Need Help: Mac Pro OR PC?....or Both??

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Olga
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:50 am

Re: Need Help: Mac Pro OR PC?....or Both??

Post by Olga » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:10 am

exs8900 wrote:I'm trying get myself the best MacBook Pro I can get (you know how Apple is, the second you buy something, they come out with something better...and I'm not made of money...this is an innnnnveesssstment lol)...anyways right now I have a garbage HP AMD Turion64 x 2, 1.90Ghz, 3GB RAM, 5200RPM...and it is just not cutting it. Granted, I've been learning Live for the last 9 months or so, and for that it's been good...but I've made some strides, and I'm doing gig's and looking at my first club gig in the next few weeks possibly and I have to decide......

should I put together an 'audio-performance' Windows laptop (what OS? what hardware?) or a Mega-Mac Pro? BTW, my 'dream' Mac is a Pro, 4GB RAM, 200GB HDD @ 7200RPM, 2.6Ghz Core Duo....so we know how expensive that would be...

gimme pro's and con's of both.

I know Live supports 2 installs so I may just keep the HP and add a Mac...i dunno....school me!!!

Also: my other hardware for now is a UC-33e, and a TC Electronics Konnekt Live audio interface


Laptop? Screw the Mac book Pro. Just get a regular Mac Book with 4 GB memory. I got one just for fun along with a Presonus firebox and I'm running 50 + tracks of audio and tons of plugs with little to no usage with Live. No exterior hard drive, nothing. The things like a cockroach and can't be killed. I've got a dual core 2.8 Ghz PC tower sitting around with 10,000 rpm raptors in it and my little white macbook out performs it like crazy.

If your seriously into music & money is an issue, the Mac book Pro is an overpriced pig.

You could buy a Macbook and play/program live and buy a PC tower of death from newegg with slots for UAD cards etc and save more money than blowing your entire bank account on a Mac Book pro thats going to get trashed/bent in at gigs. And, the regular Macbook chassis can take way more travel abuse than the mbpro.
Last edited by Olga on Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:37 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Machinesworking
Posts: 11551
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2004 9:30 pm
Location: Seattle

Post by Machinesworking » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:22 am

shaneblyth wrote: I do that for a living pretty tough call.. Sure I can use cheaper more inferior bits but quality wise it is a tough cause. There is so little margin these days it often isnt worth it.
Here in the states it's still possible to build a really good PC out of exactly the same parts as Apple uses for less.
Now I'm a Mac user, and honestly very biased towards the mac DAWs, didn't care for Sonar, and Cubase is OK, but both Digital Performer and Logic are pretty solid applications. Live is my cross platform choice. The thing is if you really know what you're doing you can build a great PC for next to nothing, I don't think it's wrong to admit that. Warrantee service wise you're screwed roll your own wise, but it's a chance I would be willing to take probably if Cubase was my other choice for DAW besides Live.
But yeah it might be different elsewhere price wise..

Off the subject, but it bothers me that Apple had the perfect design with the G4 towers, plastic, but ergonomic, and the way the case opened was brilliant. The G5 and Intel aluminum models are not near as well designed IMO.
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exs8900
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:31 am

hmm

Post by exs8900 » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:50 pm

.
Last edited by exs8900 on Sat Feb 01, 2020 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Olga
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:50 am

Re: hmm

Post by Olga » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:27 pm

exs8900 wrote:I understand what you're saying about the Macbook vs. Macbook Pro, I thought about that option also and discussed it with my partner. I think after having a 17" windows laptop for so long, I just don't think I can give up that workspcace! If they seriously had a Macbook in 17" size, I'd get a good one in a heartbeat.

I'm pretty sure the MacBook is capable of supporting a 22" or 24" display. You can get a 22" new for $200 if you look around. So now you've got an even bigger monitor than the MB Pro while saving $1,700 at the same time for other things like a powerful sound card, Firewire drives, plugins etc.
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exs8900
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:31 am

golly

Post by exs8900 » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:23 pm

Olga,

you just reminded me of something.

I was thinking, 'well, originally i was planning on adding a large LCD monitor to the whole stuido setup, hmm...what would that be like lugging around if i wanted to?"

then I thought of Sasha

http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/sasha/

So I think I've made the decision. I can easily get a more powerful iMac than a Macbook Pro - for LESS $$, and it's only slightly less 'portable' than a 17" laptop + my other gear.

One question: Does the stand holding up the iMac detach?

So I believe I'll be going with an iMac + Bootcamp for live setup...but no purchases just...yet.... :o)
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