I find Macs to be too limiting in the compatible software available. They are overpriced. PCs are more versitile and can handle anything a Mac can only cheaper. JMO and MPE over the past 20 years. I used both Macs and PCs at work.
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Mac or PC?
- Thread starter JordanDelap
- Start date
I've been running Windows as a recording utility for years now and just got a Macbook this past year with Logic 8.
I'll never buy a Windows machine ever again.
For people who are computer savvy, you can do a lot on a PC. I'm not one of those people. I always had issues with drivers, couldn't get my interfaces to work correctly, latency, locking-up, crashing, the whole nine yards. Obviously, there are ways to fix these things, but when I bought a Macbook, I plugged my interface into it and it recognized it immediately. I was recording and editing in minutes. No latency, no crashing, no issues that I had with my Windows machines all these years that I had to scour the internet for fixes for.
I'm not an Apple fanboy by a long shot, but for people like me, who know their way around a computer but don't know any technical stuff about getting this to work with that and optimizing your system and yadda-yadda-yadda, Macs are awesome and more than worth the extra cost.
P.S. If you DO go with a Windows machine, pay extra and get XP. Vista is a nightmare.
I'll never buy a Windows machine ever again.
For people who are computer savvy, you can do a lot on a PC. I'm not one of those people. I always had issues with drivers, couldn't get my interfaces to work correctly, latency, locking-up, crashing, the whole nine yards. Obviously, there are ways to fix these things, but when I bought a Macbook, I plugged my interface into it and it recognized it immediately. I was recording and editing in minutes. No latency, no crashing, no issues that I had with my Windows machines all these years that I had to scour the internet for fixes for.
I'm not an Apple fanboy by a long shot, but for people like me, who know their way around a computer but don't know any technical stuff about getting this to work with that and optimizing your system and yadda-yadda-yadda, Macs are awesome and more than worth the extra cost.
P.S. If you DO go with a Windows machine, pay extra and get XP. Vista is a nightmare.
I thought you had to buy that OS separately now since most Windows computers already come with Vista. I could be wrong, but I know several of my friends who grumbled about having to pay extra for an older operating system.
Eww a Gateway running Vista, I will definitely pass![Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Interesting for the OP.
From an (obviously) impartial site.
Please note that the PC is more expensive than the Mac on that test
Seriously, I'm not sure what so-called authoritative sources are doing when they run these kinds of comparisons. Why don't they use a serious PC (read NOT A GATEWAY OR A DELL LOL), running XP? Or wait here's a thought, why not use the SAME HARDWARE? They're both intel boxes after all, why even bother pretending like they're not? Oh yea, that wouldn't suit the marketroids...
BTW I'm putting together my $400 hackintosh tonight. It's a 2.33 core2duo. If it works I'll share my results
If it doesn't I'll install Ubuntu instead..Either one will do the job fine, but you'll get a LOT more bang for your buck with a PC. You can even *gasp* upgrade them!
In general choice between Mac and PC is how much time do you want to spend working on the computer, or doing work with the computer.
PC's you have lots of options for parts, companies, vendors and so on. That means its up to you deal with driver issues and incompatibilities that arise. So you will be spending time working on you computer and not doing work. That is true whether you use Windows or Linux.
Mac you have fewer choices because only one source Apple. Your options are mainly how much RAM or hard drive and couple others. Being that means things just tend to work because there aren't a zillion combinations of parts and vendors. So you get the computer set it up and get to using the computer. That luxury has a price Mac's are more expensive. But Mac's also hold there resell value better down the road.
So its all about cost and how much of your time you are willing to spend tweaking the computer instead doing work.
PC's you have lots of options for parts, companies, vendors and so on. That means its up to you deal with driver issues and incompatibilities that arise. So you will be spending time working on you computer and not doing work. That is true whether you use Windows or Linux.
Mac you have fewer choices because only one source Apple. Your options are mainly how much RAM or hard drive and couple others. Being that means things just tend to work because there aren't a zillion combinations of parts and vendors. So you get the computer set it up and get to using the computer. That luxury has a price Mac's are more expensive. But Mac's also hold there resell value better down the road.
