Post
by quandry » Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:31 pm
I'd have to disagree, I've gigged a lot in hot/humid/sweaty places in Virgina with the Toshibas and no problems. I've seen plenty of "performances" by mac using djs where they've had crashes on stage. There are too many variables to disregard pcs or macs in general--both systems benefit from proper OS tweaking, as well as ample disc space and the use of an external drive. Various vst plug-ins and dodgy software can hamper Ableton's performance or cause crashes on stage. Most importantly, I feel the soundcard is a critical part of the equation--my RME has worked perfectly for 5+ years now, while some of the mac dudes I've helped have had issues related more to the soundcard or the crappy mac soundcard drivers (no fault of Apple)--for instance the notorius M-Audio FW410, as well as others.
Bottom line--blanket statements about mac or pc laptops are bs, there are a lot of variables, and without a doubt a good pc laptop, properly setup with a good soundcard, can perform flawlessly on stage, as can a mac. With a crappy setup (non-tweaked OS, jam-packed C: drive and no external drive, crappy soundcard/driver), either system can fail. I've seen an employer and co-worker send the G4 and now MacBook Pro laptops into Apple three times each to get fixed over the last 5 years, while both of my toshibas have been flawless--real world proof to me at least that the hype surrounding the supposed "perfection" of macs is just that, hype. Sure, for someone that doesn't know much about computers and doesn't have a budget, by all means I'd suggest a mac for the best chance of things working without any tweaks. But with a good soundcard and 1 hour of OS tweaking and striping off the manufacteres crappy software, pc laptops can be rock solid. Not trying to flame, just sharing my experiences with both platforms, and again, many issues on either OS are related to peripherals or user ignorance.
Dell Studio XPS 8100 Windows 7 64-bit, 10 GB RAM. RME Multiface, Avalon U5 & M5, Distressor, Filter Factory, UC33e, BCR-2000, FCB1010, K-Station, Hr 824 & H120 sub, EZ Bus, V-Drums, DrumKat EZ, basses, guitars, pedals...
http://www.ryan-hughes.net
