Goin Mac! Please help

[vocalize]

Hi all!

I am really tired of the many problems of pc. Everyone in the business who owns or uses Pro Tools professionally, tells me to scrap the pc and go Mac.

I really need help here: First of all, is there a major learning curve going from pc to mac?

Also, what would be a good system to get me started on the right track. G3, G4? what OS??

In addition, is there anything else I should consider before taking the "plunge"?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[DesertDude]

go to the nearest apple store and play around with all of the models. Then go to Apples disscussion forums on the Apple.com site and read all you can...

[img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[pk_hat]

voxman,

I did the switch late last year, sorta by accident, I wasen't necessarily shooting for Mac. My PC's power supply had a seizure and the fries were up in no time. My girlfriend was just about to put her G4 867 mhz (single processor 'quicksilver') on Ebay when all of this happened. She needed to sell the tower and 17" LCD display to get her new Tibook. So there I was, auto-switch to Mac and not a moment's regret. Not to mention not a single freeze, crash, surprise auto-boot, nothing. Rock-solid performance.

Learning curve is pretty easy, just a few different ways of doing things on the Mac that you get used to in a week's time.

As for which to get, dunno, seems like the freshest batch of new dual g4's from the ol' Mac farm is pretty reliable and the fan noise issue has been improved.

I'd say a search or wait for more replies, as I'm not too experienced yet with Macs, I'm just happy about my decision to switch. Besides, the forthcoming Motu Mach5 validates just about every reason for wanting a Mac. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[sfrazier]

like Desertdude said.. get your hands on one and play around with it. As far as Protools goes there is no learning curve at all and wrt the rest of the system a Mac is easier to use than windows... no question.

you don't need to get the latest and greatest either... just get the most you can afford. A dual G4 500 w/1g RAM is plenty of power for home studio use and will work great with PT6 (OSX) which is what you want to shoot for anyway.

hope this helps.

- sean

[vocalize]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I will start to look around for a mac.

You guys are the best!

[redshifted]

Originally posted by vonbleak101:
If you must go MAC, i suggest going a newer duel model ie: Duel G4 1.25 and OSX with PT6.0.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I can't take it anymore!! It's DUAL, not DUEL.

A duel is what usually happens in these kinds of mac/pc threads, but so far so good......

[Dale-c]

"I can't take it anymore!! It's DUAL, not DUEL."

Thank you!!! That has been driving me crazy!! Everybody spells it duEl instead of the proper duAl. I have been close to correcting for a while.
As for the topic at hand, I switched last September and I have not regretted it once. Like many have said, if you have a problem with a Mac you can probably get on here and fix it because there are a limited number of systems and thus a limited number of problems. Chances are somebody has encountered it and solved it already. On the PC side you have so many configs that you can't possibly find a solution here or anywhere for all of the problems that you might encounter.
Also, you don't need to pay a fortune either. I paid $350 for an iMac G3 and it does what I need it to. Your needs might be a little higher but you don't HAVE to have a new dual 1.xG G4 just to run PT. Faster is better and with PT 6 you want lots of RAM and a good video card but you can do with something in the 500mhz range pretty well. Do make sure that it has AGP graphics thouhg because that is a must with PT 6.
By the way, I don't do a lot of effects but I can get about 24 tracks @24/48 with a DVerb on an aux and several EQs and a comprressor or two.
As for the learning curve, that doesn't take long. OS X is the simplest OS ever. I wouldn't mess with OS 9 at this point as both Apple and Digi are pretty much done with writing for it anymore. You'll be amazed at how simple OS X is compared to XP. It is so intuitive and straightforward. It isn't all bloated with a ton of menus and buttons like XP.
I hope you like it if y ou decide to get one. I haven't seen many who regretted the switch.
BTW, you don't have to give up your PC if you don't want to. I still have mine too, I just don't use it much.
I hope this has been helpful.

[Dale-c]

One more thing: do you already have a PT system? If no or if you already have an 002 or the Mbox I would recommend the eMac. It is the best value that Apple has right now.

[WorldOfWiz]

its funny how you see people still going making the switch no matter what people say. Time for apple to come with a new ad.

Wiz