myself went with a PC. For $1300 AU I got a computer equivalent (at the time) to a macbook pro costing $3000+. It was a no brainer for me, no problems at all. I have not had one issue with midi timing, audio drivers, stability. I have 24 channels streaming both in and out, with a 16 channel live set (all running VST's) with nary a blip or dropout. The only thing I sort of wish I had was aggregate audio devices, though I here thats not the most reliable thing. I haven't noticed any midi clock jitter on all of my 8 midi devices, and security is a non-issue for me.

However the new MBP's have changed my opinion a bit. If I had an infinite budget, I would definitely buy a Mac, but for the vast majority of people that isn't the case.

I disagree with the statement on 600 for protecting from obsoletion. If its suitable for your most intense live-set now, it will be forever. Save yourself some dosh and buy something that makes your performance better.

[alekst1923]

I have used live on both mac and Pc. If my 2 cents are worth anything to you then i would get a mac.

[Faark Orff]

In a laptop, yes. In a desktop, it's no contest when it comes to price. If I had wanted a laptop, I would have bought a new MBP without a thought - they are fast machines for sure and there isn't much out there in the PC world as well built and fast (maybe the upcoming i7 Sandy Bridge Thinkpads but they're not going to be cheap, either). But for a desktop, there's a huge price gap and you can get a lot of bang for $2k.

Buy as much computer as you can afford - it will last you longer!

I definitely agree with you on desktop prices for Windows machines are much cheaper.

Is it worth paying 600 euros more for a 25% performance boost? Part of me says no.

Can you afford the 600 euros?

Any computer you buy will be outclassed within 6 months to a year by a newer machine at the same price.

If you compare two machines, the one with lesser performance today will become obsolete sooner. That 600 euros is buying you an extra year or two of utility before your next upgrade.

Can I afford it? Spread over 18 months, yes, sort of. The more expensive 15" will mean about 110 euros a month, the 13" 75 a month. So looking at it from a positive angle, that works out to about 1 euro a day extra. Sounds tempting. But is it justifiable? Not sure.

Of course you are right when you say that within six months it will be outclassed. Just look at the link I provided above in an earlier post to verify. I don't know if you are right about the more expensive model buying me a year or two extra life. 25% extra performance doesn't sound like a lot better to justify spending 600 euros extra. That is about half the price of a new Macbook Pro 13". It might make more sense to hang on and to put it towards an update in a few years time. If you check out the link, the 13" i7 2.7 dual core out performs the fastest 15" models from last year.

I know a dedicated graphic card is better, so would it be better to go for 15" 2.0 Ghz quad core instead of the 2.2? It will cost about 300 euros more compared to the 2.7 13", but the article in the link shows that there isn't even a 10% performance boost. Seems a lot to pay for a graphic card and an extra half a kilo weight to lug around.

Bear in mind, I am only tossing around these possibilities in my head trying to come up with a decision on what to do. I know nothing about Macs, but in my research, it seems that they do have better value laptops comparing quality and price ratio.

But what about things like Apple care? Is it worth paying for 3 years coverage. I hear that if a computer screws up, it usually happens within the first year if not within the first month. Again, will the transistion from Windows to Apple be smooth? Should I stick to what I know? I know XP, but now it is Windows 7. I am not that familiar with it, so if I have to learn operating systems, maybe it is time to change to Apple.

Decisions, decisions.

[h4nc0]

I have been PC user for all my life. My hobby was building computers myself. Windows was my thing. Then I got older. No more time to research for compatibility of various audio devices, I had more important things to do. Also made more money. Got a Macbook Pro recently. Not going back to PC.

[rsaulo]

I have been PC user for all my life. My hobby was building computers myself. Windows was my thing. Then I got older. No more time to research for compatibility of various audio devices, I had more important things to do. Also made more money. Got a Macbook Pro recently. Not going back to PC.

Totally agree!!!

I Have used PC for about 20 years with all versions of windows and many distro´s of linux. 5 years ago I found myself just tired of spend 40% of my time installing, re-installing, formating, configuring things, looking for "right" drivers, with fear of OS updates, anti-virus, etc, etc, etc

Only after I bought my first mac 5 years ago I was 100% with focus on doing only my job.

An PC with SAME configuration and quality of a MAC will be not much cheaper, buy a mac and be happy...

Just my 0,02 cents...

