Ableton Forum

Left Eye Dominant wrote:After many years of using PC"s I am thinking of switching to a Mac for once and for all. WHY? I have built two PC"s for audio use only, configured the things to run as smoothly as poss, read shitloads stuff on how to configure XP, performed test after test after test to try and squeeze the last bit of performance out of the machines, the list goes on.

The reason I did things this way was to try and save money. I started to add up how many hours I has spent doing this.... hundreds and hundreds of hours, maybe thousands. Hours that I could have spent making and studying music... hours wasted perhaps.

The new Intel Macs look like they could out perform PC"s in many ways, give me a fast Mac and release me from the time I have to spend being a PC geek!

things still go wrong with a mac, I spend plenty of time troubleshooting them.

Also note that there is a comparable amount of literature on optimising OSX for audio as XP.

feel free to buy one, it's not like I'm gonna be fixing it. But the idea that you will not need to optimize or never have driver issues or hardware issues is wrong.
Example:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33328&

Left Eye Dominant wrote:The reason I did things this way was to try and save money. I started to add up how many hours I has spent doing this.... hundreds and hundreds of hours, maybe thousands. Hours that I could have spent making and studying music... hours wasted perhaps.

The new Intel Macs look like they could out perform PC"s in many ways, give me a fast Mac and release me from the time I have to spend being a PC geek!

LOL, quite true, that!

I have a mac and a PC.

PCs have the bang for the buck (ignoring the fact that most users going down this road will steal half their software).

Macs have the ease of use.

Aside from audio work, macs kick ass if you're a computer nerd. It's loosely based on BSD, so you have your usual assortment of Unix tools and apps. Oh, and the developer tools are free. FREE! No paying $500 to microsoft for fucking dev tools. Fook that shit off.

For me, there's not really a choice. Mac all the way. I have a desktop PC, but I need that for work (all windows apps in the engineering world).

Here's a comparison of pricing for two higher end systems that would be nice for running Live:

Dell:
Inspiron E1705 Core Duo 2.16 Ghz
2 GB 667Mhz RAM
WinXP Pro
100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Wifi/Bluetooth
Price before coupons: $3743

Apple:
MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16 Ghz
2 GB 667Mhz RAM
OS X
100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Wifi/Bluetooth
Price (no discounts): $3199

Dell: You get a dim 17" Screen.

Apple: You get a bright 15" screen and iSight, OSX, iLife, Backlit Keyboard, remote, Aliminum metal casing (Dells are made of plastic), MagSafe power connector, 6 pin bus-powered firewire (Dell uses cheap 4 pin ones), optical digital audio i/o, free develoer tools.

Alex Baldwin wrote:Guys, the answer is so simple!!
People use Macs because
they look cooler.
If Macs were running XP we would still buy them
because of the sex appeal.

Sex appeal - if a mac came with a porn star and 10 hits of x I'd most definately come up on one again

I like my PC but being on a mac is way chill - I don't think it matters, what ever your budget and style choice is up to you

Talent however cannot be bought and no matter if you have a quad-ruple 5.9ghz G49 with over a trillion gigs of RAM but can't write a beat then, well you just can't write a beat but you have a slamming computer


Props to those who write jams and and could care less about whether it was made on a pc or mac!


later



a

hambone1 wrote:IMO, Mac users aren't as bright as PC users, hence the use in the pro audio world.

We can't figure out how to use more than one mouse button, let alone deconflict IRQs, or work out how to avoid or get rid of spyware/adware/malware/viruses/etc!

We're also foolish enough to spend more cash on less powerful machines produced by a greedy, monopolistic corporation, and deny ourselves access (without emulation or hacking) to the plethora of PC-only software out there. And we've been brainwashed enough to pay for the prestige of that glowing Apple logo and brilliant industrial design!

Seriously, use whatever works for you! Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Roll on, dual boot!

Note: Edited with additional sarcasm for those who didn't get it...

wow fucking crap wow lol.


you call apple a monopoly and yet use windows by microsoft that actually went to court FOR BEING a monopoly.

wtf? lol.

"more cash on less powerful machines" yes if specs is all you are going for.

however this argument no longer holds true.



shucks.

Digi V wrote:

hambone1 wrote:IMO, Mac users aren't as bright as PC users, hence the use in the pro audio world.

We can't figure out how to use more than one mouse button, let alone deconflict IRQs, or work out how to avoid or get rid of spyware/adware/malware/viruses/etc!

We're also foolish enough to spend more cash on less powerful machines produced by a greedy, monopolistic corporation, and deny ourselves access (without emulation or hacking) to the plethora of PC-only software out there. And we've been brainwashed enough to pay for the prestige of that glowing Apple logo and brilliant industrial design!

Seriously, use whatever works for you! Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Roll on, dual boot!

Note: Edited with additional sarcasm for those who didn't get it...

wow fucking crap wow lol.


you call apple a monopoly and yet use windows by microsoft that actually went to court FOR BEING a monopoly.

wtf? lol.

"more cash on less powerful machines" yes if specs is all you are going for.

however this argument no longer holds true.



shucks.

Ummm... aw, fuggedit.

"more cash on less powerful machines" yes if specs is all you are going for.

sadly this is something which seems not being understood by a lot of people, specs is by far not everything!!!!!!!!!!

but, actually why do try to make this being understood??

As a person with a long history of Macs & PCs who supports both and currently owns a PC...

