Allenstein vs ultimate mac

[the_dr38]

I know that the Allenstein can achieve a higher track count than even a G5 dual 2.7 with the full 8 gb of RAM, but how 'stable' is it compared to the beast? Is it the kinda thing you would feel confident working for clients on whilst they are watching or is it likely to crash and have to be reset? How fast is it in comparison, say for loading programmes or FX? Are you able to put heavier plugins such as waves on it, is it the kinda thing you would be able to use as the heart of your mastering business? If yes then does this mean that soon ALL PT LE users will soon be using this machine and the MAC-LE forum will be considerably smaller??

L.Dudley

[Allen Hallada]

I know that the Allenstein can achieve a higher track count than even a G5 dual 2.7 with the full 8 gb of RAM, but how 'stable' is it compared to the beast? Is it the kinda thing you would feel confident working for clients on whilst they are watching or is it likely to crash and have to be reset? How fast is it in comparison, say for loading programmes or FX? Are you able to put heavier plugins such as waves on it, is it the kinda thing you would be able to use as the heart of your mastering business? If yes then does this mean that soon ALL PT LE users will soon be using this machine and the MAC-LE forum will be considerably smaller??

L.Dudley

That is a good question. I think we are just really fortunate that PTLE runs so stable on Win XP. The chipset does make a difference also with stability and so far the VIA chipsets supporting the AMD 64 architecture in the current Allenstein has been the most stable chipset we have seen. These chipsets were built for stability and for high speed processing as needed in gaming. It is not uncommon to go for over a year with out a freeze in PTLE now, even on heavy session work. I have a friend (Shane), who uses PCs in a professional studio for most of his mixing because of the speed he can operate at.
Mac users have something unique in OSX however and it is a great operating system also with fewer security issues than XP when running on a network or connected to the internet. Will XP replace OSX for music production? Highly unlikely. I look at it as a less expensive alternative to getting great performance at a fraction of the cost. Even the E-Machines 6811 laptop with the AMD 64 3400 will outperform the dual G5s at this time. Now compare a $3000.00 dual G5 desktop with an $825.00 laptop with portability and with more processing power. Its like getting a 002 for free thrown in on the package. That is hard to beat.



Allen