[friend_kami]

i used to use windows/linux at all times. then i made a hackintosh. now, say what you want about apple taking out insane prices or whathave you but the fact of the matter is that if you want something done in windows it takes 3 steps whereas with a mac it takes one step. with linux it takes 5 steps.

for an all pupose computer i would choose a mac in a heartbeat provided my money would allow it.
for a studio computer that is used to audio and audio only it shouldn't matter that much.

for me, after i hackintoshed my desktop (which was very reliable, except when the motherboard died after an extensive 4 year high resource use), i decided that my next purchase would be a mac, simply because of the hardware and software integration and the fact that you can do stuff with it that is virtually impossible to do with windows without alot of tinkering and workarounds.

i've been in a situation where i had to use multiple audio cards for some time. with osx you make an aggrevated device and you're done. with windows however it's a completely different matter. perhaps you go asio 4 all and fiddle around with that for a while, but the problem is that windows locks up the audio drivers. so you go hardware feedback via a cable from your out to your in, and use a second program in between. perhaps you'd go jack for windows. all of them requires some tinkering and all of them takes up way too much time.

preview in osx is possibly the best thing ever. so is spotlight.
windows 7 has a similar thing but it ofcourse doesn't work properly and/or requires some extra steps, such as pressing the play button when previewing an audio file; quite annoying if you're going through 1000's of recordings. the startment launcher thing is great, but it is SLOW.

i've been in the situation where i needed to record two camera streams at once, and edit them then rendering them for further editing/sharing. in osx you use screenflow, hit record, edit done.

in windows you need to fiddle around with stuff, or use camtasia studio. that sortof works except that with camtasia you save as camrec files and is either locked out from editing elsewhere, or extract the camrec files and loose your cursor etc, which wouldn't be a problem except that editing in camtasia is HORRIBLE.

killing a hung process in windows (7, then) is virtually impossible; even when killing it via resource monitor and/or via command -> pskill idnumber, it claims to be killed but it's not. a whole different matter with osx, or any linux distribution even. if you're reallyt in a pickle a quick terminal roundabout wiould fix more or less anything, including a corrupt filesystem and/or drivers causing kernel panics.

things like these alone makes the choice pretty obvious to me anyways. people buying a macbook to surf the web, write something and chat with their friends makes no sense to me at all. but once you start to use your computer a bit, especially when you multitask alot and require some heavy processing, doing extensive video/audio work and similar, choosing a windows platform is simply stupid. imo.

but yeah, it all comes down to what the shit you're gonna use it for.
my two euro cents.

[Breaks Dude]

Lots of good points in this thread!

I dunno...I just built my computer last Tuesday and it was a lot of fun. Kind of cool seeing the UPS truck drive up with two huge boxes from Newegg. Been building music computers for myself for at least 13 years. I've made a living off of music for as long, too, and both platforms have their occasional issues. I've never pinched pennies when it came to the most important instrument I own - my computer.

Been with Apple on and off since the Mac SE/30 days. I don't buy the argument they are inherently better for audio. These days most PC stuff works together - back in the early, mid and late 90s, yes you could get into huge trouble with hardware and drivers that didn't want to behave with one another. Not so much these days. Things just...work now (and I'm glad for that).

It was a close race this time around. Apple really stepped it up with the new MBPs and I can see them really being used as the centerpiece for music production. The ONLY issue I have with Apple products is the whole cult/worship thing, but it would not stop me from buying one.

[Dillops]

I have been PC user for all my life. My hobby was building computers myself. Windows was my thing. Then I got older. No more time to research for compatibility of various audio devices, I had more important things to do. Also made more money. Got a Macbook Pro recently. Not going back to PC.

Same here. Spent the last 10 years building Windows PCs, moved to Mac a couple of months ago and unlikely to go back. A bit ironic that I've waited until a really decent version of Windows (7 is so much better than previous versions) before switching to a Mac.

[hacktheplanet]

Yeah, Windows 7 is a pretty phenomenal OS. I've been using my MBP for audio stuff for the last 5-6 years, but recently I've been considering a PC based laptop. I fear I will greatly miss being able to go to the Apple store when I have hardware problems, shove my computer in their face and say "MY COMPUTER IS BROKEN FIX IT!"

It would be amazing if Windows 7 was as integrated and slick as OSX is on Apple hardware!

[d-track]

is this still going?
in case its a joke then my answer is pc.
if its serious- then mac.