Ignoring hardware and amount of software available, I would say:

OS X -

- Has the equal of ASIO4ALL and Midi Yoke built in

- A much nicer interface

- Slightly less annoying than windows

- Seems to get lower latencey audio

- Doesn't require virus scanning software running 24/7



That being said, Toshiba has Dual Core 12" tablets and 15" laptops with right mouse buttons and crystal screens for cheaper than the Apples.

True, the Apples have many nice features, but they may be features I don't care about.

If Apple makes the new iBooks the same speed, but with less features, maybe that will make some of the rest of us happy?

Or maybe Apple should sell a stand alone OS X than can run on anything for $3-400?

Angstrom wrote: things still go wrong with a mac, I spend plenty of time troubleshooting them.

Also note that there is a comparable amount of literature on optimising OSX for audio as XP.

feel free to buy one, it's not like I'm gonna be fixing it. But the idea that you will not need to optimize or never have driver issues or hardware issues is wrong.
Example:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33328&

Fair enough, I am currently under the impression that I would have to do a lot less tinkering under the hood on a Mac than on a PC. My mind is made up, I am going for a top of the range Mac before the end of the year. If I am wrong I will let you know!

Digi V wrote:

hambone1 wrote:IMO, Mac users aren't as bright as PC users, hence the use in the pro audio world.

We can't figure out how to use more than one mouse button, let alone deconflict IRQs, or work out how to avoid or get rid of spyware/adware/malware/viruses/etc!

We're also foolish enough to spend more cash on less powerful machines produced by a greedy, monopolistic corporation, and deny ourselves access (without emulation or hacking) to the plethora of PC-only software out there. And we've been brainwashed enough to pay for the prestige of that glowing Apple logo and brilliant industrial design!

Seriously, use whatever works for you! Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Roll on, dual boot!

Note: Edited with additional sarcasm for those who didn't get it...

wow fucking crap wow lol.


you call apple a monopoly and yet use windows by microsoft that actually went to court FOR BEING a monopoly.

wtf? lol.

"more cash on less powerful machines" yes if specs is all you are going for.

however this argument no longer holds true.



shucks.

Me? Use Windows? I'm a Mac user!

Left Eye Dominant wrote:

Angstrom wrote: things still go wrong with a mac, I spend plenty of time troubleshooting them.

Also note that there is a comparable amount of literature on optimising OSX for audio as XP.

feel free to buy one, it's not like I'm gonna be fixing it. But the idea that you will not need to optimize or never have driver issues or hardware issues is wrong.
Example:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33328&

Fair enough, I am currently under the impression that I would have to do a lot less tinkering under the hood on a Mac than on a PC. My mind is made up, I am going for a top of the range Mac before the end of the year. If I am wrong I will let you know!

Here's another way to look at. Let's say that Mac laptop costs you an extra $250 compared to that bargain basement PC you can find. Now for the next two years that might own it you can either have a machine that you just live with, or you can have a machine that you love for $.35 extra per day.

I don't, but considering how much I use my machines, the premium for owning a Mac is peanuts.

I have used PC's scince they had no hard drives and 2 x 5 1/4" floppy disks it was a whole 8mhz and 649kb of ram !

I worked in the PC industry for years and ran my own fix and build and repair shop so i am extremly familiar with PC's

I bought a Mac to try purely for music as I heard they "Just Worked"

That was 18 months ago and I still use both platforms but very little on the PC.. They where right OSX just tends to work plug in and they go I dont have driver hassles I love not have apps or the system crash (I have had to reboot once in 18months and that was my own stupid fault.

PC's work but ehy are just not as smooth and reliable they tend to be more finicky .

Bottom line is I am here to make music NOT stuff about with drivers and crashes etc.

I would recommend a Mac for Music to anyone. PC's work and arnt bad but I want to be lessed stressed just get on with making music and guess what. The females in your life will be alot happiwer because we dont spend so much time mucking about with the thing or yelling at it when it crashes or something just wont work.
It could actually save your marriage !

I have used PC's scince they had no hard drives and 2 x 5-1/4" floppy disks it was a whole 8mhz and 640kb of ram !

I worked in the PC industry for years and ran my own fix and build and repair shop so i am extremly familiar with PC's

I bought a Mac to try purely for music as I heard they "Just Worked"

That was 18 months ago and I still use both platforms but very little on the PC.. They where right OSX just tends to work, plug it in and they go I dont have driver hassles I love not having apps or the system crash (I have had to reboot once in 18months and that was my own stupid fault.

PC's work but they are just not as smooth and reliable they tend to be more finicky things like on the Mac i can turn my Tascam FW1082 on anytime and OSX immediately starts using it. One my PC it sometimes even needs a reboot when I do that. Not always .. it is just not consistant and why should I have to reboot or even exit the program to get it to come up.

Bottom line is I am here to make music NOT stuff about with drivers and crashes etc.

I would recommend a Mac for Music to anyone. PC's work and arnt bad but I want to be less stressed and just get on with making music and one asside benefit...guess what? The females in your life will be alot happier because we dont spend so much time mucking about with the thing or yelling at it when it crashes or something just wont work.
It could actually save your marriage !

For the people that have no faith in Mac:
Have you owned a Mac or are you just assuming
you wouldn't like it?
I don't know anyone who has
tried a Mac and switched back.

The majority of people start on a PC and switch because
they find the PC to leave them wanting more.

I personally own both. The Mac I bought, the PC was given to me.
I don't think you can argue one way or the other unless you own
or have owned both.
If you don't give a Mac a shot, you will never know what you
are missing.