Windows NT versus Mac OS

[Jorge Cabadas]

As a user of ProTools either in Windows NT or Mac OS, can you tell me the advantages in boths systems in order to adquire a PC or a Mac? In which runs better, in your oppinion. Thanks in advance Jorge

[Gerald]

Buy a Mac from a Pro Tools dealer, all set-up and go to work.
Gerald

[Echo studios]

Hey, Better Get Protools NT for three main reasons.

1) Its A LOT LESS expensive than buying a mac-based setup.

2) The NT version is Faster - graphics and overall performance than ANY mac versions I SAW.

3)Its cross-platform (PC & MAC).

Trust me.
We're doing a lot of jobs done using PT24/NT.

Have a nice day,

contact me privately if u need additionnal informations regarding PT/NT.

write me at [email protected]
-Dan
ECHO

[MacDaddy WGAR]

It's not more expensive!
We are in the process of converting to NT from Mac and based on the Digi Blessed pc, I came in with a price $150 less for Mac version, based on a G4/350 but now you get the 400mhz for same price.

Some plugins are not available for NT and won't be. You can't get JVP and Mic Modeler which are very nice.

And we may get a reprieve from corporate now as they may let us go with a Mac based system because they didn't take into account we would have to replace $3k of plug ins.
For some reason they were under the impression the Mac couldn't work on our NT based Wan and it wouldn't play Wav files and such. Hmmmm

Tell you what If I get my G4/400 lets run some tests on files using the A/S plug ins and see which is faster. (probably about the same)
The fact the G4's use AGP graphic cards is not an issue.
The Mac is more cross platform than your NT. Your just using the Mac based SD files.

My 7300/180 at home cranks benchmarks about as fast as a stock 9600/200 and beats it flat out on F.P numbers.
All I'm running is 512k L2 Cache/SpeedDoubler some other software on a U2W drive that is running on a Fast 2 bus. I launched PT and opened a 365mb session in about 21 seconds the other day, pretty quick for a slow machine! Now my 7100/80 at work is a different story, about 1:30 to do the same session w/PTIII hardware.

The great thing about the Mac is you can turn extensions and control panels on and off for increased speed/stability etc. You can't turn DOS code off from what I understand.

Then again we don't have to worry much about viruses and the chance someone could crack the firewall and trash everything.

Actually whatever machine makes you and your bottom line happy is the best solution.

My 2¢

[Dan Duskin]

NT is more robust... if a application crashes, it wont take the entire system with it. That's more then enough of a good reason to choose NT, is it not?

MacDaddy... NT does not load on top of DOS, like Win9x. It's a new OS.

The Mac is a great platform though. I'm just giving more info for those who are interested.

[This message has been edited by Dan Duskin (edited March 02, 2000).]

[Postman]

Maybe NT doesn't crash much, but consider this. If PTNT decides to crash, chances are that you will have to reboot anyway, in order to relaunch Pro Tools. If we simply relaunch the Pro Tools applications after a crash, DAE reports an error and terminates the launch. Only a reboot of NT will fix it. And with UW SCSI and a network card, it is not a fast reboot.

Still, I hope the NT version gets more robust. I am committed to staying with it (along with my Mac). It is very valuable to have a system that works with .wav files natively, not just as imports/exports.

[KingTor]

I don't have much experience with NT, but I have worked with 3.11, 95 & 98 and I was just remarking the other day that on average I seem to find myself reinstalling Windoze once or twice a year and that I've never had to reinstall my Mac OS. Never.

I don't know if that's typical, but that is my experience.

[Corey Shay]

I'm a PC user, and am running Win95, Win2000, and NT simultaneously. On average I reinstall Win95 every other month! NT I typically clean out half as often, and Win2000 I just started using, but it seems rock solid. I'll hopefully be reinstalling that one much, much less.

Unless Digi supports Win2000 soon, and more plugins (Antares anyone?) become available, I'd go with a Mac. I know I wish I had one!

[mike connelly]

"1) Its A LOT LESS expensive than buying a mac-based setup."

Hmmm. Seems silly to worry about saving $200 on a CPU when you're going to hook it up to $10000 worth of hardware. G4's start at $1599 and they rock. (actually, if you go with the "officially approved" PC's, you're spending MORE - the intellistations start over $2000)


"2) The NT version is Faster - graphics and overall performance than ANY mac versions I SAW."

Maybe - I haven't compared. But have you considered that the NT version might run faster because it has less features?

"3)Its cross-platform (PC & MAC)."

Don't see how that's a reason one way or another.

Fact is, there are still plenty of plugs that are mac-only. And there are still features missing from NT. The fact that QT/AVI isn't supported is enough to make NT useless for what I'm doing.


Mike




[This message has been edited by mike connelly (edited March 07, 2000).]

[BOBCAT24]

I am a user of both platforms in PT and I can tell you guys this, NT Blows away any Mac based system I have ever seen or used in speed, operation, stability, and ease of configuration. I never ever crash, I have tons of plugins, more than I need, and anything I don't have as a PT plugin can had easilly by exporting to Sound Forge and the Direct X counterpart can be used just as easilly, only downside is committing the plugin, a small price to pay, and speaking of price, I built the system I have myself, an Asus P3B MB, PIII 500mhz, 192mb Ram, Ati AGP Video, 2 4gig barracuda's and a Seagate 10gig system drive for $765, and this system kicks but. A Mac based system on par with this would have cost me about $2800, and would have to be bought fully assembled, and configured from a dealer, and not as parts. The best part of all is How I aquired my PT24 System. I was an avid Session 8 user, lusting for a ProTools system, when Digi was nice enough to offer PC based Session 8 users, a buy back at full retail, for systems purchased through them. They gave me what I payed for this system, 10 years ago!!!! I could never have afforded it otherwise, Guys can you think of any software or hardware manufacturer on this planet that would or could do something even remotely similar, no way. Stop complaining about not having this or that plugin, or option for your NT system and just be thankful that this company even exists.... Remeber the days of razor blade editing, I do and I don't want to go back!!!
Digidesign, Thank God You Exist!!!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, X 1,000

Bob Catalano
Bob Cat Studios

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