help! the big change over

[redchair]

To all mac users,
i have been using windows pc's all my life, running with now digi 003 PTLE 8.04. My musical needs are as of now all in the box. Dance, electronic music, using Avid air and instrument packs, plus waves gold with no real need for external imputs. Maybe a need in the future for a microphone input , but that is it.
I am ready to make a big leap all around, with mac as my computer. Hearing over and over how much better using mac's are. I ve decided to go that route. Plus also hitting my pro tools up a notch too HD or maybe trying the new native HD, just introduced.
Can anyone give me some of your insights, iam very raw in the world of mac and HD,possibilities
1.on what mac to purchase, details of specs like add ons, i will or wont need
2.Where to purchase, maybe a custom builder on line.
3.making this big transition, do i need to know anything, besides the minor learning curve, like key shortcuts. Transitioning my current files etc...
4.Should i decide to go all out on the mac (money wise) then use HD native,
5. i assume my digi 003 control surface will be out of the mix. with pro tools 9, i can now use any control surface. any ideas.
any help or any ideas is much appreciated

[Dizzi45Z]

Lots of questions there. Others will chime in with their wisdom on this subject. I just wanted to say that for me, moving over to a Mac wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. I grudgingly switched from Sonar on a PC to Pro Tools on a Mac and within a couple months, I was feeling at home again. I also felt far more productive then I was before.

Don't expect that Macs never crash though. On average, I probably have to restart both Pro Tools and the Mac about 2 times a week (often caused by overloading my RAM with lots of Virtual Instruments). But I have to say it sure is nice to know that lots of other people have identical hardware. So if one of us has a problem, a lot of us do which hopefully makes the problem a high priority for Avid.

Overall, it would take a lot to pull me back over to a PC. Not that you can't create a great system with a PC. Just that I had far less time wasted trouble shooting and worrying over my hardware and etc. once I moved to a Mac.

On your #5. Why would the digi 003 control surface be out of the mix? My understanding is that it would definitely remain compatible with Pro Tools. Pro Tools 9 doesn't mean that they are dropping support for all of their hardware. They would be crazy to do that.

[redchair]

thanks for your start to my thread.
your points are all valid.
the thing with digi 003. Is as crazy as it sounds or maybe its my lack of knowledge on this. Is can i use this with HD cards. I am not sure if i can. I do believe i might need to get one of the new interfaces.