Mac or PC Laptop

[CJ_Thorpe]

I need to get a dedicated music laptop. Currently I make my tunes on my desktop PC then have to spend ages converting everything and setting it up for live performance on my laptop. The laptop is good enough for playing live but struggles when used for actual production. What I want is a laptop that I can produce and perform with, for ease sake.

Now, I see alot of people using macbooks, but they are expensive. I havent used a mac since I used them at college (10 years ago). I have looked into it and I can get a PC laptop with the same specs as a mac book for half the price.

My question is... Why do people recommend macs? Should I get a mac?

I'm looking for real reasons. I don't care about the look or style, the keyboard or the OS.
Whatever new device I use will only be used for Ableton Live 8 (with APC40, digital piano and external soundcard)

[jellycaster]

I suggest you have a trawl through this forum and elsewhere on the web for the mac v pc debate. believe me, it's a well covered topic!

my personal view, as someone who switched from pc to mac 3 years ago, is that the extra initial expense of buying a mac is worth it, because of the more hassle-free experience. speaking as someone who knows very little about computing in general, i found pc's & windows to be often frustratingly unreliable.

[Donnie]

I'm looking for real reasons. I don't care about the look or style, the keyboard or the OS.

No real reason for you to switch to mac then.

Once upon a time there were technical advantages to having a mac, but that time has passed.

[channelite]

One Mac advantage I can think of, is if you connect a USB controller to your computer after Live has started up, it will be recognized. This is not the case on a PC. You will have to restart Live in order to have that controller recognized. It happens to me time to time. I like using a PC over a Mac, since I used both. I switched to PC for Live because I wanted new computer and a new mac, like you said was twice as much.

[Warrior Bob]

One Mac advantage I can think of, is if you connect a USB controller to your computer after Live has started up, it will be recognized. This is not the case on a PC. You will have to restart Live in order to have that controller recognized. It happens to me time to time. I like using a PC over a Mac, since I used both. I switched to PC for Live because I wanted new computer and a new mac, like you said was twice as much.

In general I recommend Macs to Live users for this and other similar reasons (my Live restarts have practically disappeared since moving to a 2010 MBP with Snow Leopard). I get the feeling that Live was designed for use on OSX and was then ported to Windows. I prefer Core Audio to ASIO and prefer the clean horizontal scrolling on the Mac trackpad for Device View. I presume all of this works with the newer OS's too; I haven't tried them. Whether this is worth the money is up to you and your situation - I looked at it like buying a nice instrument, and budgeted accordingly.

The one advantage I've seen with Live on Windows is that I will swear to you that the LED feedback on my BCR2000 updated more frequently on Windows. There's also the fact that Windows seems to have a lot more freebie plugins and software available, although the quality and stability varies.

[Theo Void]

MAC. All day. NOTHING can touch it. YOU will never regret the decision. Once you use a Mac, Windows will feel like what it truly is. A clunky, patched together piece of crap!!

[beats me]

Zero crashes and authentic analog tape warmth

[Komodovaran]

Zero crashes and authentic analog tape warmth

But can I browse porn on it?

[beats me]

Zero crashes and authentic analog tape warmth

But can I browse porn on it?

No.

Let's get back to the PC or Mac/good enough or best discussion.

[3dot...]