So its all about cost and how much of your time you are willing to spend tweaking the computer instead doing work.
Translation:
"Product A rules and product B sucks, because product A rules."
Why even bother posting statements like this? Even if this is what you truly believe, you only make yourself look foolish stating things this way.
FYI, The Real Translation (how this comes across):
"I'm a jackass."
That's precisely my feelings. I'm not a computer whiz; I feel I should just be able to plug something in and go. A Mac more or less lets me do that (and any other fuss is completely minimal). I installed a driver on my girlfriend's Windows laptop and the DVD-Drive disappeared from the hardware list. Stuff like that shouldn't happen and if it does you shouldn't need a four-year degree to figure out how to fix it.
Computer whizzes can build and configure a PC to work as well as a Mac and get maximum performance with it. But you get that right out of the box with a Mac. A PC requires a lot more work on the part of the user to get everything how they want it. No thanks, I don't have time to learn all that; I have music to write!
It really comes down to personal preference. I personally don't care for most Apple products, but I won't say they suck. Either will do what you need.
Do yourself a favor, head down to Best Buy (or better yet an Apple Store if there is one nearby) and check them out. (Yeah, you can't check a PC out at the Apple store, but you can at Best Buy)
And if price is a consideration, be aware that you'll probably spend more for the Mac.
Do yourself a favor, head down to Best Buy (or better yet an Apple Store if there is one nearby) and check them out. (Yeah, you can't check a PC out at the Apple store, but you can at Best Buy)
And if price is a consideration, be aware that you'll probably spend more for the Mac.
Yeah, that was my first thought as well. I'll not derail the thread any further by pointing out that Dell, in fact, makes a very decent computer.
Probably sound advice. I don't much like Apple with all their hype products myself, but I've just had so much of an easier time with my Mac and all my engineer friends all leaned me in that direction when I was putting together a DAW.
And, really, what are your needs? If you do a lot of electronic music, or 50 tracks of audio with plug-ins your needs are going to be different than a person who just wants to record practices or demos.
A good question that anyone needs to answer before making a decision, but any decent PC or Mac DAW can do that. Everyone seems to want to imply that one platform is for Pros and one platform is for Amateurs, but it's just different software.
Pick the platform that has the software you want, know how to use, can afford, and makes your willy tingle. Beyond that, it's really all irrelevant.
Well I finally have a PC with Windows XP loaded on it again! I was afraid that it wouldn't work, but I have had zero problems so far. Most of my fear was from the fact that the main PC I pulled parts from had suffered smoke damage from a frozen pizza that almost ended my life. Anyway, I cleaned out the fans, the power supply, and the Radeon 9800XT 256MB graphics card the best that I could and put them in an old HP tower that had been gutted for parts to use in my wife's PC. I'm also using an Audigy2 ZS soundcard that was originally intended for my new Vista PC.
Now I have a working PC with XP and the ability to use all of my old tried and true software again.
I had been looking into getting a Mac-Mini but when I saw the price tag for it I thought it was kind of a ripoff considering that I would be spending $600 on what is virtually an extremely outdated PC. Then I considered buying another basic PC with XP for around $180, but with a little tinkering and creativity I ended up with a working PC for virtually zero dollars.
That is one of the nice things about owning PC's versus Macs.
The only thing that is really bothering me now is the smell of burnt pizza everytime I turn that PC on lol.
Now I have a working PC with XP and the ability to use all of my old tried and true software again.
I had been looking into getting a Mac-Mini but when I saw the price tag for it I thought it was kind of a ripoff considering that I would be spending $600 on what is virtually an extremely outdated PC. Then I considered buying another basic PC with XP for around $180, but with a little tinkering and creativity I ended up with a working PC for virtually zero dollars.
That is one of the nice things about owning PC's versus Macs.
The only thing that is really bothering me now is the smell of burnt pizza everytime I turn that PC on lol.
