Why use a G4?

[Sandor Vennink]

Could someone explain to me why I see a lot of Mac's on performances? Is there any special reason I should know about?

I'm asking this because of the price difference between say a G4 and an A64 laptop.. It's huge! Performance wise not worth the money if you ask me.. So I'm thinking, why do I see all those mac's? Just for looks? (yes, they do look nice )

Now lets not say Mac or PC is better. I want to know about advantages of a G4 and what might be a reason to get one.

tnx guys!

[jer_mcclain]

coming from someone who switched from Mac to PC there is a marked tradeoff between stability(Mac) and performance(PC). at least in my experience.

[udp]

Let's start with audio and midi integration into the OS. I can claim realtime i/o latency at 12ms on a Tascam US-122, a usb 1 device. It allows me to perform using Live as an accompaniment to Tuba. With Tuba being sent as a track through Live for real time effects without any worries about latency. PC's come in so many config's that some work great with audio and other's don't. A programmer knows what thier getting into as far as hardware and software on the Mac., there are minimal variations. That's why they are so stable. Besides, Windows looks so '90's. There I've done enough to start the Mac/ PC flame throwing off.

[Sandor Vennink]

coming from someone who switched from Mac to PC there is a marked tradeoff between stability(Mac) and performance(PC). at least in my experience.

Ah ok, that makes sense offcourse. I have a lot of experience with PC's. I don't see a reason why a PC wouldn't be stable enough if it's just setup to run Live (and no other stuff you don't need). But I can understand the choice. I don't have any experience with OSX though.. so thats why I ask.

[sqook]

All other biases aside, OS X doesn't get in my face and make life difficult when I want to just sit down and lay out some beats. There's nothing more frustrating for me than having a burst of creative inspiration only to have it be ruined by windows crashing, not working properly with my hardware, or pestering me with a bunch of worthless dialogs and shit. The stability and clean UI of OS X make it worth the price, IMO.

[vince watson]

3 letters...

O


S


X

[jer_mcclain]

i think on the PC side its a matter of consitency. my desktop PC is quite stable, my laptop however is a different matter.

[noisetonepause]

Or, two words: Microsoft & Windows.

The number of things that's wrong with Windows and Microsoft from both practical, philosophical and political viewpoints aren't easily counted. Microsoft software in general is quite simply inferiour to the alternatives. The only thing 'good' about Windows is its hegemony which gives them the edge when it comes to available software.

Check out http://fuckmicrosoft.com/content/whatsbad.shtml

-Paws

[Sandor Vennink]

Well..the anti MS replies arent very usefull..

About the creative side being cramped by windows.. I would have the same problem using OSX, so thats not an argument.

I thought there might be something about these G4's that made them superior to normal laptops.

I don't care about looks.. I want something good. If OSX has real advantages that I, as a PC user, are not too shortsighted to use OSX. What I'm saying is that I don't buy the "windows sucks, osx rules" thing or the otrher way around for that matter

You see a normal PC laptop is cheaper and faster. And if it where just looks..well..then my choice would be made.

[noisetonepause]

How exactly can I describe to you why Windows is bad without it being Anti-MS?

Does Windows have anything that even compares to CoreAudio, BTW? Or do you still rely on eight year old Steinberg technology?

-Paws

[Sandor Vennink]

How exactly can I describe to you why Windows is bad without it being Anti-MS?

-Paws

By giving examples of tasks that are more difficult on windows systems? I mean..Live works about the same and thats what I will be using the machine for.

Don't get me wrong.. I am completely neutral in the MS/Apple thing. I just see a lot of Macs while a Pentium M is quicker.. and so I ask questions to why I am an Apple noob you see..

A good argument to me would be something like latencies being much lower on G4 for example. Or certain hardware working better on G4.. something like that.

Does Windows have anything that even compares to CoreAudio, BTW? Or do you still rely on eight year old Steinberg technology?

-Paws

I am very new to producing so I wouldn't know anything about that. That's why I ask you guys..you know more about it than me.

[nf0]

mac g4 + osx = slower but stable

p4 + winxp = faster but unstable

take your pick, i choose the g4 for critical things like live gigs, and a g5 desktop for the studio.

[noisetonepause]

I was talking politics. Politics may or may not interest you, but as always, politics are interested in you.

Anyways. All I can really think of off the top of my head is the security (Windows quite simply is NOT secure, unlike OSX) and the fact that Macs have usable soundcards built-in. All the PC laptops I've ever used have had noisy headphone outs with high latencies. Not so with Apple.

-Paws

[noisetonepause]

mac g4 + osx = slower but stable

p4 + winxp = faster but unstable

This isn't really true. XP can be perfectly stable, as I'm sure plenty of people here will attest.

And it's not OSX that's slow (I think you'll find it's rather efficient, actually), it's Live on OSX.

-Paws

[Sandor Vennink]

mac g4 + osx = slower but stable

p4 + winxp = faster but unstable

take your pick, i choose the g4 for critical things like live gigs, and a g5 desktop for the studio.

I think windows is stable enough.. The reason why apple would be more stable might be because they just make darn good laptops. I know there a real bad PC laptops out there so that could explain a few things But there are also good ones offcourse.