Age old question on updating old system...

[Jaylaca]

I've been running PT HD|3 Accel with a 192 interface on a G5 Mac for a long time. It works great. I'm in 7.4 since anything later requires Mactel. The two things I love about this system 1. Stable, and 2. Hardware Inserts on my mixes. (that vintage dbx162 really works well on drums!)

I was at the 2012 NAMM show and the Avid folks didn't seem enthused about my rig, or really want to talk much about my still having it. i.e. "It's far past end-of-life and all support is done." I got a "you could trade it in for $7K" speech + buying a current-soon-to-be-obsolete Mac Tower for $2.5K

I'm not much feeling this $10K upgrade path.

The Point: The current Mac Tower is 2-years obsolete, so imo that's no upgrade path from a TDM system, unless I wait and it gets refreshed. And with the rumor that Apple will drop the thing altogether that scares me off from buying into that direction.

At home I am a PC user. I've been happy with Windows and its wide-range of build options even though my mixing has been on a G5 Mac.

Of Note: There was not ONE pc at the Namm show. Not one. So is my upgrade path strictly some Mac PT10 variant? Or is moving over to Windows 7 on a new build feasible in the professional world? As in, it works, doesn't crash, just as supported as the Mac side with updates and drivers? I figure Forums get inundated with just the problems. People that have happy rigs don't chime in too often since they don't need to fix anything.

Is PT Native on Windows 7 workable path to follow since I know those towers will be around and compatible for a long time with PCIe? Hardware inserts a go?

Since I haven't had to look at any of this for a while, walking out of Namm left me wondering about the options...

Thoughts appreciated.
Jay.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Jaylaca

...works great...I'm not much feeling this $10K upgrade path...

Then don't upgrade unless the upgrade improves your workflow. Hope this helps !!!

[Craig F]

I do think new Mac Pro Towers are in the works, but may have to wait for the new Ivy Bridge chipset this summer.
Appel has had a few high profile clients bail on FCP over X and they want them back, or so I'm hearing.