[tvent]

You might want to give some consideration to workflow as well.
Offline bounce can be a real timesaver in some instances... but if it's strictly music, then I still like to real-time bounce (and of course you MUST real-time bounce if you are hitting any outboard.) But for when I have to do dialog and theater work/song edits, key changes, etc... The Offline bounce you get after PT10 is a godsend.


That being said, I really loved the I/O flexibility I had on my old TDM and HD rigs. At one point, I had over 100 channels of I/O and had every output of every device in my room patched directly in, but it was quite an ecosystem to keep up with. Not to mention the whole "stuck in time" thing you had to accept in regards to your OS, security updates, and application updates where anything will break the entire rig... and THEN you get to factor in your control surfaces. There's a lot to keep up with... multiply this by about 100 if you go the Hackintosh route. But it certainly can be done.

The HDX route just isn't in my budget anymore, although the 64 channel I/O per card is VERY attractive.



These days, I just live with the 32 I/O limits of running Ultimate in No Hardware Mode and use my laptop.
Being able to edit on the go is really handy in a lot of cases, for me anyway.