Thinking about jumping ship: Mac to WinXp- good or bad?

[nikki-k]

Hi! I currently have an HD3 system running on my Mac G4 Duall-800M machine. I don't do any commercial work, it is strictly for my own use, and for close friends wanting to do demo work. (near fatal accident payed for it- yin and yang at work I guess...)
My dilema is this: I have used a windows/dos based computer for years (since '91). I currently have 3 Win-based PC's, a Win-based laptop, and one Mac, my first at that. I am very comfortable on a Win machine, troubleshooting is a breeze. Win XP pro has been golden for me. I run multiple app's constantly, a few being processor hogs. No problems.
Now that Windows finally has a decent version of their OS, and being unfamiliar with Mac's in general, I am thinking of selling the Mac and getting a new PC, dual processor with Win XP Pro, and putting my HD3 into it. I am looking for your opinions of the pro's and con's for this. I am running PT, along with the plug-in pack that came with it, RTAS Autotune, and the Waves Gold TDM pack (recent update says compatible with Win XP HD systems).
Pros:
1] I am very comfortable with Windows OS, Mac is a struggle- I have invented new forms of popular 4-letter words due to this [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
2] Upgrading a Win-puter is MUCH easier and far cheaper than a Mac (can't replace a processor in a Mac, that I know of)
3] Win XP does dual processors (although soon-to-be-available OS-X PT6 will do duals on Mac???)
4] I have an MBox, and with the PT-Le coming for it, transfer of scratch tracks and such from one Win-puter to another is a breeze.
5] Bucking the trend and going with the underdog in the music "industry" [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Cons:
1] Digi is a step behind here. PT6 projected for a Dec. release for Mac(true?), but Win XP is not due 'til a warmer season in 2003...
2] Plug-in availability...grrr...
3] No direct-connect. I use Battery, Reason, etc...
4] Not many Win XP-based HD users vs. ???? Mac users.
5] Must hire a lawyer and comedian to come up with comebacks to all the Mac users when confronted [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
6] MOTU will not accept my bribes to jump ship with DP 4 [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] lol...
I am really serious though. With a house of Win-puter users, house is wired with cat5e, the Mac stands alone. Even back in the Apple and Apple II days, I was more comfy on my TRS-80. OK- maybe the Apple II swayed me a little...
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi(s)- you're my only hope...
Nikki [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[froyo]

Use the force Nikki.

I am an equal opportunity user of Pro Tools in every conceivable format, Mac/PC, TDM/LE and I love them all. While I have seen firsthand the strides that both PT and PC's have made in recent months, and Digidesign's desire to make 'an equal product', no one can debate the facts you outlined in the cons. Those are deal breakers for most people. You have to decide for yourself if you want to make the switch and wait anywhere from 7 months to 2 years (my guess) for a comparable PC product. While I always defend the underdog PC's from their detractors, it seems that my best advice to you is get in touch with a Pro Tools Mac expert, or at the very least a Mac expert and have them tutor you on the Mac. The Mac is just a different type of PC. Some would say symplified, some not. Your background and expertise is on PC's so Mac seems foreign to you. Again, take the time to learn them. They are wonderful tools. Think of it this way. You are an expert in software A; somebody gives you a copy of software B. Do you exchange it for software A or take the time to learn B? Myself I love to learn and use as many programs, platforms, tools, etc as I possibly can. Different colors on an artist's palette to choose from and use, so to speak. Again, while I love PC PT, my advice would be, since you already have the Mac, and because of plug ins and such, take the time to learn a Mac. It will not take you long.

Trust your feelings Nikki.

Anger, fear, aggression, the dark side are they.
Once you start on the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will as it did Obi Wan's apprentice.

[darkwar3]

Well I have to say that I'm delighted with my two Win XP Pro Tools HD systems. They were incredibly simple to put together, and run very responsively. At the end of the day, I would say to go with whichever platform you're most comfortable with. The software is pretty much the same on both, and the plugin situation is improving quickly. The only down side for me is the lack of DirectShow video overlay support which means that you can't output a video file to an external monitor. However, I have a system where I can shuttle material around between, PT, Logic, ACID, Sound Forge and Vegas Video very quickly. Additionally, being in a corporate network environment, I can restrict my engineers from installing rubbish onto the system etc. That does it for me personally, but other people have different priorities.
The best solution for you is whatever meets your specific needs...

Matt

[Seven Harkey]

Yeah, but are any of you XP guys having problems with your CPU always being at 100% when using PT? I know I bring this up in another string, but it's a roadblock.

I'm running PT LE 5.3.3 (Mbox) on XP, Dell Dimension 4550, 2 GHz Pentium 4, with gigs and gigs of storage. When I turn on PT, the computer goes from 4% to 100% faster than a speeding bullet.

Cripes! Whatta Revoltin' Development!

[darkwar3]

No, not had any problem with the CPU being maxxed out like that. Haven't used 5.3.3 LE though, just 5.3.3 HD.

Matt

[JonHallur]

I have a TDM 24MIXplus system and I decided to move over to Win2k because everybody else in the company are using Win2K or WinXP. The Mac was a pain to maintain, as our SysAdmin has as limited knowledge of Macs as I have. I've been using PC since the 286 was top of the line.

But my experience isn't uplifting. The software itself is very badly written. the CTRL-1,2,3... are not windows windows but some java crap, open, save import dialog windows are non scalable and much along those lines. Still I don't regret switching as I being in a Win enviroment in the workplace makes my life much simpler (with backups, compatability etc.)

[N-G-NEER]

Seven Harkey
I have yet to see that on my AMD 2200+ LE 001 It just keeps on going. No 100% no red line 32 tracks and over 100 plug-ins. HP's Gateways,Hewlett packards, packard bells and compacts are computers designed for people who don't know how to use a computer. They are desigtned to make it easy for a service tech to aid you through a correction over the phone not to get real power out of the computer.

[Jayman#9]

Remember that you can now use Cubase SX, Nuendo, or any other VST program with your Digi hardware now! Windows only [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] If you have not heard about the new Nuendo 2.0 than you should check it out. Having Protools and Nuendo 2.0 in your studio, using HD gear, would be pretty sweet!

[nikki-k]

Hi! Just for the record:
I did end up jumping ship over a week ago. The only thing missing so far is my frustration with an operating system I did not want to make time to learn. Just as there are little glitches here and there in Mac-land with PT, same goes on PC. Very happy, since dealing with "behind the scenes" issues will be simple now [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I chose the ASUS P4T533-C motherboard (onboard 10/100 LAN, RAID, and audio, 5 PCI slots, 4-yes 4!-RDRAM slots, USB 1.1 and 2.0), P4 2.53G CPU (til the new hyperthreading chips are out awhile and drop in price), 512M 1066 Samsung RDRAM (with 4 RDRAM slots, I can add more later [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ). For video, I chose an MSI Geforce4 Ti4200 128M card. I like MSI, so I am comfy using their stuff. The card is overkill, but setting up the computer for PT negates any probs [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] . Already had a Maxtor 7200 40G, added one of the special edition Western Digital 120G 7200rpm drives with 8M cache. Will be adding a firwire card later. Antec 480w quiet supply (sweet-very quiet). Win XP Pro.
VERY happy. Building the second PC next week, will have a MOTU 2408 mkII, and will use the ADAT ports to link the two (2408<->192). Second PC will run Nuendo, and soft synths.
nikki [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Jayman#9]

SWEET SETUP!!!! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Wow, and I bet you have $$$ to spare for the price of a 1ghz Mac [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . What kind of case did you get? Rackmount or tower? Nice, you're taking advantage of the 533mhz front side bus on the P4 chips (Ram to CPU, true 533mhz bus!). Editing will be lightning fast on that machine! Again...SWEET.